Content
<div align="center">
<img src="docs/screenshots/logo.svg" alt="great_cto" width="280" />
**Ship products with the coding agent you already have.**
[](https://www.npmjs.com/package/great-cto)
[](https://www.npmjs.com/package/great-cto)
[](LICENSE)
[](https://claude.com/claude-code) [](https://github.com/openai/codex)
<a href="https://greatcto.systems/proof"><img src="https://greatcto.systems/assets/one-real-run.gif" alt="One real run, end to end: prompt, architect, human gate, parallel implementers, a reviewer's PARTIAL and the fix, 47 passing assertions, the ship gate, the merged PR — 1h 26m, $3.40" width="720" /></a>
```bash
npx great-cto init
```
[Website](https://greatcto.systems) · [One real run →](https://greatcto.systems/proof) · [Blog](https://greatcto.systems/blog/) · [Changelog](CHANGELOG.md)
[Русский](docs/ru/README.md) · [简体中文](docs/zh-CN/README.md) · [繁體中文](docs/zh-TW/README.md) · [日本語](docs/ja/README.md) · [한국어](docs/ko/README.md) · [Español](docs/es/README.md) · [Português](docs/pt-BR/README.md) · [Deutsch](docs/de/README.md) · [Français](docs/fr/README.md)
</div>
---
**Your coding agent ships code. This is what checks it.**
Describe a product or a feature. **71 agents** with narrow jobs take it through
brief, architecture, build, review and security; a second model from another family
reads the same diff. Three decisions stay yours — what gets built, how, and
whether it ships — and what lands is a **repository you own** and a **URL that
works**. You pay your own LLM provider; great_cto is MIT and bills nothing.
## Quick start
```bash
npx great-cto init
```
Restart Claude Code. Day to day there are three things:
| | In Claude Code | In the terminal |
|---|---|---|
| **Start work** | `/start "add Google login"` | `great-cto run "add Google login"` |
| **See what needs you** | `/inbox` | `great-cto status` |
| **Continue** | `/resume` | `great-cto resume` |
`/start` takes a new product or a task in an existing project and picks the
workflow itself. `/resume` continues only what you already approved; a pending
decision still waits for you. Everything else — `/review`, `/spec`, `/save`,
`/digest` and the rest — is there when you need it:
[all commands](docs/COMMANDS.md).
<p align="center">
<img src="docs/screenshots/board.png" alt="The board at localhost:3141" width="900" />
</p>
The board at `localhost:3141` opens on **Work** — your tasks, the decisions
waiting on you, and what already shipped. Cost, agents and reviewers are under
**Tools**. Nothing on it renders an absence as a pass: a check that could not
decide reads `unverifiable`, a cost nobody measured `unmeasured`, a reviewer
that could not run `unavailable`.
## On OpenAI Codex
`npx great-cto init --host codex` gives Codex the skills, the MCP server and six
safety guards as plugin hooks (approve them once: run `codex` in a terminal and
choose **Trust all and continue**). Codex has no native plugin surface for slash
commands or role agents, so the pipeline runs through the CLI instead:
```bash
great-cto run "add Google login" --host codex --allow src,tests,docs
great-cto status --host codex
great-cto resume --host codex
```
Codex never updates the plugin by itself — `great-cto upgrade` does. Details,
mixed Claude + Codex runs and Codex as the second reviewer:
[Codex host guide](docs/HOST-CODEX.md).
## When it stops you
One line in `.great_cto/PROJECT.md`:
| `approval-level` | Stops you at | Stops |
|---|---|---|
| **`ship-only`** | **the deploy — and briefs you on what gets built** | **1** |
| `product-only` | what we build · whether it ships | 2 |
| `gates-only` *(default)* | what we build · the design · the deploy | 3 |
| `strict` | the design · code review · the deploy | 3 |
| `auto` | nothing in the pipeline | 0 |
Regulated products — fintech, healthcare, gov — keep their security, compliance
and ship gates at every level. [How the gates work](docs/GATES.md).
## Numbers, measured
| | |
|---|---|
| One feature, end to end, fully traced | **1h 26m · $3.40** in tokens — [the receipts](https://greatcto.systems/proof) |
| A whole product — 7 built in the open benchmark | median **$171** in tokens · **70/100** quality, measured **2026-07-10** — [reproduce it](docs/benchmarks/BENCH-2026-07-batch1.md) |
| Typical month, 20 pipeline runs | **~$34** — you pay your own LLM provider, nothing else |
## Limitations
For one builder, not a team; not a hosted app builder — it needs your coding
agent; not a CI/CD system; compliance scaffolds are starting points, not
certifications; LLM output is not deterministic. The honest version of each,
and what it refuses to claim: [docs/DETAILS.md](docs/DETAILS.md).
## Learn more
[Docs](docs/README.md) · [Getting started](docs/tutorials/getting-started.md) ·
[Commands](docs/COMMANDS.md) · [Gates](docs/GATES.md) · [Agents](docs/reference/agents.md) ·
[FAQ](docs/FAQ.md) · [Everything else](docs/DETAILS.md) ·
[Issues](https://github.com/avelikiy/great_cto/issues) · [Security](SECURITY.md) ·
[Contributing](CONTRIBUTING.md) · [Privacy — telemetry is off by default](docs/PRIVACY.md)
MIT — [LICENSE](LICENSE). Built by [@avelikiy](https://github.com/avelikiy).
If it saved you time, a star helps other solo builders find it.
