For founders
Practical guidance for product builders who direct agents and need to inspect results.
You can direct an AI coding agent without typing every line of code. You still need to know what success should look like and who can verify a production change. Start with a small, testable request and a live preview. The guides here make the prerequisites and review steps visible, including the points where an experienced developer should help.
Open this topic's article index for AI assistants →
Why won’t my phone open my local dev site?
Use the computer's LAN address, check the dev server's bind host and port, then trace API calls and HTTPS-only browser features on the phone.
Read → Guide / 2026-09-28How do I run Supabase locally with my AI-built app?
Start the Supabase CLI stack, connect the local app to its actual project URL and keys, and verify a test record stays off production.
Read → Guide / 2026-09-28Why does my AI-built app lose data when I refresh?
Find whether a Save button updates only UI state, browser storage, or a real backend, then test the persistence the product actually needs.
Read → Guide / 2026-09-28Is my local AI-built app using the production database?
Trace the browser, API, worker, and database targets before an agent tests writes or migrations in a locally running app.
Read → Guide / 2026-09-28How do I stop a coding agent rebuilding a feature that already exists?
Make the agent locate the active implementation and its callers before editing, then review the smallest change against the running app.
Read → Guide / 2026-09-28How do I check an AI-built page with a keyboard and screen reader?
Review an agent-built form and dialog with keyboard, accessible-name, error, and screen-reader checks before accepting the PR.
Read → Guide / 2026-09-28How do I turn a Figma design into a running page with a coding agent?
Hand an agent one frame, states, assets, and component constraints; run the page in Canopy and review behavior, visuals, and the final diff.
Read → Guide / 2026-09-28Did your coding agent weaken a test to make CI pass?
Review changed assertions, skips, mocks, and browser setup against the original behavior before accepting an agent's green check.
Read → Guide / 2026-09-28How to stop an endless AI code review loop
When each review pass finds another issue, triage findings against the same acceptance checks, verify the latest commit, and decide what blocks this PR.
Read → Guide / 2026-09-28Why does my browser show the old app after my coding agent changed the code?
Trace a stale local preview through the checkout, running server, actual port, hot reload, browser cache, and data request before asking an agent to edit again.
Read → Guide / 2026-09-28Vercel says the Git author must be a team member: what do I check?
Diagnose a Vercel PR preview blocked before its build by checking the commit author, connected Git account, project team, and access request.
Read → Guide / 2026-09-28AI-built app works locally but fails on Vercel Preview
Find the first difference between a working Canopy run and a broken Vercel Preview: commit, build, environment, runtime request, or backend target.
Read → Guide / 2026-09-28Can I launch my AI-built app? A founder's decision sheet
A go-or-hold review for an AI-built web app: running behavior, access, data, payments, recovery, and the exact release version.
Read → Guide / 2026-09-28Review an AI-generated Supabase migration before deployment
Check the target project, schema diff, existing data, RLS, staging result, and actual restore option before an agent-written migration reaches production.
Read → Guide / 2026-09-28My coding agent committed an API key. What now?
A staged response to an agent-written secret leak: stop propagation, revoke the credential, restore services, inspect exposure, and decide whether Git history needs cleanup.
Read → Guide / 2026-09-28Review an AI-built Stripe Checkout before taking payments
A founder's test-mode review of Checkout, signed webhooks, delayed payments, duplicate events, and fulfillment before launch.
Read → Guide / 2026-09-28How to review an AI-generated access-control PR
Use a permission matrix and cross-user tests to review an agent-written authentication or authorization change before merge.
Read → Guide / 2026-09-28How to hand an AI-built app to a developer for review
A concrete handoff for founders: reproduce the app, show the exact change, list verified behavior and unknowns, and ask a developer for a risk decision.
Read → Guide / 2026-09-28How do I find the command that runs an AI-built app?
A beginner workflow for finding the project directory, runtime, run script, local URL, and first useful error before asking an agent to fix setup.
Read → Guide / 2026-09-28Can a noncoder build software with AI coding agents?
A realistic first-project path for noncoders: choose a bounded task, run the result, review observable behavior, and know when a developer must check the change.
Read → Guide / 2026-09-28Debug an agent-built page using the browser console and network log
Collect the exact failing action, console message, request status, service log, and checkout before asking an agent to fix a broken preview.
Read → Guide / 2026-09-28How do I ask a coding agent for a demo I can inspect?
A founder-friendly request and acceptance checklist that turns an agent's 'done' message into a running page, observable behavior, and a reviewable diff.
Read → Guide / 2026-09-28How do I run a Trigger.dev worker beside my app in Canopy?
Set up Trigger.dev once, save its dev command beside the website and API, run a dashboard test, and debug the right process.
Read → Use case / 2026-09-28Turn a screenshot or rough idea into a coding-agent task
Capture the evidence, investigate before editing, write a bounded acceptance check, and review the resulting draft PR.
Read → Guide / 2026-09-28Research a codebase question without changing code
Choose an answer, source-backed investigation, or implementation task deliberately, then keep findings available for the next decision.
Read → Guide / 2026-09-28How to give a coding agent useful visual feedback
Turn a vague 'this looks wrong' into a page, viewport, element, expected behavior, and screenshot an agent can act on.
Read → Use case / 2026-09-28What leaves your machine when you use Canopy?
A plain-language map of local workspace data, coding CLI traffic, optional GitHub and team services, remote tunnels, and on-device dictation.
Read → Guide / 2026-09-28An AI coding-agent task brief you can copy and use
A bounded brief with context, acceptance checks, constraints, and a handoff format for Claude Code, Codex, or another coding CLI.
Read → Guide / 2026-09-28AI-generated pull request review checklist and reviewer prompt
A practical checklist for intent, changed files, risk, tests, UI behavior, comments, and the final diff, with a copyable reviewer brief.
Read → Use case / 2026-09-28Can I use voice with a coding agent in Canopy?
Choose between Canopy dictation, a CLI's own voice input, and hands-free conversation; turn a spoken issue into a checked task and review its result.
Read → Use case / 2026-09-27How do I start my website, API, and worker with one click?
Run a downloadable three-process project: save its commands, watch a worker change the API count, inspect the preview, and verify the agent's edit.
Read → Guide / 2026-09-27How to set up Canopy and run your first AI coding agent
Install an agent CLI, open a project in Canopy, run the app, and review your first change. Includes a downloadable practice project.
Read → Blog / 2026-09-27A workspace for people who direct AI agents
A practical founder workflow for directing a coding agent: define one outcome, run the product, inspect evidence, and hand off risky decisions.
Read → Guide / 2026-09-28Why won’t my dev server start in Canopy?
Trace a failed website, API, or worker launch through its checkout, command, first error, port, dependency, and observed URL.
Read → Use case / 2026-09-28Canopy vs Replit Agent for building an app
Compare a hosted AI app builder with a local multi-CLI workspace across first setup, parallel tasks, preview, GitHub, deployment, team access, and usage.
Read → Guide / 2026-09-28Work on a Lovable app locally in Canopy without losing Git sync
A branch, environment, preview, and publishing checklist for using local coding agents on a Lovable project connected to GitHub.
Read → Guide / 2026-09-28Keep building a Bolt app with local coding agents in Canopy
Connect Bolt to GitHub, isolate an agent change, check the app's backend and run commands, merge in GitHub, and verify Bolt and the live site.
Read → Guide / 2026-09-28v0 not showing your local agent's GitHub changes? Check the branches
Trace a local Canopy agent change through GitHub, v0's base and working branches, Pull Changes, preview deployments, and production permissions.
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