FAQ

Short answers to the questions people ask most about Alara Code. Each answer links to the page that covers the topic in full.

The pipeline

Can I skip a step?

Not in the main line. RFP, Scope, SRS, SDS and STS run in that order, and each waits for the one before it to be approved; a locked step tells you what it is waiting for. The steps after STS are separate branches, so you run only the ones you need: Tasks, Compliance, Traceability and Proposal do not depend on one another. See How the pipeline works.

Do I have to write an RFP?

No. You can upload one — a PDF, Word (.docx) or text file — when you create the project or later with Upload RFP. Or describe your idea in the project chat; when the agent has enough, it offers Generate RFP, which drafts the RFP from the conversation for your review. See RFP.

Does every step need an approval?

Only the steps that produce a document for review: RFP, Scope, SRS, SDS, STS and Proposal. They stop at "Awaiting your review" with Approve and Request changes. Tasks, Compliance and Traceability are complete as soon as they finish. An RFP you upload counts as approved by you. See Review, approve, request changes.

What happens if I re-run a step I already approved?

The step produces a new version, and that version needs approval again; until you approve it, the next step is locked. Documents further down keep their approvals, but the steps built on the older version show "re-run, upstream changed" so you know they may be out of date. If the re-run produces exactly the same document, you get "did not produce a new version" and nothing changes.

How long does a step take?

It depends on the step, the size of the project and the agent's model; steps that call the agent several times, such as SRS (several document parts) and Tasks (one call per design component), take longer. Each call to the agent has a deadline (ten minutes by default) and a whole run has a budget (25 minutes by default). You can follow progress live and stop a run at any time with Stop. See Run the pipeline.

What happens if I close the tab while a step is running?

The step keeps running; it runs on the server, not in your browser. When you open the project again, the page reconnects to the run if it is still going, or shows how it ended. The output of a finished run is kept for five minutes for replay; after that you see its outcome and its document, and Run History keeps the record.

Can two people run steps at the same time?

Not on the same project. A project runs one step at a time, and a second start is refused with "Another command is already running for this project." Approving and uploading an RFP also wait for the running step. Different projects run independently, up to any limit your organization has set on how many run at once. Chatting with the agent is never blocked by a running step.

Can I stop a step someone else started?

Yes, if you can see the project and your role allows stopping runs (Projects › Abort). See Members and permissions.

Documents

Can I edit a document by hand?

Not inside Alara Code. The reader shows each document and its Markdown source, but there is no editor, and documents are only ever written by the agent. To change a document that is awaiting review, use Request changes and list what to change, one change per line; only that step is regenerated. You can always download the Markdown and edit it outside Alara Code, but the copy in the project does not change. See Review, approve, request changes.

Can the chat change a document?

No. The project chat answers questions and helps you shape an idea into an RFP, but it never runs or changes a step. The only exceptions go through a step: Generate RFP runs the RFP step from the conversation, and typing a bare /scope (or another step name) in the message box runs that step. See Talk to the agent.

What formats can I export?

From the Download menu on any Markdown document: PDF document, Word document, Excel workbook, Web page (HTML) and Markdown. The files are built in your browser from the document you are reading. Older projects' Word or Excel files download as they are. See Read and export documents.

Why does my document show code instead of formatted text?

The reader's switch is set to Markdown, which shows the source. Click Preview at the top of the document.

Why does a diagram show an error instead of a picture?

Diagrams are drawn in your browser from the Mermaid text the agent wrote. If one does not parse, the reader shows "This diagram could not be drawn" with its source, and the rest of the document is unaffected. Ask for a fix with Request changes, or re-run the step. See Troubleshooting.

Where are older versions of a document?

Each run of a step writes a new numbered version, and the reader shows the current one. The version number is in the table at the top of every document. Approving a document stores that version as a fixed snapshot.

Does Alara Code generate code?

No. It produces documents (RFP, Scope, SRS, SDS, STS, Compliance, Traceability, Proposal) and the delivery tickets from the Tasks step. It does not write, build or deploy application code.

The agent

Can I use my own model?

Not directly. Every step runs on the Alara agent bound to the project, and the agent's model is configured in Alara, not in Alara Code; Alara Code never calls a model provider itself. To use a different model, bind a different agent from those your organization shares with Alara Code, in Settings › Agent. See Set up the project agent.

Why does a step fail with "The agent declined this step"?

The agent cannot see the skill file the step needs. Click Check agent in the project's Settings › Agent to see which files are missing, add them to the agent in Alara, and run the step again. See Troubleshooting.

Can I change the agent in the middle of a project?

Yes, with Change agent in Settings › Agent, as long as no step is running. Documents already produced stay as they are; the next step you run uses the new agent.

Whose Alara account does a step run as?

Yours — the person who starts the step. That is why a step needs a browser sign-in and asks you to sign in again when your session would expire before the run could finish. Every chat message likewise runs as the person who sends it.

Costs

How are costs counted?

The cost ledger records, for each run, the model used, the input, output and cache tokens, and a dollar figure worked out from per-model prices. At present, steps run on the Alara agent, and the agent does not report token usage back to Alara Code, so those runs add nothing to the ledger and their spend is not shown in Alara Code. Check usage in Alara. See Run history and costs.

Where do I see who ran a step and how it ended?

In the project's Run History tab: the last 20 runs, newest first, with who started each one, on which agent, its status, when it started and how long it took. Failed runs show their error. The Run history page in the sidebar lists runs across all your projects. See Run history and costs.

Access and data

Is my data isolated per organization?

Yes. Every project, document, run, ticket and chat message belongs to one organization, and every request is limited to the organization you are signed in to. A project in another organization simply does not exist for you. See Authentication and tenancy.

Who can see my project?

You as its creator, organization administrators, the people on the teams you gave access to when you created it (a whole team, or the members you picked), and the head of a department that owns one of those teams. A project with no teams attached is visible only to you and administrators. See Members and permissions.

Does creating a project let me do everything on it?

No. Seeing a project and acting on it are separate. What you can do — run steps, approve, stop runs, bind the agent, move tickets, push to a repository — depends on the grants in your organization role, where your deployment enforces them. A disabled button tells you which grant is missing.

What is pushed to my repository?

The Tasks step's epics and tickets under docs/implementation/, anything else in the project's docs/ folder, and the project brief CLAUDE.md when there is one. The step documents themselves are not pushed; download them from the Artifacts tab. A new repository gets one commit on its default branch; an existing repository gets a branch and a pull request instead. See Repository integration.

What happens when I delete a project?

Its documents, artifacts, board, run history and working files are removed permanently. The connected repository is not touched. You cannot delete a project while a step is running, and you type the project's name to confirm. See Projects.

Can I connect AI tools to Alara Code?

No. Alara Code offers no connection for coding agents or other AI tools. Steps, chat and agent binding run as the signed-in person, in the web app. The document set and tickets it produces are yours to use anywhere: push the documents to a repository, or work the tickets in Alara Plan.