| 1 | # Product |
| 2 | |
| 3 | <!-- impeccable:product-schema 1 --> |
| 4 | |
| 5 | ## Platform |
| 6 | |
| 7 | web (the public site and docs in `web/`), documenting a terminal application |
| 8 | (the Rust TUI in `crates/tui`). Paths below are relative to the repository |
| 9 | root. |
| 10 | |
| 11 | ## Users |
| 12 | |
| 13 | Developers who run a coding agent in their own terminal against their own |
| 14 | repositories: solo maintainers, small teams, and open-source contributors. They |
| 15 | arrive at the site to decide whether to install, to install, and then to look up |
| 16 | how a command, mode, or concept works. Many already use a competing agent and |
| 17 | compare on model choice, cost, and control. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | ## Product Purpose |
| 20 | |
| 21 | Codewhale is an open-source (MIT) coding agent and terminal UI written in Rust |
| 22 | (Ratatui + Tokio; sandboxed tools via Bubblewrap/Seatbelt). Given a model and a |
| 23 | task it reads the repository, edits files, runs the checks, and stops when the |
| 24 | job is done or it needs a human. The site exists to (1) get a developer from |
| 25 | "what is this" to a working install in one screen, and (2) be the canonical, |
| 26 | current documentation for the shipped release. Success is an install that works |
| 27 | and a docs answer found without leaving the page. |
| 28 | |
| 29 | ## Positioning |
| 30 | |
| 31 | Bring your own model. Codewhale is provider-neutral: any hosted, gateway, or |
| 32 | local model, and a different model per role. The user's model inventory is the |
| 33 | **Fleet** (`codewhale fleet`, `/fleet`; `pod` remains a compatibility alias). |
| 34 | Modes are Plan, Work, Operate; permission levels are Ask, Auto-Review, Full |
| 35 | Access. The agent runs on the user's machine, in the user's terminal — there is |
| 36 | no hosted runtime to sell. |
| 37 | |
| 38 | ## Operating Context |
| 39 | |
| 40 | - Install: official GitHub Releases first. New macOS/Linux installs use |
| 41 | `curl -fsSL https://codewhale.net/install.sh | sh`; Windows uses the matching |
| 42 | GitHub installer/archive. Existing direct installs use `codewhale update`. |
| 43 | npm and Cargo are secondary packaging routes; migration and PATH handling |
| 44 | follow `docs/INSTALL.md`. `latest` selects a published release, not the source |
| 45 | candidate. Facts (version, provider count, tool count, license) are |
| 46 | derived from the repository by `npm run prebuild` into |
| 47 | `web/lib/facts.generated.ts` and must never be hand-edited. |
| 48 | - Docs pages mirror `docs/*.md` in the repository; `npm run check:docs` |
| 49 | verifies the mapping. Public vocabulary lives in |
| 50 | `web/lib/content/vocabulary.ts` and `docs/public-surface-facts.json`. |
| 51 | - Localised through shared dictionaries in `web/lib/i18n/dictionaries/` with |
| 52 | locale-key parity enforced; no page-local copy forks. |
| 53 | - The terminal puts the conversation above the composer, posture and metrics. |
| 54 | Its workbar exposes Tasks, Fleet, Jobs, Files, Notes, Context, Git and Cost. |
| 55 | Product previews come from the installed native TUI's actual PTY cells; |
| 56 | the Ratatui explorer separately demonstrates reusable components with example data. |
| 57 | |
| 58 | ## Capabilities and Constraints |
| 59 | |
| 60 | - Public name is **Codewhale** (lowercase w). `CodeWhale` survives only in |
| 61 | compatibility identifiers (GitHub org/repo, package scopes). |
| 62 | - Provider and model names are first-class and neutral; never rank providers |
| 63 | in copy. |
| 64 | - `web/lib/media-manifest.ts` records the exact captured native build and |
| 65 | shared README image. Home, composer, workbar, provider selection and help |
| 66 | are captured in an isolated offline session, with their original text and |
| 67 | colors. They appear on the homepage, product page and getting-started guide. |
| 68 | Session video remains `pending`; static UI captures do not claim a completed |
| 69 | provider workflow. Build captions distinguish development builds from releases. |
| 70 | - `/context-window` does not exist on the current base; do not document it. |
| 71 | - Subagent role identifiers are those the code accepts (`general`, `explore`, |
| 72 | `planner`, `reviewer`, `implement`, `test`, `advisor`, `custom`); the older |
| 73 | spellings `worker`, `scout`, `builder`, `verifier`, `consultant`, and `oracle` |
| 74 | are accepted as compatibility aliases only. Do not invent public role names. |
| 75 | |
| 76 | ## Brand Commitments |
| 77 | |
| 78 | - Voice: quiet, dense, factual. Terminal vocabulary, no marketing superlatives, |
| 79 | no fabricated transcripts or reasoning traces. |
| 80 | - "It doesn't need to look special — it needs to look like Codewhale." |
| 81 | - Assets: the canonical vector family lives in the CWC repo at |
| 82 | `codewhale-apps/packages/brand/svg/` (mark, mark-gradient, mark-mono, |
| 83 | mark-reversed, wordmark, wordmark-inverted); `brand/` and |
| 84 | `web/public/brand/` carry byte-identical copies — sync from there, never |
| 85 | re-trace. The founder's brand sheet `brand/codewhalemarkfinal.png` remains |
| 86 | the source `scripts/brand/braille-mark.py` derives TUI launch art from. The |
| 87 | earlier local trace and `scripts/brand/trace-brand.py` were retired |
| 88 | 2026-09-15 in favor of the canonical family. Web copies live in |
| 89 | `web/public/brand/`. |
| 90 | - Palette, type, shell direction, and the anti-slop rules are recorded in |
| 91 | `docs/design/DESIGN.md`; the colour tokens are owned by `crates/palette/src/rgb.rs` |
| 92 | and exported to `web/app/tokens.css`. |
| 93 | |
| 94 | ## Evidence on Hand |
| 95 | |
| 96 | - Real: GitHub stars (live), release version and changelog (generated), |
| 97 | provider/tool counts (generated), the v0.9.12 development-build screenshot. |
| 98 | - Absent, do not fabricate: testimonials, customer logos, benchmarks, |
| 99 | pricing, session video, or media of a published 0.9.12 release. |
| 100 | |
| 101 | ## Product Principles |
| 102 | |
| 103 | 1. One owner per fact: every number and command on the site is derived from |
| 104 | the repository, never typed twice. |
| 105 | 2. Content first: no permanent side chrome on the landing page; the docs page |
| 106 | is a reading surface, not a portal. |
| 107 | 3. Show only what exists: pending media stays marked pending; commands are |
| 108 | documented only once they are on the base branch. |
| 109 | 4. Provider-neutral, model-neutral, always. |
| 110 | 5. Accessibility is not negotiable: AA contrast, ≥12px functional text, real |
| 111 | heading outline, keyboard-reachable everything. |
| 112 | |
| 113 | ## Accessibility & Inclusion |
| 114 | |
| 115 | WCAG 2.2 AA for text and controls. The audience includes screen-reader and |
| 116 | keyboard-only developers; the site is also read at 390px on phones. |
| 117 |