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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://ona.com/docs/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

Ona Quickstart By the end of this guide you’ll have an environment running your code and an agent working on your first task. Sign up for free →
Want to run Ona in your own VPC? Get in touch to set up a self-hosted deployment on AWS or GCP.

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Prerequisites

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1. Create a project

Ona Projects A project connects a repository to Ona, giving you a single place to manage environments, Automations, secrets, and team access for that codebase. Once a project exists, anyone on your team can spin up a fully configured environment in seconds. No local setup, no “works on my machine” problems. Go to Projects > New Project, select your Git provider, and pick a repository. See Create your first project for a detailed walkthrough.
Speed up environment starts with prebuilds and warm pools so environments are ready before anyone needs them.

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2. Start an environment

Ona Environment From your project, click Create Environment. Ona clones the repository into a container and provisions a development environment. Once the environment is running, you can open VS Code in your browser, talk to Ona, or connect your preferred IDE.
If the environment stays in a loading state for more than two minutes, check that your repository is accessible and that your Git provider is connected under Settings > Git Authentications. See troubleshooting for more.

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3. Talk to Ona

Once your environment is running, you have a session with Ona. Describe what you want to build, fix, or explore: Paste one of these prompts into Ona:
Explore a codebase
”Explain the architecture of this codebase”
Paste into Ona
Fix failing tests
”Fix the failing tests in the auth module”
Paste into Ona
Add a feature
”Add a new API endpoint for user preferences, following the patterns in the existing code”
Paste into Ona
Review pull requests
”Review the open pull requests and leave detailed code review comments”
Paste into Ona
If you’ve connected Linear or Jira, you can ask Ona to pick up tickets directly:
Pick up a Linear ticket
”Pick up the next ticket assigned to me in Linear and start working on it”
Paste into Ona
Implement a Jira ticket
”Look at PROJ-142 in Jira and implement what’s described”
Paste into Ona

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4. Optimize your environment

Ona works out of the box with a default image, but you’ll get better results with a configured environment. You can set this up manually or let Ona do it. It will analyze your repository and generate a devcontainer.json and automations.yaml tailored to your codebase. Open Ona, then paste the prompt below if you want Ona to generate a starter configuration for the current environment. Open Ona → 
Create a high-quality, fully working "development environment as code" configuration for the current environment.

The setup must work for:
  - Ona development environments, which use DevContainer configurations.
  - All Git repositories mounted under the DevContainer workspace.

Required Process
  1. Read the documentation to fully understand:
    - Ona automations, secrets, environment variables, CLI, and prebuilds.
    - DevContainer fundamentals and how they integrate with Ona and VS Code.
  2. Analyze the source code and identify:
    - Documentation on dev setup or contribution guidelines.
    - Configuration files for containers, IDEs, build tools, environment variables, etc.
  3. Update all necessary files, including:
    - devcontainer.json
    - Ona automations (tasks and services)
  4. Run the Acceptance Tests and iterate until they pass.

Success Criteria
  - The DevContainer includes all tools needed to work with any file in any repo.
  - Ona automation services exist for every service required to run any app.
  - Ona automation tasks exist for all standard development workflows.
  - If an app exposes a TCP port, the DevContainer must forward it.
  - The DevContainer installs all VS Code extensions necessary to work effectively.

Allowed Sources
  - Ona documentation: https://ona.com/docs/llms.txt
  - DevContainer documentation: https://containers.dev/
  - DevContainers in VS Code: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/devcontainers/containers
  - DevContainer base images: https://hub.docker.com/r/microsoft/devcontainers
  - Any publicly available DevContainer features
See configure your environment for a full reference on manual configuration.

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5. Run agents in the background

Ona Automations Start multiple tasks from the home page using Cmd+Enter (Ctrl+Enter on Windows/Linux). Each task gets its own environment, so agents work in parallel without file conflicts. When you’re ready to automate that on a schedule, set up Automations to run agents on triggers like new issues or pull requests:
10x engineer
Daily, picks your top Linear issue, implements it, runs tests, and opens a draft PR.
Use template →
Scan recent commits for bugs
Scans recent commits for likely bugs and proposes minimal fixes in a draft PR.
Use template →
Sentry error triage and fix
Finds the top unresolved Sentry error, traces it to source, applies a fix, and opens a PR.
Use template →
Draft weekly release notes
Drafts release notes from the week’s merged PRs, grouped by category with summaries.
Use template →
CVE mitigation and dependency updates
Scans for CVEs or outdated dependencies, updates them, runs tests, and opens a PR with the fix.
Use template →
Daily standup generator
Pulls Linear sprint data and git activity to post a formatted daily standup update.
Use template →

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Tips

  • Be specific. Describe the exact symptom and location rather than saying “fix the bug.” See be explicit.
  • Plan first. For complex tasks, ask Ona to plan before implementing. See plan before building.
  • Commit often. Ask Ona to commit working changes as checkpoints. See commit early, commit often.

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Next steps