CodeAFGive new hires a codebase tour with audio

Give new hires a codebase tour with audio

One task writes a tour page per module with a checked gotcha, and one more message turns every page into a spoken walkthrough.

Write the tour from the code, and check every claim by running it.
  • a tour page per module in docs/tour
  • an onboarding page for each service
  • a spoken walkthrough of every module

A new hire needs the reading order, the one idea behind each module, and the trap that bites first. In this playbook one /task splits into a part per module, all at once: each part reads its module, writes a short tour page, and backs its gotcha by running a snippet and pasting the output. A checker reads the pages and sends back the ones that fall short. One more message merges the branch and records every page as a spoken walkthrough, so the tour can be read or heard.

Steps

Our demo repo, ledger, has four modules.

  1. In the repository, run codeaf and send any first message first, for example:
Read the README and list the modules in ledger/ in one line.
  1. Hand over the whole tour in one brief:
/task Write a codebase tour for a new hire. Split the work into one part per module in ledger/ (accounts, postings, reports, api), all at once. Each part reads its module and writes docs/tour/<module>.md in 150 to 250 words: what the module is for, the one idea to understand first, the functions to read in order, and one gotcha, with the gotcha checked by running a short python3 snippet. A last part writes docs/tour/README.md with the reading order.
  1. When the task lands, merge and record in one message:
Merge that branch into main. Then record each page in docs/tour as a spoken walkthrough in a calm voice, docs/tour/audio/<module>.mp3, and put a Listen link to its mp3 under each page's title.

What you see

The side column splits the task at once: Tour doc: ledger/accounts.py 20s, Tour doc: ledger/postings.py 22s, Tour doc: ledger/reports.py 25s, Tour doc: ledger/api.py 29s, and Tour README waiting. The task lands done · 1m35s · 5 files · branch kept. The postings page's gotcha was checked by running code: lines('asset') finds nothing while lines('assets') finds assets:cash. The record step answers Done. The branch is merged into main (fast-forward to 8778e9e, then commit f1f3a49 adds the audio and links), 5 files.

Sending a plain message first makes sure the task starts in this project when other CodeAF windows are open.

In our run

Pages took 1m35s for $0.36, against an estimate of $0.139. Two parts went back for a fix after the checker read them. The audio took 3m41s for $0.39, most of it speech: five files, 7.6 minutes in all. About 5 minutes and $0.75 for the whole tour.

Make it yours

  • Name your parts. The brief lists the modules, so the split matches the code.
  • Ask for a checked gotcha. A snippet run turns a claim into pasted output.
  • Choose the voice. Say how it should sound in the message ("a calm voice" here); every page gets its own mp3 next to it.

Go further

Pictures, video, voice and music: Pictures, video, speech and music are first-class work in CodeAF, each on its own model that you choose, with the file landing in your project.

Coming soon: describe the org you want and CodeAF builds it: teams, managers, budgets, standing orders.