Skip to content
Xal Software Factory

Onboarding

xal-factory init sets up a factory in about two minutes. Every question shows its default, Enter takes it, and every answer is followed by the one command that changes it later.

Terminal window
xal-factory init            # ask
xal-factory init --yes      # take every default
xal-factory init --set pipeline.chain=on --set plan.session_ceiling_usd=40   # script it

What it asks

Section titled “What it asks”

The factory. Your GitHub owner (read from gh), a name, and the ops repo’s name and location. The ops repo holds admitted specs, the status file, the cost ledger and the idea inbox.

How the factory runs. The options marked asked on the options page. The defaults are the safe choice: the driver builds a session only when you dispatch it, nothing chains, and nothing merges without you.

Asked Default What you are choosing
escalation label needs-human the label a stopped pull request gets
fallback language go what seed pre-selects; the stack ADR still decides
driver model the strongest quality against cost, per session
plan and session ceilings $600, $70 the spend bounds every plan starts with
driver on whether /run-session builds sessions, or you build them by hand
chain off whether a merged session dispatches the next
auto-merge off what may merge with no person present
status nudge, idea inbox on the ops repo’s weekday nudge and /idea inbox

What it does

Section titled “What it does”
  1. Checks your tools and that git has an identity (the seeders commit; it asks for one if not).
  2. Seeds the ops repo with its gate, and writes your answers into its .xal/factory.conf: only the ones that differ from a default. That file is the factory profile: every service you seed starts from it.
  3. Offers to create the ops repo on GitHub (private), open and pin the idea inbox, and switch its workflows to match. Say no and it prints the commands instead.
  4. Prints a summary of every option and its value, and what to do next.

Then

Section titled “Then”
Terminal window
xal-factory seed orders     # a service repo, from the profile, with its gate and pipeline
cd orders && ./scripts/check.sh
xal-factory apply           # once pushed: workflows on or off as the profile says

The seeder prints what remains yours: installing the Claude GitHub App, setting three secrets, and writing each secret’s real expiry into .xal/gate-inputs. Gate 0 stays red until you do, on purpose.