Getting started

Ten minutes from first launch to watching a swarm work. The welcome screen walks you through the same three steps.

1. Connect a provider

Your cofounder needs a model to think with. Click the provider badge (top right), pick a provider — Anthropic is the default — and paste an API key. The key goes into your OS keychain and never touches disk.

2. Open a repository

Open any project folder. If it's already a git repo, you're set; if not, SwarmDesk initializes one so workers have branches to work on. Opening a workspace also wires up its task board automatically. You can optionally let the cofounder map the codebase into shared memory — it makes every later conversation smarter about your code.

3. Talk to your cofounder

Describe what you want in the chat on the right, the way you'd brief a technical partner:

Auth is broken after the router upgrade.
Find it, fix it, and add a regression test.

The cofounder plans the work, picks agents, and dispatches workers. Each worker runs in a real terminal, in its own git worktree on its own branch — your checkout is never touched. Watch them stream in the center grid; click into any terminal and type if you want to steer.

4. Your own terminals

The + Terminal button opens interactive sessions you drive yourself — pick an agent, choose in repo (works like a normal CLI session in your checkout) or isolated branch (its own worktree), and open one to four at once.

5. Merging — always gated

When a worker finishes, the cofounder summarizes what changed and asks before anything lands. Review the diff, run the tests, and approve — or don't. Nothing merges into your branch without your explicit yes. That's the contract.