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Add a first project

A project is a git repository PDT works in. Each ticket you start gets its own branch and folder (a git worktree) in the project, so agents never edit your main checkout and several can work at once.

Add it

In Get started, open Add a project and click Choose a folder… (or Add project in the Settings list of projects). Then pick one:

  • Folder: a repository already on your machine. Give the Repository path, and a Name if you want one other than the folder’s.
  • Clone URL: a repository to clone. Give the Repository URL and, under Into folder, where to clone it. With GitHub connected, Clone from GitHub… in Get started opens this directly.
  • Personal (no repo): for work that isn’t code (notes, research, planning). Each ticket works in a folder of its own.

Each project has a Key of 2–10 letters and digits, suggested from its name, that numbers its tickets: ALP-1, ALP-2 and so on.

Clones go in your projects folder, ~/work unless you change it in Settings › This host › Projects folder.

What PDT uses from your repository

  • The base branch: your repository’s default branch, usually main. New tickets branch from it and are reviewed against it. Change it in the project’s settings.
  • The origin remote: when it’s on GitHub (and GitHub is connected), PDT follows the project’s pull requests and CI.

PDT needs no files of its own in your repository.

Optional: how to run and test it

Run and Test start your project on a branch, each on its own port with its own data, as described in .pdt/project.toml in your repository. To have an agent write it, open the project’s settings and, under Runs on this host, click Set up with an agent. Agents can work on tickets without it. See Run configuration.

Optional: instructions for agents

Agent instructions in the project’s settings is anything every agent on this project should know (how to run the checks, conventions, what not to touch). PDT adds it to what it tells each agent it starts here. Agents still read their usual files, such as AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.md.

Next

A first ticket.