AI-Mentored Development
AI guides, you build. You own the result.

_{v2.7.0 · MIT License}

The Problem

AI coding tools optimize for shipping. The risk: code that works but isn't truly yours. Hard to debug without context. Hard to extend without asking again. Hard to defend when it matters.

OwnYourCode flips this. AI becomes your mentor, not your coder. It guides, questions, and reviews — but you write the code.

The result: Code you understand. Code you can extend. Code that's actually yours.

Who This Is For

Profile selection is part of /own:init. Choose your profile and OwnYourCode adapts its teaching style.

| Profile | Design Thinking | Career Extraction | Unique Feature | | ------------------- | --------------- | ----------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- | | Junior | Required | On request | No shortcuts: you design first, then build | | Career Switcher | On request | On request | Concepts explained through what you already know — your past is a learning advantage | | Interview Prep | On request | Default ON | Every task becomes interview ammunition — S.T.A.R story and resume bullet extraction | | Experienced | On request | On request | You have the experience, get direct feedback and peer-level collaboration | | Custom | On request | On request | Mix and match to fit how you learn |

Profiles adapt HOW we teach. The core (6 Gates, code reviews, quality) stays the same. Change anytime with /own:profile.

Quick Start

macOS / Linux

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DanielPodolsky/ownyourcode/main/scripts/base-install.sh | bash
cd your-project && ~/ownyourcode/scripts/project-install.sh

Windows (PowerShell)

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DanielPodolsky/ownyourcode/main/scripts/base-install.ps1 | iex
cd your-project
irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DanielPodolsky/ownyourcode/main/scripts/project-install.ps1 | iex

Initialize

/own:init

How It Works

The 4 Protocols

| Protocol | Rule | | ------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | Active Typist | You write all code. AI provides patterns (max 8 lines), guidance, and reviews. | | Socratic Teaching | AI asks questions instead of giving answers. | | Evidence-Based | AI verifies with official docs before answering. | | Systematic Debugging | READ → ISOLATE → DOCS → FIX. |

The 6 Gates

Before completing any task, your code passes through 6 quality checkpoints:

Gate 1 blocks completion. Can't explain your code? Don't ship it.

The Flywheel

Learnings compound across projects. Patterns that worked. Mistakes you won't repeat. Career value extracted from every task.

Commands

Core Workflow

| Command | Purpose | | -------------- | ---------------------------------- | | /own:init | Set your profile, stack, and goals | | /own:feature | Plan with spec-driven development — and, for the Junior profile, build it via the predict-before-reveal loop (Phase 6) | | /own:advise | Query past learnings before starting | | /own:guide | Optional implementation help (for the Junior profile the gym now runs inline in /own:feature Phase 6) | | /own:stuck | Debug systematically | | /own:done | Complete with gates + code review | | /own:retro | Capture learnings |

Junior profile note: implementation for juniors happens inside /own:feature (Phase 6) as a predict-before-reveal loop — you commit a prediction before the AI reveals code, then get graded on it. /own:guide remains available for ad-hoc help but is no longer the primary path to writing code.

Utilities

| Command | Purpose | | -------------- | ---------------------------------- | | /own:status | Check progress, tasks, and career stats | | /own:profile | View or change your profile | | /own:theme | Restyle your project dashboard | | /own:test | Guide through writing tests | | /own:docs | Guide through writing documentation |

MCP Setup (Recommended)

MCPs provide real-time documentation and production code examples.

# Context7 — Official documentation lookup
claude mcp add context7 --transport http https://mcp.context7.com/mcp
Octocode — GitHub code search
https://octocode.ai/#installation

Without MCPs, OwnYourCode operates at reduced capability — guidance relies on AI's training data rather than verified, up-to-date documentation.

Philosophy

"Won't this slow me down?"

Yes. That's the point.

Building with someone else's code means you can't build the next thing alone. Building yourself takes longer — but now you can build anything.

Full Philosophy →

The Dashboard

Your project's plan isn't scattered across a dozen Markdown files — it's a single dashboard you open in your browser. Mission, stack, and roadmap up top; every phase opens Spec / Design / Tasks tabs (acceptance criteria, a real architecture diagram, a kanban board with a live progress ring). The /own:* commands keep it in sync as you work.

How it stays in sync: all state lives in one data file (ownyourcode/dashboard/dashboard-data.js); dashboard.html is a stable view that renders it. No server — you double-click the file. Want a different look? /own:theme re-skins it from a design brief.

_{MIT License}