Buddy

Buddy

Persistent, local, suggest-first project companion mode driven by buddy.yaml.

Buddy is the project’s always-on companion mode, defined in crates/refact-yaml-configs/src/defaults/modes/buddy.yaml. It is explicitly local and suggest-first: auto_approve_editing_tools: false and auto_approve_dangerous_commands: false keep it from silently taking action, while the prompt tells it to surface concrete opportunities and actions from real project state.

What Buddy does

Buddy is meant to watch the workspace and help with ongoing maintenance and diagnostics:

• watches project state and recent logs
• launches focused investigation chats with buddy_launch_investigation
• opens GUI views with buddy_open_view
• creates editable drafts for skills, commands, subagents, modes, and AGENTS files with buddy_create_draft
• files GitHub issues for confirmed product bugs with buddy_create_issue
• launches setup flows with buddy_open_setup_flow
• surfaces decision-ready opportunities such as stuck tasks, default model gaps, MCP auth issues, memory clutter, git pressure, and diagnostic clusters

The mode prompt is explicit that Buddy should “always favor concrete actions tied to real, visible state — never invent events.”

Named Buddy workflows

refact-buddy-core defines the autonomous Buddy workflows. The bundled workflow IDs include:

• buddy_daily_digest — Daily Digest
• buddy_idle_suggester — Idle Suggester
• buddy_test_coverage_watcher — Test Coverage Watcher
• buddy_dependency_radar — Dependency Radar
• buddy_docs_gardener — Docs Gardener
• buddy_architecture_drift_watcher — Architecture Drift Watcher
• buddy_error_detective — Error Detective
• buddy_security_whisperer — Security Whisperer

Related workflows also exist in the same list, such as onboarding, refactor hunter, PR/issue matchmaker, memory gardener, knowledge conflict resolver, behavior learner, user habit coach, and model cost optimizer.

flowchart TD
  A[Buddy mode] --> B[Observe workspace state]
  A --> C[Launch investigation chat]
  A --> D[Open GUI view]
  A --> E[Create editable draft]
  A --> F[Create GitHub issue]
  A --> G[Suggest next action]
  B --> H[Workflow triggers]
  H --> I[Daily Digest]
  H --> J[Idle Suggester]
  H --> K[Test Coverage Watcher]
  H --> L[Dependency Radar]
  H --> M[Docs Gardener]
  H --> N[Architecture Drift Watcher]
  H --> O[Error Detective]
  H --> P[Security Whisperer]

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Implementation grounding

• crates/refact-yaml-configs/src/defaults/modes/buddy.yaml defines the mode, prompt, tool access, and approvals.
• crates/refact-buddy-core/src/autonomous_workflows.rs defines the workflow IDs and titles.
• src/buddy/ contains the Buddy runtime, observers, opportunity detection, memory lifecycle, and issue/reporting logic.

Notes

Buddy is not a remote automation agent. It is a project-local companion that proposes actions and only proceeds where the mode and tool permissions allow it.

See also: Integrations, Agent Tools, Subagents