Quickstart

Published 27/10/2026

Land a first change in a new project. About ten minutes, most of it the engine working.

Rehearse first, if you like#

Every command below also runs with a fake engine that spends no usage. Set it for the terminal you are in:

export ADE_PROVIDER=fake          # Windows PowerShell: $env:ADE_PROVIDER = "fake"

Unset it when you want Claude Code or Codex to do the work for real.

Start a project#

mkdir my-project && cd my-project
ade init                          # Python starter; or: ade init --starter typescript

ade init creates a git repository, a small starter project (one function, greet, and its test), the ade.toml that configures everything, and a first card, c1: "greet takes a name". It prints what it wrote.

Fly the first card#

ade loop c1

The loop walks five stages and prints one line for each:

lane    advance   lane ~/.ade-work/61eadb80/c1
build   advance   built with claude
review  advance   light review approved
test    advance   passed: tests/test_greet.py
land    done      landed c8b7669b5c

If a stage needs you, the loop stops there and prints the command to run next. Run ade loop c1 again after you have dealt with it and it carries on from where it stopped.

Add your own card#

ade card add "greet in Welsh too" --path my_project/greet.py --path tests/test_greet.py \
  --done 'greet("Ada", lang="cy") returns "Helo, Ada!"'
ade loop c2

A good card is small: one change, the paths it may touch, and a done line a reviewer can check.

Look around#

ade cockpit                       # every open card with its state and next command
ade handover --role builder       # the briefing an agent gets when it starts
ade telemetry                     # what the engines cost, per card

Next: How it flies explains the loop, or port a project you already have.