How Bystep works
Bystep turns an idea or an existing codebase into a PRD, features and a layered backlog, then hands tasks to your AI coding agent one at a time through the CLI.
1. Plan
Describe the idea. Bystep asks five clarifying questions, then writes a PRD with seven fixed sections, maps it into features → sub-features, and breaks every feature into 8–20 tasks.
Tasks are layered on purpose: every frontend task is built on mock data first, and backend tasks (schema → API → realtime) follow. You can click through the UI before a single line of backend exists.
2. Hand it to your agent
Press Start building → Prompt for your AI agent and paste the prompt into Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, OpenCode or any agent with a terminal.
The prompt logs the agent in with a personal token, binds the repo to your workspace, installs the bystep skill, and starts the loop:
npx bystep task next --plan <id> --json # the server picks ONE task
npx bystep task start <ref>
# … work …
npx bystep task complete <ref>
The agent never sees the whole backlog — it asks for one task, finishes it, and asks again.
3. Checkpoints
Whenever the next task changes layer (frontend → backend) or phase, the agent stops and reports. You verify in the browser, then say continue. That's the whole idea: powerful agent, human decides when to move on.
4. Codebase sync (privacy-first)
npx bystep sync --plan scans the repo, respects .gitignore, refuses .env and secrets, and uploads only file paths, sizes, hashes and languages. Your agent writes a short summary per file locally; only summaries are uploaded. From those, Bystep builds a wiki and unlocks the next plan in the workspace.
5. Revising the plan
Ask the Bystep Agent to change the PRD. Every change creates a proposal (added / updated / removed) that you approve or reject — nothing is overwritten silently.