Project onboarding and discovery

Scope

Support existing AIOS projects, local repositories and remote repositories. Later adapters can add databases, APIs, documents and visual references. Onboarding establishes understanding and access before engineering tasks begin.

Desired experience

Show existing projects first when available. If the user supplies a repository, inspect its accessible metadata and source before asking what it does. A public repository should not require a token. For private sources, check assigned credentials and request only the missing access.

Stream concrete discovery updates into chat: sources opened, components found, evidence and unresolved questions. Offer optional user corrections while discovery continues wherever access permits. User descriptions are useful evidence, not a prerequisite for inspecting supplied code.

Decisions

Never assume a repository's purpose from its name.
Separate observed facts, user statements and hypotheses.
Do not execute installation scripts merely to discover a project.
Exclude credentials and sensitive configuration from conversational summaries.
Maintain a project map with source references; diagrams must be correctable by the user.
Reuse existing Projects concepts and supported runtime bindings without merging all product workflows into the legacy Projects UI.

Existing and pending

The handoff records project catalogue/import preparation and chat onboarding support. Complete autonomous discovery, comprehensive source connectors and an editable project map are not established by current verification. Repository importer assignment/integration remains partly unfinished.

Implementation tasks

ID	Deliverable	Status
DISC-01	Catalogue selection and source-access resolution	Existing foundation; complete-flow verification pending
DISC-02	Evidence-based repository inventory with streamed discoveries	Pending
DISC-03	Interactive gap questions and editable project map	Pending
DISC-04	User-reviewed understanding and handoff to work planning	Pending

Acceptance evidence required

Select an existing project; onboard a public repository without a token; deny ungranted private access; request the missing credential without exposing it; continue discovery when optional questions go unanswered; preserve user corrections and show their source. These are planned scenarios, not test results.

Related areas

Agent Mate overview — A guide to the separate designs and how they fit together.
Architecture and runtime integration — How Agent Mate uses the existing runtime without depending on dashboard lifetime.
Connections, credentials, and permissions — Shared connection ownership, project grants, key handling and revocation.
Execution, recovery, and progress tracking — Independent tasks, cancellation, uncertain outcomes and durable progress.
Project-scoped MCP for Agent Mate — The existing seven-task MCP plan: grants, bridge integration, revocation and acceptance.