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Getting Started with Devplan

15 min setup • Complete guide to account setup and your first project

Welcome to Devplan! This guide will get you from zero to your first AI-powered feature in under 30 minutes.

Quick Setup Overview​

Total Time: ~15 minutes

✅ Account Setup (2 min) → ✅ GitHub Integration (3 min) → ✅ CLI Installation (5 min) → ✅ First Project (5 min)

Choose Your Path

🚀 Fast Track (5 min): Account + GitHub + CLI → Start building immediately

🏢 Complete Setup (15 min): All integrations + team setup + first project

Step 1: Account Setup​

Time: 2 minutes

Create Your Account​

  1. Sign Up at devplan.com

    • Google SSO for fastest setup
    • Or magic-link login with email

  2. Choose Plan (can change later):

    👥 Starter: $19/user + AI credits
    ✅ Perfect for: Small teams, agencies, startups

    📈 Professional: $49/user + AI credits
    ✅ Perfect for: Growing product teams, scale-ups

  3. Quick Profile Setup:

    • Company name and role
    • Primary tech stack (we'll analyze your repos for details)
    • Team size estimate
Free Trial

14-day free trial includes:

  • 2 repository analyses
  • Unlimited projects and features
  • Full CLI access
  • Access to a subset generated prompts for testing.

Time: 3 minutes

Connect Your Repository​

Why this matters: Devplan analyzes your codebase to understand patterns, architecture, and conventions. This enables AI to generate code that actually fits your project.

1. Settings → Integrations → GitHub
2. "Connect GitHub Account" → Authorize Devplan
3. Select repositories to analyze (start with 1-2 main repos)
4. Click "Start Analysis"

Analysis Progress:

⌛ Analyzing repository structure...
⌛ Detecting frameworks and patterns...
⌛ Understanding component architecture...
✓ Analysis complete! (2-5 minutes for most repos)
Repository Analysis

What's Analyzed:

  • ✅ Framework and tech stack detection
  • ✅ Component patterns and conventions
  • ✅ Database schemas and API structures
  • ✅ Testing and build configurations

What's NOT Stored:

  • ❌ Your actual source code
  • ❌ Sensitive data or credentials
  • ❌ Business logic details

Step 3: Project Management Integration (Optional)​

Time: 2 minutes each • Can skip and do later

Quick Setup Options​

Linear (Recommended):

  1. Connect Linear in Settings → Integrations → Linear

Jira:

  1. Install Devplan Jira Atlassian application.
  2. Connect or re-connect Jira from the Settings -> Integrations screen
Why Integrate?

Project management sync enables:

  • ✅ Automatic ticket creation from user stories
  • ✅ Real-time status updates
  • ✅ Context links between tickets and requirements
  • ✅ Sprint planning with Devplan estimates

Time: 2 minutes • Brings Devplan context directly into your IDE

Install the CLI​

Option 1: Homebrew (Recommended)

# Manual updates required
brew tap devplaninc/devplan && brew install devplan

Option 2: Direct Install

# One-command install with auto-updates
curl -fsSL https://app.devplan.com/cli/install | bash

Quick Setup​

# 1. Authenticate
devplan auth

# 2. Verify installation
devplan version

Step 4: Your First Project​

Time: 10-20 minutes to create for the full cycle

Create a Project​

Quick Start:

1. Devplan → "New Project"
2. Enter project details.
3. Work through the flow.

Try Your First Feature​

Let's build a simple feature together:

Input: "Add a contact form to our landing page"

What happens next:

AI Discovery Session

Devplan Agent: "I see this is a Next.js project with Tailwind CSS. For the contact form:

  1. Should this send emails directly, or save to a database?
  2. What fields do you need? (Name, email, message, company?)
  3. I notice you're using Shadcn components. Should the form match that style?
  4. Do you need any validation or spam protection?
  5. Where should users go after submitting?"

You: "Send emails via our existing email service, include name/email/message, yes use Shadcn, add basic validation, show a success message."

Agent: "Perfect! I'll create a feature spec with those requirements."

Review Your Generated Plan​

PRD Generated (2 minutes): ✅ Feature overview and business requirements ✅ Technical implementation using your existing patterns ✅ User stories with acceptance criteria ✅ Time estimates based on your codebase complexity

Sample User Stories:

Story 1: Contact Form Component (3 hours)
- Form with name, email, message fields
- Shadcn Input and Button components
- Zod validation schema
- Loading and error states

Story 2: Email Service Integration (2 hours)
- Server action for form submission
- Integration with existing email service
- Success/error response handling

Total Estimate: 5 hours

Start Development​

Use the CLI to get context:

  1. Open "Coding Prompts" tab.
  2. Click Clone or Focus buttons which will copy corresponding CLI commands to your clipboard.
  3. Run the commands in your terminal.
  4. Ask AI IDE to implement current feature.

Your AI assistant now knows:

  • ✓ Your Next.js project structure
  • ✓ Shadcn component patterns you use
  • ✓ Existing form validation approaches
  • ✓ Email service integration details
  • ✓ Specific files to create/modify
First Feature Success

Typical first feature results:

  • ✅ Implementation matches your existing code style
  • ✅ AI suggestions are relevant to your project
  • ✅ Less back-and-forth clarification needed
  • ✅ Code reviews focus on business logic, not style

Team Collaboration​

For Product Managers​

  • Discovery Sessions: Lead feature planning with AI-assisted questioning
  • Requirement Review: Use AI review to improve PRD quality
  • Stakeholder Communication: Share planning results and get feedback
  • Progress Tracking: Monitor development through integrated dashboards

For Engineers​

  • Context-Rich Development: Access detailed implementation guidance
  • Estimate Feedback: Provide actual vs. estimated time for better future planning
  • Technical Input: Contribute to architecture and implementation decisions
  • Status Updates: Automatic progress reporting reduces manual overhead

For Design Partners​

Devplan offers special programs for early adopters:

  • 2 months free for up to 10 users
  • 1:1 support and priority feature requests
  • Bi-weekly feedback sessions with the product team
  • Meaningful discount after trial period
  • No hard commitment required

Common Workflows​

Product Manager Workflow​

  1. Upload existing specs or start with an idea
  2. Generate PRD and build plan through AI collaboration
  3. Sync with Linear/Jira for team visibility
  4. Monitor progress through integrated dashboards

Developer Workflow​

  1. Pick up tickets from your project management tool
  2. Focus on the feature using devplan focus
  3. Implement features with AI coding assistants using generated context
  4. Update progress through your project management integrations

Team Workflow​

  1. Weekly planning using Devplan's roadmap features
  2. Sprint breakdown with AI-assisted story creation
  3. Daily standups with automated status reports
  4. Retrospectives with built-in analytics and insights

Quick Wins and Best Practices​

Week 1: Get Your Bearings​

Day 1-2: Setup and First Feature

  • ✅ Complete account and GitHub setup
  • ✅ Try one simple feature end-to-end
  • ✅ Install and test CLI workflow

Day 3-7: Build Confidence

  • ✅ Create 2-3 more features of varying complexity
  • ✅ Set up project management integration
  • ✅ Invite team members to collaborate

Maximizing Value​

For Product Managers:

✅ Spend extra time in discovery phase - AI questions reveal edge cases
✅ Review generated PRDs carefully - they often catch missing requirements
✅ Use AI review feature to validate completeness
✅ Link related features and existing user flows

For Engineers:

✅ Always use `devplan focus` before starting work
✅ Provide estimate feedback to improve future planning
✅ Update architectural patterns when they change
✅ Share learnings that could help teammates

For Teams:

✅ Start with small features to build confidence
✅ Include both PM and eng in discovery sessions
✅ Track time savings and quality improvements
✅ Gradually expand to larger, more complex features

You're Ready! Next Steps​

Immediate Actions​

🚀 Start Building

  • Create your first feature using the contact form example above
  • Try the complete workflow: discovery → PRD → tasks → CLI → development
  • Measure the time savings vs. your usual process

📚 Learn More

Getting Help​

📋 Common Questions:

  • "GitHub analysis is stuck" - Check repo permissions and size (<1GB works best)
  • "CLI won't authenticate" - Try devplan auth --force

📧 Support Channels:

Share Your Success​

📈 Track Your Results:

  • Time saved in planning phase
  • Reduction in clarification requests
  • Improvement in AI code quality
  • Overall feature delivery speed

We'd love to hear about your experience! Share your results at success@devplan.com

Ready to transform your development process? 🚀

Start with a simple feature and experience the difference context-driven development makes.