The autopilot

The autopilot is the heart of Coodoo. It takes the first goal from the queue, has the team build it and keeps going until the queue is empty.

Starting, pausing and stopping

Button	What happens
Play (Start autopilot)	Starts with the first goal in the queue. Doesn't work when the queue is empty, unless Keep going is on
Pause	Halts the autopilot. When you resume, the current step picks up where it left off, even if you quit Coodoo in the meantime
Resume	Carries on after a pause
Stop	Cancels the current step. Coodoo first asks if you're sure and suggests pausing instead
End pause and stop	Stops a paused autopilot completely

Tip: Choose Pause over Stop. When you pause, the agent's conversation is kept, so it can pick up exactly where it was. After stopping, the step starts over.

If you quit Coodoo while the autopilot is working, you choose between Pause and quit, Stop and quit or Cancel.

Sleep mode

As long as the autopilot is working, Coodoo keeps your computer awake. If it goes to sleep anyway (for example when you close the laptop lid), the autopilot pauses and carries on by itself once the computer wakes up again. The dashboard then says Paused because the computer went to sleep. A pause you chose yourself never resumes by itself.

A goal's phases

Every goal goes through these phases. What happens in each phase is saved in the team memory, so the next agent can read it.

1. Research

The researcher looks at your code and searches the internet for the best approach, libraries and pitfalls. The result is under Research in Shared knowledge.

2. Design

If the goal has a screen, the designer works out how it should look: layout, colors, icons, texts. No tech, just how the user experiences it.

3. Planning

The developer makes a technical design and a plan with tasks. It also writes down:

• what the app does that needs extra care (logging in, payments, personal data…) and which risks come with it; see Security;
• which programs are needed (Node.js, Python, Java); Coodoo sets those up before the first task starts; see Requirements.

With Plan first off (Autopilot settings), this step is skipped: the whole goal is one task, and the developer starts on it right away.

4. For each task: build, check, review

For every task in the plan:

1. Building: the developer writes the code and the tests, and runs the build and the tests.
2. Start and check the app: Coodoo starts your app and checks whether it works. If it doesn't, the developer fixes that first. See Starting and checking the app.
3. Security scan: Coodoo's own scanners look at what has changed.
4. Review: the reviewer approves or rejects the task, with the results of the app check and the scan at hand.
5. Fixing: if the task is rejected, the developer fixes the points and a new review follows. After the set number of Fix rounds, the task goes ahead with the open points noted.
6. Commit and push: the task is committed in your name and pushed to GitHub.

5. Wrapping up

Coodoo updates the version numbers and the changelog (if Keep track of version numbers is on) and moves the goal to the history.

Skipping steps smartly

With Agent picks the steps on (the default), an agent first takes a quick look at whether research and design are needed. A small fix then goes straight to planning. A phase you turned off is never turned back on.

Keep going

If Keep going is on, the autopilot doesn't stop when the queue is empty. The researcher comes up with a useful next goal for your project by itself (marked own idea) and the team gets to work on it.

When an agent gets stuck

• Coodoo tries a step that fails up to three times, with a short wait in between.
• If an agent hits its subscription limit, Coodoo waits longer (five minutes per attempt).
• If it still doesn't work and Fall back to the other agent is on, the other agent takes over.
• If a step takes longer than the Time limit per step (45 minutes by default), it's canceled.

If a goal fails anyway, it shows up under History as Failed, with the reason. With Try again you put it back in the queue; finished tasks stay done.

Branches

If Own branch per goal is on (the default), each goal works on its own branch, like coodoo/login-page-a1b2c3d4, and your main branch stays clean until you merge the work. If a new goal builds on an earlier goal that hasn't been merged yet, it starts from that work. See Building on earlier work.

Commits in your name

All commits are in your GitHub name and email address. Coodoo removes any mention that an AI helped write them before every push.