Choose the right tool

Quick answers for the choices you make most: plan or build, queue or steer, fork or new session, share or publish.

Alpha often offers two or three ways to reach the same goal. This page compares them for the choices you make most, with a safe default for each. For how sessions, machines and turns fit together, read How Alpha works.

Plan first or build straight away?

In plan mode, the agent reads the workspace, asks a few questions and proposes a plan. It changes no files until you press Implement this plan in the Plan tab. Switch it with the plan chip in the composer, /plan, or ⇧ Tab.

Use plan mode when the task is large or open-ended, or you want to agree on the approach first: “Add online payments to Harbor bookings.”

Build straight away when the task is small and clear: a copy change, a known bug, one new page.

Not sure? Plan first. A wrong plan costs one reply; a wrong build costs a rework. See Plan mode.

Queue or steer while the agent works?

Enter sends your default way and ⌘ Enter the other (Ctrl on Windows and Linux). Set the default in Account menu → Settings → New messages. Until you do, Alpha queues.

	Queue	Steer
What happens	Runs as its own turn after the current one ends, in order	Joins the running turn without stopping it
Good for	The next task: “Now add a waitlist.”	A correction: “Use Postgres, not SQLite.”
Limit	20 messages waiting	None. A steer the turn can’t take, such as one during /compact, is queued instead

To change course completely, press the stop button in the composer or Esc, then send a new message.

Not sure? Queue. It never disturbs work in progress, and Send now can still steer it in. See Queue, steer or stop.

New session, fork or setup?

Every session gets a machine of its own. The choice is what the new session starts with.

	New session	Fork	Setup
Starts with	The blank machine and no messages	A copy of this session’s messages, files and machine	The blank machine plus your repositories cloned, a setup script run and notes for the agent
How	Send a prompt from the home screen	/fork, then Fork session	The blank machine chip on the home screen
Good for	Unrelated work	A second direction without losing the first	Every session on the same codebase

A fork takes about 15 seconds, can’t start mid-turn and never copies sharing. You can own 5 per account setups, managed in Account menu → Setups.

Not sure? Start a new session. Pasting the same setup steps every time? Ask the agent to “Save this as a setup.” See Setups and Fork or delete a session.

Codex or Claude Code?

You pick the agent with the first chip in the home screen’s composer. A session keeps its agent for life, because the two can’t read each other’s history.

	Codex	Claude Code
Run on your own plan	ChatGPT	Claude
Mention a skill	$name	/name
A steer joins	At the next model call	At the next tool boundary
Suggested next prompts	No	Yes
ultracode effort	No	On models that offer xhigh

The workspace, plan mode, skills, MCP servers and publishing work the same with either.

If you don’t see the agent chip, your Alpha offers only one agent.

Not sure? Keep the agent marked default. See Choose the agent and model.

Preview link, share or publish?

	Preview link	Share	Publish
They see	The app, served from your session’s machine	The session, live and read-only: transcript, files, Preview	Your app as a production service
How	Open in new tab in the Preview toolbar	Share, at the top right of the workspace	Publish, beside Share
Who	Anyone with the address	Private, Anyone with the link or Specific people	”Public · anyone with the URL”
Lasts	While your machine is awake. Once it sleeps, the page reads “Sandbox asleep” until you’re back in Alpha	While sharing is on	Until you delete it
Changes	With every edit	As the session goes on	Only when you republish

A preview address opens on other people’s computers only if your Alpha serves previews publicly. Otherwise it works on your computer alone, so share the session instead.

Viewers don’t keep your machine awake. It sleeps once you’ve been away for about 30 minutes, unless the agent is working.

Not sure? Share for feedback on work in progress; publish when people need to use the app. See Share a session and Publish your app.

Global or session secret?

Both arrive as environment variables. New commands see a change at once; a running dev server keeps the old value until it restarts.

	Global secret	Session secret
Reaches	Every session you own	Only this session
Add it from	Account menu → Global secrets	+ menu → Secrets → Add secret, with Available in set to This session
Same name in both	Overridden	Wins

Not sure? Start with a session secret and make it global when a second session needs it. See Secrets.

Connector, MCP server or plain secret?

Connections in Integrations act as you, in every session you own.

	Connector	MCP server	Secret
What it is	A ready-made link to an app such as Gmail or Slack	A plug-in that gives the agent tools: hosted (Remote) or a command in each machine (Local)	An API key as an environment variable
Where	Integrations → Connectors	Integrations → MCPs	The Secrets tab, or Account menu → Global secrets
Good for	Apps the catalog lists	Services with an MCP server, such as Stripe or Linear	Services with neither

Never paste a key into the composer. Alpha warns you if you try, because keys typed there land in the transcript.

Not sure? Describe the task. When the agent needs a service you haven’t connected, it posts a card in the transcript whose Connect button opens the right way to connect it. See Integrations.

Next steps

Prompt Alpha well

How to describe what you want so the first turn lands closer to it.

Build your first app

Make these choices for real, from the first prompt to a published app.

Setups: ready-made machines

Build a machine once with your repositories, so new sessions start ready.

Limits

Queue, setup and publishing limits, including the ones your operator sets.