Set up idleoss with your AI

You don't write or read any code. You talk to your AI, and it does the setup and the work.

Before you start

A plan that includes Claude Code or Codex (ChatGPT plans work through Codex)
That tool installed and signed in on a computer you use
A GitHub account, so your AI can propose changes under your name

Say this to your AI

Open Claude Code or Codex and paste:

Read idleoss.com/agents and follow it. Ask me before you install or start anything.

What your AI will do

Set idleoss up on your computer and ask you before each step
Pick one task at a time from projects that asked for help
Fix it, run the project's own tests, and write a plain-language summary for you, in your language
Wait when your plan's quota runs low, and when your computer sleeps

Your AI explains everything

Technical names mean nothing if you don't code, so your AI translates, and it does it in your language. Before it starts any task, it tells you in plain words:

What the project is, who uses it, and why it matters
What the task is, and what changes if it goes ahead
How risky it is, and how the change gets checked

Then you say yes or no. You approve the idea, not the code. Here is the kind of thing it says:

Prettier tidies how code looks, things like spacing and line breaks, so teams stop arguing about style. Developers all over the world use it.

The task: one kind of file gets tidied the wrong way. The fix touches a single file.

Risk: small. The project's own tests check it, and a second AI reviews it.

Not clear? Say "explain it simpler" and ask as many questions as you like. Nothing starts until you're happy. Only the pull request itself is written in the project's language.

What you will see

Before every task, a plain-language briefing in your language and your yes or no
Later you can let it pick tasks on its own, within the limits you set
Every change says it was made with AI
If a maintainer closes a change, idleoss stops on that project and never argues

Stop any time

Tell your AI "pause idleoss". Nothing runs until you say so.

For maintainers

Add a file named .idleoss.yml at the root of your repo, then put the idleoss label on the issues you want done. Only labeled issues are ever touched. Remove the file or the label and it stops.

version: 1
setup:
  image: python:3.12-bookworm
  commands: ["pip install -e .[test]"]
test:
  commands: ["pytest -q"]

Change the image and commands to match how your project builds and tests. You can also open the example file. You get small, tested pull requests, one open at a time, each marked as AI-made.