What does tares factory crew up ask me the first time I run it?

Tares asks a short set of crew questions the first time you run tares factory crew up. It offers to open Claude Code in ~/factory so you can trust the folder once. Then it asks whether the crew merges on its own or waits for your yes, whether it releases, whether a second model checks every commit, how many builders run at once, and what you always allow. Tares keeps your answers.

How it works

The crew lives in a folder of its own, ~/factory. On the first run, tares factory crew up offers to open Claude Code there, so you trust the folder once and the crew’s sessions can start without asking again.

Then it asks how far the crew may go:

• Merging. Does the crew merge on its own after review and green CI (the recommended choice), or does it wait for your yes? Each builder takes a ticket, works on its own branch and opens a pull request. The reviewer holds every pull request to a fixed bar. With the recommended choice, a builder merges once the reviewer passes the change and CI is green.
• Releasing. Does the crew release? The releaser is a station that only exists if you ask for one. It tags and deploys. Without it, tickets end at merged on main.
• A second model. Should a second model check every commit? This uses the Codex CLI, which is optional.
• Builders. How many builders run at once? The orchestrator starts builders per milestone and repo for each project, up to the number you allow.
• Always allowed. Is there anything you always allow?

Tares keeps the answers. The sessions come and go, but the record stays on Tares, so a crew that restarts carries on where it stopped.

crew up also starts a watch in the background. The watch brings back any station that stops, so you do not have to restart sessions by hand.

One crew serves every project you hand it. A single project can still wait for your yes before every merge, even when the rest of the crew merges on its own.

Set it up

Get to the first run in this order. Steps marked local apply only to a local Tares, and steps marked cloud only to Tares Cloud. The full walkthrough is on Get started.

1. Check that Claude Code is signed in on a plan that allows background sessions. Sign in to gh with write access to the repos the crew works in, and make sure git, jq and curl are installed.

   gh auth login

2. Install the CLI.

   uv tool install tares     # or: brew install glassflow/tap/tares

3. Local only: start Tares.

   tares up

4. Local only: in a second terminal, start the MCP endpoint every crew session shares. The stations reach Tares only through this endpoint, so crew up stops and tells you when it does not answer.

   tares mcp --transport streamable-http

5. Cloud only: sign in and pick your workspace in the browser.

   tares login

6. Give Tares access to GitHub. On a local Tares, go to Settings > GitHub. On Tares Cloud, choose Connect GitHub. Tares reads the pull request, CI and merge state of every ticket itself, so it needs its own access to the repos.

7. Bring up the crew and answer the first-run questions.

   tares factory crew up

   Accept the offer to open Claude Code in ~/factory and trust the folder. Then choose your merge, release, second-model, builder and always-allow settings.

8. Plan a project. This comes after crew up.

   tares factory spec "what you want to build"

Run tares factory doctor at any point to check everything the crew needs.

What you get

• A crew that runs under the rules you chose: merging on its own after review and green CI, or waiting for your yes.
• A releaser only if you wanted one, and tickets that end at merged on main if you did not.
• An optional second model checking every commit.
• A cap on how many builders run at once.
• Your answers kept on Tares, so a restarted crew carries on without asking again.
• A background watch that brings back any station that stops.

After that, tares factory crew status shows the stations, the questions for you and a line per project. tares factory crew attach orchestrator opens the orchestrator, the one session you talk to, so you can answer its questions one at a time.

When something else fits

• If you want to work on one project in your own Claude Code session instead of running a crew, use tares factory session. It still keeps the plan and the session record on Tares.
• If you want every merge to wait for you, answer that the crew waits for your yes. A single project can also wait for your yes before every merge while the rest of the crew merges on its own.

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