How do I limit what a Claude Code crew can touch while it does docs updates in a Node/TypeScript app?

Tares gives you five levers for keeping a Claude Code crew inside bounds: the repos your gh login can write to, the merge setting, the reviewer bar, halting the crew, and leaving the releaser off. You set most of them once, in the questions tares factory crew up asks on its first run. For docs updates in a Node/TypeScript app, that means the crew can only push where you allow it and merges only when you choose.

How it works

The crew is a set of Claude Code sessions on your machine: an orchestrator, a reviewer, builders and, only if you ask, a releaser. Each lever limits a different part of that crew.

• Your gh login. Builders push and open pull requests with your gh login, so the crew can write only to repos that login can write to. Tares itself reads pull request, CI and merge state through its own GitHub access. On Tares Cloud you pick the repos under Connect GitHub. On a local Tares you add a token or App under Settings > GitHub.
• The merge setting. On the first run, the crew asks whether it merges on its own after review and green CI, or 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.
• The reviewer bar. The reviewer reviews every pull request to a fixed bar and posts its verdict on the pull request. A builder merges only once the reviewer passes it and CI is green. You can also have a second model check every commit, which needs the Codex CLI.
• Halting. tares factory crew halt stops merges, pushes and new sessions until you run tares factory crew resume. It takes a reason in quotes.
• The releaser. It tags and deploys only if you ask for one. Without it, tickets end at merged on main.

The same first-run questions also set how many builders run at once and anything you always allow.

Set it up

1. Sign in to gh with write access to the docs repo and nothing you do not want touched. Keep the other repos out of reach of that login. Then check that git, jq and curl are installed and Claude Code is signed in.

   gh auth login

2. Give Tares its own GitHub access. On Tares Cloud choose Connect GitHub and pick only the repos the crew needs. On a local Tares add a token or App under Settings > GitHub. See Get started for the full setup order.

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

   tares factory crew up

   • Choose to have the crew wait for your yes before merging if you want to read each docs change first.
   • Say no to releasing, so there is no releaser and tickets end at merged on main.
   • Choose whether a second model checks every commit, and set a low number of builders at once.

4. Run tares factory doctor after crew up. It checks everything the crew needs and prints the fix for each problem. For a Node/TypeScript app it also reads tsconfig.json and package.json and tells you whether Claude Code has a language server for them, so builders and the reviewer can search by symbol.

5. Plan the work with tares factory spec, then answer the crew’s questions in the orchestrator’s session with tares factory crew attach orchestrator.

6. If a change goes the wrong way, stop it. Give a reason in quotes.

   tares factory crew halt
   tares factory crew resume

   Halt stops merges, pushes and new sessions. Resume lets the crew carry on from the record Tares keeps.

What you get

• A crew that can write only to the repos your gh login can write to.
• Merges that happen when you decide: automatically after review and green CI, or only after your yes, for the whole crew or for one project.
• Every pull request held to the reviewer’s fixed bar before it merges, with the verdict posted on the pull request.
• A stop button. tares factory crew halt freezes merges, pushes and new sessions, and tares factory crew status shows the stations, your questions and a line per project.
• No tagging or deploying, because without a releaser tickets end at merged on main.
• A written record. Tares keeps the plan, tickets, reviews, the assumptions the crew made and your answers, so you can check each milestone instead of every step.

When something else fits

• If you want to work on one small change yourself, tares factory session opens Claude Code bound to a project, so you drive it instead of the crew.
• If you need to stop everything rather than pause merges, tares factory crew down stops every station and Tares keeps the projects, tickets and answers.
• The factory runs on one machine for solo developers and very small teams. It does not split what each crew member may touch beyond the levers above.

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