Guides

Orient to a Codebase

Before writing code, fixing bugs, or reviewing PRs, ask your agent to get oriented. This loads the full architecture and onboarding context for a codebase, so every follow-up question is grounded in accurate structure.

Example Prompts

  • "Get oriented with my-backend"
  • "What is the architecture of my-backend?"
  • "Give me an overview of this codebase"

What Happens

The agent calls two Driver tools:

  1. get_atlas_index - Returns a thematic map of the codebase organized by what its subsystems do, with routes into each one.
  2. get_atlas_detail - Opens a section the index advertises, returning its narrative, its coupling rules, and its member files.

Together these load 1-2 pages of dense, pre-computed context into the agent's working memory. Every question you ask after this point benefits from that foundation.

Tip: Run this at the start of every session, not just the first one. Agent context resets between sessions. Re-orienting takes seconds and prevents the agent from guessing at architecture it has already forgotten.