Use this FAQ to decide whether SwarmCraft fits your work and understand what you will need to contribute. Each topic gives a short answer and points to the detailed guide when you are ready to act.
Fit and everyday work
What is SwarmCraft?
SwarmCraft helps you organise work, automate suitable tasks, and build software that fits your business. You keep the knowledge and source code in a Git repository you control, with a history of changes you can review. Read How SwarmCraft works.
Who is it for?
It is for business owners, managers, consultants, and people responsible for improving an operation. You bring knowledge of the work, its problems, and what a useful result looks like. SwarmCraft and your AI assistant help you turn that understanding into reviewed work and software.
Do I need an application idea before starting?
No. Operate helps with everyday work through three skills: Work completes tasks and captures useful knowledge, Automate makes suitable tasks repeatable, and Formalise develops a focused application opportunity. You can keep using Operate without creating a project.
Do I need to know how to code?
You can begin with operational knowledge rather than programming experience. You still need to review outputs and make decisions. Building and running an application also requires technical judgement, testing, and maintenance; arrange experienced help where the work exceeds your skills.
Can someone build and maintain the software for us?
You can hire directly or develop someone in your business into a full-cycle developer, with appropriate technical foundations and support. SwarmCraft provides tools and methods; it currently does not offer a matching or placement service.
What kinds of work are a good fit?
Start with a bounded piece of work that has a responsible owner and clear outcomes: requests, approvals, onboarding, reporting, or another operation with understandable rules and records. Choose the smallest useful scope that addresses the real problem.
What is a poor fit?
An undefined replacement of a whole core system, missing ownership, or a project whose risks cannot be reviewed responsibly is a poor starting point. Regulated, sensitive, or high-liability work needs appropriate specialist review and operating controls; AI assistance does not supply those responsibilities for you.
Choosing a discovery route
How do Operate, Fast Start, and Deep Discovery differ?
Operate supports everyday tasks and automation. Fast Start uses a guided browser conversation for a clear application need whose existing system remains the trusted source of records. Deep Discovery investigates evidence, requirements, and record ownership before project creation. These are starting paths, not subscription tiers. Choose your starting path.
Must I use Operate before creating a project?
No. Go directly to Fast Start or Deep Discovery if you already need an application. Selected evidence from Operate can help discovery, but it is not a prerequisite.
What is the difference between an operation and a workflow?
A workflow is a process, such as a request moving through review and approval. An operation is the bounded part of the business that must work as a whole, including its workflows, records, rules, responsibilities, and integrations. Deep Discovery helps investigate those wider dependencies when a focused intake would miss important detail.
Can I keep my existing SaaS tools and records?
Yes. Fast Start keeps your existing system of record and defines the workflow around it. Deep Discovery can investigate whether a bounded set of records should remain there or move, including the evidence needed for migration and continuity. Replacing every existing tool is not a requirement.
What if I do not have written requirements?
Fast Start helps you describe and confirm a focused workflow. Deep Discovery can start with owner interviews and build reviewed documents from what you know. You do not need a completed technical specification before discovery. Read Use Fast Start or Understand Deep Discovery.
What does Deep Discovery send to SwarmCraft?
You preview and authorize an exact selected text package before it is sent for server processing. It includes the nine reviewed discovery documents, selected text sources and reviewed Markdown sidecars, and package metadata. Raw binaries, unselected files, and unrelated repository content are excluded from that handoff. Your chosen local AI provider has its own data handling terms. See Complete Deep Discovery.
What do I receive after project creation?
Both discovery routes produce a project board and implementation guidance. You then connect the project to your repository and build, check, and review the work. Project creation does not deliver a finished or hosted app. Connect a ready project.
Credits and AI costs
Is Operate free? Is there a subscription?
SwarmCraft's Work, Automate, and Formalise skills are free to use with a free account. Your chosen AI provider's charges apply separately. Project creation uses prepaid credits; there is no monthly subscription or per-seat fee.
What do project credits pay for?
Project creation combines a fixed Platform Orchestration fee for the route with measured server AI usage to generate the project and initial board. Optional Managed AI during CLI delivery uses the same balance. See Pricing for current amounts and review the project quote before approving creation.
Why do Fast Start and Deep Discovery cost different amounts?
Deep Discovery coordinates a larger evidence and review process, so its fixed orchestration fee is higher. Both routes also use measured generation AI. The fixed fee alone is not the total project-generation cost.
Can I use my own AI provider?
Yes, for Operate and supported local development. Your provider charges you separately. Initial project-board generation always uses SwarmCraft's server-side AI and cannot be replaced by your local provider account. Later CLI delivery can use a supported local provider or optional Managed AI. See How credits and AI usage work.
Why are some credits reserved?
Before a metered call, SwarmCraft reserves a bounded amount, settles the measured charge afterward, and releases any unused reservation. Available and reserved balances are shown separately in Billing.
What happens if I run out of credits?
Work pauses before a provider call that your available balance cannot cover. Completed checkpoints remain intact. Add eligible credits, return to the saved project or run, and retry the action. Buy and manage credits explains the balance and return path.
Do credits expire or qualify for refunds?
Purchased and referral credits do not expire. Promotional credits currently expire after 90 days. A wholly unused purchased pack may qualify for a refund request within 14 days; current policy and applicable law determine eligibility. Check the purchase record in Billing or contact support. See credit management and the Terms of Service.
How do referrals work?
Every five qualified referrals earns a credit grant, subject to qualification and anti-abuse rules. Pricing gives the current reward. A referral is not automatically a qualified referral.
Can I buy credits in my country?
Availability depends on your account and country eligibility. Billing shows the packs and options available to you. An eligible account may receive a temporary one-time project-credit grant; that is separate from free Operate.
Does the price include hosting or someone building the app?
No. Hosting, deployment, your own AI provider, and human implementation or review services are separate. You choose how to resource and operate the application.
Setup and delivery
What do I need to install?
Fast Start begins in your browser. For the guided local workflow, SwarmCraft Setup checks VS Code, Git, GitHub CLI, and the SwarmCraft extension and proposes the installations or repairs needed. Docker Desktop is optional. Use the manual setup checklist when your environment requires manual installation.
Will Setup change my machine without asking?
Detection is read-only. Setup shows proposed changes, third-party terms, and any elevation or restart implications before you choose whether to apply them. Use SwarmCraft Setup explains the process.
Do I have to use VS Code?
VS Code is the guided interface for Operate, Deep Discovery, and interactive delivery. Fast Start runs in the browser. Experienced users can also deliver project tasks through the one-shot CLI, with its own runtime, sign-in, repository, and AI-provider prerequisites.
What work remains for me after discovery?
You review the project board, guide implementation, check the results, and decide which changes to accept. AI can help perform the work, but you remain responsible for the outcome. Follow VS Code delivery and Review and apply generated changes.
Who deploys and runs the application?
You or your chosen team do. You select the technology, hosting, release process, monitoring, and maintenance arrangements. SwarmCraft does not take over application hosting or operational responsibility. Deploy and operate your app explains the decisions.
Ownership and control
Do I own the source code?
You own and control the replacement source code in your repository and can continue developing without SwarmCraft. SwarmCraft retains its platform, brand, and underlying intellectual property; third-party dependencies retain their own licences. The Software License and Terms of Service provide the formal terms.
Can I keep improving the software or change suppliers?
Yes. You can continue with SwarmCraft, another AI assistant, your team, or a different supplier. Your source code is not locked inside a SwarmCraft runtime. Keep your repository, access arrangements, and operating knowledge in a condition that makes that choice practical.
How does this differ from low-code or no-code?
SwarmCraft centres the work on source code in your own repository, with a stack and deployment path you choose. When comparing alternatives, check whether you can export usable source code, run it independently, and maintain it without the original platform.
Where can I read about privacy and consent?
Read the Privacy Policy for data handling and Cookie Settings for analytics and consent controls. For Deep Discovery, review the exact package before authorizing its upload. Check your AI provider's terms separately for work it processes.
Get help or choose your next step
How do I get support?
Open Support while signed in, select New ticket, and describe what you tried, what you expected, and what happened. Keep replies in the same ticket. See Contact SwarmCraft support for what to include, or Troubleshoot SwarmCraft for common recovery steps.
Where should I go next?
If you are deciding how to begin, choose your starting path. If you are ready for local work, set up SwarmCraft. Before creating an application project, review the quote so you understand the scope and charges you are approving.
How do I record everyday work with Operate?
Complete machine and provider setup, then follow Use Operate to capture your work. Narrate one task, supply safe evidence and review what the agent saves. It keeps reusable knowledge and records; it does not silently watch your screen or provide a comprehensive activity log.