Get Started

Initialize a Project

Create a new directory for your project and run ace init. This scaffolds the .ace/ directory with all required config files.

mkdir my-project && cd my-project
ace init

The init wizard will ask for:

• →Project name and slug
• →Target stack (Next.js, plain HTML, etc.)
• →GitHub repo (optional — enables auto-push)
• →Firebase project (optional — enables auto-deploy)

Write Your Task Brief

Open .ace/TASK.md and describe what you want Ace to build. Be specific — Ace uses this as its primary specification. The more detail, the better the output.

# Task: Build a personal blog

## Objective
Create a Next.js 15 blog with:
- Home page with hero and features section
- Blog index at /blog
- Individual post pages at /blog/[slug]
- Firestore backend for posts
- Admin panel at /admin (email/password auth)

## Design
Scientific Brutalism — monospace, hard edges, cream/ink palette.

## Deploy
Firebase App Hosting at my-blog.web.app

Spawn a Sprout

A sprout is an autonomous Claude Code session that reads your TASK.md and builds the project. Spawn one with:

ace spawn

Ace will open a new Claude Code session (in a new terminal window or pane), inject the CLAUDE.md instructions, and the sprout will immediately begin working through your task brief — writing code, running builds, testing, committing, and deploying.

Monitor Progress

Watch your sprout in real time using the Ace dashboard:

ace status
ace logs --follow

The sprout writes heartbeats to the Ace database every few minutes. If a heartbeat goes stale, Ace automatically screenshots the session and investigates.

Review and Iterate

When the sprout marks all tasks complete, review the deployed output. To refine or extend, update TASK.md and spawn a new sprout — it will read prior progress from the database and continue from where the last session left off.

# View completed tasks
ace tasks --status completed

# Add more work and re-spawn
ace spawn --resume