Getting started

This walkthrough takes one project from nothing to an approved scope: sign in, create the project, bind and check its agent, talk the idea through, get an RFP, and run the first step. Each stage says what you will see on screen.

Before you start

You need three things:

• An account in your organization. You sign in with your organization's PolyX account.
• A reasoning agent shared with Alara Code. An Alara admin creates it (or you do, in Alara) and shares it with the Alara Code app for your organization. It carries the Alara Code skill files. Set up the project agent covers this once, in detail.
• The right role. Running, approving and requesting changes need the Projects › Run permission; stopping a run needs Projects › Abort; binding and checking the agent needs Projects › Binding; creating a project needs Projects › create. If a button is disabled, hover it — it names the permission you are missing.

1. Sign in

Open Alara Code and sign in. The sign-in form handles everything your organization requires: a new password if one is due, a six-digit verification code, and choosing a workspace if you belong to more than one. You land on Projects, which lists every project in your workspace.

2. Create the project

Press New project. The wizard, Start a new project, has three steps shown across the top: Project details, Review & create, and Repository.

Project details

The footer tells you what is still missing — for example "Still needed: project name." — and Continue takes you on once everything required is filled in.

Review & create

A summary of the name, client, type, RFP file and team. Edit takes you back. Press Create project. If you attached an RFP, it is uploaded now and recorded as approved.

Repository

The project now exists. For a new system you can connect GitHub or Azure DevOps and create a repository, or press Skip for now. An existing system must connect its repository here. Either way you finish on the project page. See Repository integration for this step.

3. Bind and check the agent

If you picked an agent in the wizard, it is already bound. Otherwise open the project's Settings in the left-hand project menu and find the Agent card:

1. Press Bind an agent, choose one of the agents shared with your organization, and press Bind agent.
2. Press Check agent. Alara Code asks the agent which skill files it can see.
   • "The agent sees every skill file — it is ready to run steps." means you are ready.
   • Otherwise the card lists the missing file names. Add them to the agent in Alara as reference files, then check again.

Without a bound agent, SDLC Studio shows No Alara agent bound with an Open Project Settings link in place of the message box.

4. Talk the idea through

Open SDLC Studio. On a project without an RFP you see Start with your idea, and the message box invites you to "Describe your idea to the agent — who it is for, what it must do, any deadline or budget…".

Type and press Enter (Shift+Enter for a new line). Your message appears on the right; the agent's reply streams in below it, showing Thinking… and then Writing… as it goes. The agent asks up to three focused questions at a time — about users, goals, must-have features, integrations and constraints.

When the conversation covers enough — the problem, who uses it, the main goals and the core features — the agent says so, and a banner appears: "The agent has enough to draft your RFP." with a Generate RFP button.

5. Get an RFP

Choose one of the two routes:

• Generate RFP. Press the banner's button (or the RFP's play button in the step rail). The agent drafts the RFP from the last 60 messages of the chat. You watch it in a live panel, and it finishes as Awaiting your review.
• Upload RFP. Press Upload RFP in the step rail and pick a PDF, .docx, .txt or .md file. An uploaded RFP is approved as soon as it is uploaded; a toast confirms that /scope is unlocked.

6. Review and approve the RFP

A drafted RFP ends with a document card and two buttons:

1. Press Read on the card. The document opens beside the conversation, with a contents panel and a Download menu.
2. If it is right, press Approve. A toast confirms the approval and the next step unlocks.
3. If it needs work, press Request changes, type one change per line in the box that appears, and press Enter. Only the RFP is regenerated, and it comes back for review.

7. Run /scope

With the RFP approved, the composer says "Run /scope next — Project Scope". Start it any of these ways:

• press the play button beside Project Scope in the step rail,
• press the round button with the message box empty (it runs the next available step),
• or type /scope and press Enter.

The run appears as a turn in the conversation: a Working status, a progress bar and the list of stages (Checking project state, Extracting scope from inputs, Validating against schema, Persisting to project state, Writing the Markdown document), and a live panel with Summary and Raw views. A Stop button ends the run if you need to.

8. Review, then continue

When /scope finishes it shows Awaiting your review and a card for the Project Scope. Read it, then approve it or request changes. Approving unlocks /srs; from there each step follows the same pattern — run, watch, read, approve — through SDS, STS and the rest.

Where to go next

• Key concepts — gates, versions, approvals and ids.
• Run the pipeline — progress, stopping and failures in detail.
• Review, approve, request changes — what each decision resets.
• Read and export documents — the reader and the export formats.