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Kosuke
Set up a project / Preview and publish

Preview and publish.

A repository opens on its Preview: the app running from its default branch, full width, with Publish in the header. A Preview / Settings switch sits at the top right, on a computer and on a phone. Settings opens the repository's settings, and the page remembers which of the two you had open.

Every repository has a Preview once its main sandbox can run the app: its services are set and it has been deployed. These are the same settings a chat session's Preview starts from. A repository without them opens on Settings. Its Preview button is turned off, and its tooltip starts with "Preview is off.", then says what is missing and what to do next:

MissingThe tooltip goes on
No services"This repository has no services to start. Add them in Settings, Services, or ask the deploy agent in the chat to set them up."
No deploy yet"The main sandbox is not deployed yet. Ask the deploy agent in the chat to deploy main, then open Preview."

An imported repository's Preview

A repository without the kosuke-starter layout starts nothing when you open it. Its Preview reads "Preview not started" with Start preview:

  1. Press Start preview. The main sandbox wakes, and the Preview reads Starting.
  2. Its services start. The Preview shows how many run, such as "Starting services, 2 of 3 running".
  3. The app shows once they all answer.

If a service does not start, the Preview reads "App stack could not start" with the reason, and Logs in the header has the full output. If the sandbox itself does not start, it reads "Preview could not start". Press Try again on either: on the first it restarts the services, on the second it starts the sandbox again. kosuke preview get --services restart restarts the services of a running main sandbox, and --services wait waits for them.

Publish shows in the header too. Its menu shows the address and why Publish needs the kosuke-starter layout, with no Publish button. See The kosuke-starter layout.

Start from kosuke-starter

Kosuke staff turn this feature flag on or off for each deployment. While it is off, the New repository dialog offers Import from GitHub alone, and every other way of making a repository from kosuke-starter is refused. Repositories already made from it keep their Preview, deploys and pushes.

In the sidebar, hover the workspace's row and press its +. The New repository dialog opens on Start from kosuke-starter.

  1. Under "What do you want to build?", describe it in a sentence, such as "A booking page for my yoga classes".
  2. Under Merge mode, keep Merge train with Go-ahead When checks pass, marked Default, or pick another. You can change it later in Settings > Merge agent.
  3. Press Create repository.

Sensei makes a private repository in Kosuke-Org from kosuke-starter, deploys it, and starts the first task on your sentence. The repository opens on its Preview while the first deploy runs, with three steps: Create, Deploy, and Start the first task. Once the deploy lands, the first task runs /kosuke:ship like any other task. When its checks pass, it merges and becomes Version 1.

If the first deploy fails, the Preview reads "Deployment failed" with Retry deploy and Open the logs, which opens Settings on its logs.

With the CLI, kosuke projects create --description "<what to build>" does the same. With Sensei, pick Build a new app, or ask it to build something: it shows the Describe card, and Create repository on it creates the repository.

The kosuke-starter layout

The layout is what Publish needs to build the app as a Cloudflare Worker with bun and @cloudflare/vite-plugin:

  • a bun.lock and a build script,
  • @cloudflare/vite-plugin,
  • a wrangler.jsonc, wrangler.json or wrangler.toml naming main and compatibility_date, with no D1 database.

The app keeps its data in its own Turso database. The Preview and the published app share it through TURSO_DATABASE_URL and TURSO_AUTH_TOKEN. A task's sandbox never gets the live database.

Every repository made from kosuke-starter has the layout. An imported repository has it when it carries those files on the branch its Preview runs. Sensei checks the layout at that branch's latest commit, so a repository can gain or lose Publish. Without the layout, the API refuses Versions and Publish with 409 NO_STARTER_LAYOUT. The Preview does not need the layout.

The live preview

The Preview shows the project's main sandbox, which runs the default branch, or the branch set in Branch tasks from under Advanced. It follows every merge and every Chat push by itself, usually within a minute. Every member who can open the project sees it.

  • While the sandbox starts, the Preview reads Starting. Publish works meanwhile.
  • A badge reads Version N for the latest Version, or First deploy before there is one.
  • When tasks of the repository run, a link such as "1 task running" opens Tasks.

The page has no New task button. Tasks live in the Tasks list like any other, and a task starts from its modal.

Versions

Each task that merges into the default branch is a Version, and so is each Chat push. A merged task's modal shows See Version N in Preview, which opens the Preview. The Versions you published are listed in Publish's dropdown in the header. kosuke projects versions list lists every Version, newest first.

Chat and Versions

Chat pushes straight to the default branch, with no pull request. On a repository with the kosuke-starter layout, each Chat push becomes a Version: one push, one Version, titled after its commit. Under the turn, a row such as "Version 6 saved to main" links to the commit.

The Preview follows the push like a merge. Until the main sandbox runs the push, the Preview keeps the old page, with "Updating to Version N" over it. Then it shows the change.

A repository without the layout has no Preview and gets no Version. Chat still works there, and you see the result on GitHub. Under the turn, a row such as "Pushed to main" links to the commit, and reads "No Version, because this repository has no Preview."

Publish

Publish in the header puts a Version live at the repository's address, <label>.kosuke.app. A repository made from kosuke-starter is addressed by its repository's name. An imported one is addressed by the project's name and the start of its id, such as todo-app-3f9a1c2b.kosuke.app.

  1. Press Publish. A popover shows the address and Publish version N for the latest Version.
  2. Confirm with Publish. The button reads Publishing, then Live: vN.

A dot on the button means a newer Version is not live yet. When a release fails, the popover says so, and the Version before it stays live.

The popover lists the Releases. Roll back puts an earlier Release live again, and Make live a later one. Neither builds anything: the traffic switches at once. Unpublish takes the app down without deleting its data, and Publish puts it back at the same address.

A repository that lost the layout but still has a published app keeps Unpublish in its settings.

Apps became repositories

Apps, the projects that worked in one chat, are gone. Every App became a repository:

  • It runs on Merge train with Go-ahead When checks pass.
  • Its chat is one Done task, whose history stays readable in Open chat.
  • Its Backlog items and the messages that waited Up next in its chat are Todo tasks, with their attachments.
  • A published App stays live at the same address, with its Versions and Releases.
  • Changes a running Turn had not saved went to a branch named kosuke/app-unsaved-…, with a Todo task to finish them.

Next steps