The lifecycle

Otto can work tickets the way a senior engineer does, with a human checkpoint at each stage.

Phases

Phase	What Otto does	Your checkpoint
Clarify	Reads the ticket and linked context, explores the codebase, and asks clarifying questions on the ticket.	Answer the questions.
Plan	Writes an implementation plan (approach, files to change, and why) and posts it on the ticket.	Approve the plan or ask for changes. On Jira, adding the `otto-approved` label approves it.
Implement	Creates a branch, writes the code, verifies it, and opens a pull request linked to the ticket.	Review the PR.

After the PR opens, Otto keeps working: it responds to review comments and pushes changes. See PR feedback.

Set it up

Connect your code host

Connect GitHub or Azure DevOps.

Connect your ticket tool

Connect Linear or Jira.

Create a project

In Projects, link a ticket project to the repository where Otto should work. From a project, you can also generate an OTTO.md for the repository to give Otto context about your codebase.

Add rules

Rules choose which tickets Otto picks up. Without a rule, Otto picks up nothing. A ticket that matches any rule is picked up.

Lifecycle settings

In Settings → Lifecycle you can turn phases on or off and choose the model each phase uses. Turning off an earlier phase also turns off the phases after it.

What works well

Well-defined tickets with clear acceptance criteria
Bug fixes with clear reproduction steps
Small to medium features and repetitive work such as CRUD endpoints

Vague requirements and large architectural changes are better split into smaller, well-specified tickets.

Get started

Set up your repositories

Code review

Ticket automation

Billing

The lifecycle

Phases

Set it up

Lifecycle settings

What works well

​Phases

​Set it up

​Lifecycle settings

​What works well

Phases

Set it up

Lifecycle settings

What works well