The Workflow Model
Every time you use an AI coding agent, you’re running a workflow. Fix a bug? You ask questions, reproduce, analyze, plan, implement, test. Build a feature? You research, design, code, review. You’ve already figured out what works. The workflow lives in your head. You guide the agent through it, step by step, session by session. It works. But every time you start, you rebuild it from scratch. You re-explain the process. You remember to ask the right questions. You manage when to clear context, when to push forward, when to loop back. CodeMachine lets you capture that workflow and run it again. Define the steps once. Choose which agents handle what. Add an agent that always asks the right questions at the start. Chain agents together - one to plan, one to implement, one to review. Control exactly what each agent sees, so they stay focused instead of overwhelmed.The Conceptual Layer
CodeMachine is built on three ideas:Workflows
The structure. What happens, in what order, with what controls. You define this once and reuse it.
Context Management
What each agent knows. You control the data, the focus, the specialization. Instead of one agent knowing everything, each agent knows exactly what it needs.
Orchestration
No limits on complexity. Interactive, autonomous, continuous, or any combination — CodeMachine handles agent coordination.
How CodeMachine Runs Engines
CodeMachine is an orchestration layer that runs AI coding CLIs through structured workflows. You define the workflow once, and CodeMachine handles execution, context passing, and agent coordination.Technical details
Technical details
CodeMachine uses the headless or detached scripting mode that AI coding engines provide for automation (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and others). It spawns engines via CLI wrapping, passes the right arguments and flags, and controls agents through its infrastructure.This follows each engine’s official documentation for scripting and automation use.
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Origin
CodeMachine started as a single hardcoded workflow, a proof of concept for orchestrating AI coding agents. That workflow was used to build the next iteration, validating the core premise: workflows should build workflows.