Quickstart

This page assumes Friday is installed and authenticated. If not, start with Installation.

Launch Friday

Open a terminal, change into a git repository, and run:

friday

If you want to run Friday outside a git repo, see Cowboy mode.

Ask a question

Try one of these prompts to get a feel for how Friday reads your repo:

Explain this project to me.

Walk me through the main components of this codebase.

What can you do?

What commands or tools do you have access to?

Ask Friday to make changes

Reference files and folders with @. You can also drag and drop images and PDFs into the window to share them with Friday. Learn more in File support.

Can you investigate the failing test?

Give me ideas on how we can refactor our auth logic.

Update the API documentation to include the new endpoints.

Friday's behavior depends on the approval mode you've set in /settings. Friday may ask follow-up questions before editing. Describe your goal clearly and Friday will gather the context it needs.

Commit, push, open a PR

When you're happy with the changes, tell Friday what to do next:

Let's commit these changes.

Push our changes to the remote branch.

Create a pull request for these changes.

Let's review the comments on the current pull request.

For a longer walkthrough, see the Build a feature & open a PR recipe.

Useful keybindings

A handful of keys you'll reach for in the first session. Full list in Keyboard shortcuts.

  • / opens the command menu
  • @ references files and folders
  • Ctrl+J inserts a newline
  • Shift+Enter inserts a newline (after running /terminal-setup in VS Code or Cursor)
  • Ctrl+V pastes an image from your clipboard
  • Esc interrupts Friday's current operation
  • Alt+Enter interrupts Friday and immediately submits a new message
  • Ctrl+C twice exits Friday

Commands worth knowing early

Type / to see every command. A few that pay off right away:

  • /settings: configure approval mode, working style, theme, and more
  • /mcp: manage external tools and services. See MCP servers
  • /agentsmd: generate or update an agents.md file so Friday picks up project rules. See agents.md & project rules
  • /create-command: create a custom slash command. See Custom commands
  • /create-skill: create a new skill. See Skills
  • /compact: compact the current conversation context
  • /fork: spawn a new worker thread with the current conversation history
  • /code or /cursor: open the current workspace in VS Code or Cursor

Where to next

Questions

Join our Discord.