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#3423 Docs: document swamp start onboarding and the local dashboard

Opened by stack72 · 10/14/2026

Problem

swamp start (swamp-club#3261, #3366) and the local dashboard (swamp-club#3379) have shipped, but the public manual has no entry for either CLI surface.

This leaves the recommended first-run path inconsistent:

  • how-to/install-swamp.md still sends users to swamp auth login and swamp repo init; a first interactive install now starts swamp start, which handles sign-in itself, creates or imports a workspace, captures a task, and launches a selected local agent.
  • reference/swamp-account-requirement.md says every command other than the listed exemptions requires a credential. swamp start is intentionally exempt so its page can sign the user in.
  • reference/swamp-serve/dashboard.md describes the dashboard as available only through swamp serve --dashboard; it has no local-CLI mode, behavior URLs, or explanation of the views that are unavailable locally.

The README has a short swamp start introduction, but it cannot replace discoverable manual reference and task guidance.

Documentation to add or update

Start and workspace onboarding

Add a discoverable manual guide for swamp start and link it from Install Swamp and the AI Agents landing page. It should cover:

  • swamp start as the recommended interactive desktop first-run path; it opens a loopback browser page and signs in within that flow.
  • Creating a named workspace under ~/.swamp/workspaces/ (or $SWAMP_HOME/workspaces/) versus importing an existing Swamp repository without moving it.
  • The task flow: create/select a workspace, describe a task, choose an installed supported agent, and the task brief kept at tasks/<date>-<slug>.md.
  • Returning to tasks and launching/resuming an agent; swamp start status and --workspace <name> as the non-destructive inspection/direct-open commands.
  • Ctrl-C and --no-browser behavior, plus the fact that a task can be opened by more than one swamp start process.
  • The distinction from swamp repo init: start is the guided onboarding path; repo init remains the direct, existing-project/per-agent setup path.

Update reference/swamp-account-requirement.md to list swamp start as exempt and explain that its browser flow requires sign-in before it creates/imports a workspace, enrolls agents, or launches one.

Local dashboard

Extend reference/swamp-serve/dashboard.md (or split out a linked local-dashboard reference) to distinguish:

swamp dashboard
swamp dashboard --repo-dir <dir>
swamp dashboard --no-browser

from swamp serve --dashboard:

  • Local dashboard needs no running swamp serve and no dashboard login; it opens one initialized local repo and does not register it as a swamp start workspace.
  • From swamp start, Open dashboard serves registered workspaces with a workspace picker and a link back to workspaces/tasks.
  • Local mode is read-only for normal dashboard data; the supported workflow actions are approve, reject, resume, and cancel, executed through the CLI so normal repository locking and sync semantics apply. A resumed workflow continues after the dashboard closes.
  • Schedules and Webhooks are deliberately unavailable locally; Logout and Serve Configuration are absent. Direct swamp serve --dashboard remains the route for serve-only features.
  • --json is refused because swamp dashboard produces a browser page, not structured output.
  • The canonical behavior routes are /dashboard/behaviors/...; legacy /dashboard/models/... routes continue to resolve.

Keep the existing swamp serve --dashboard configuration, authentication, and remote-dashboard URL material intact; the new material must make the two modes easy to choose between.

Sources

  • swamp-club#3261 — swamp start onboarding
  • swamp-club#3366 — task/workspace navigation and agent selection refinements
  • swamp-club#3379 — local dashboard via swamp start and swamp dashboard
  • design/surfaces/start.md
  • design/surfaces/local-dashboard.md
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Closed

10/14/2026, 3:44:23 AM

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stack72 commented 10/14/2026, 3:44:23 AM

Documented in swamp-club/swamp-club#1340 (merged). New how-to content/manual/how-to/start-a-task-with-swamp-start.md covers the sign-in-in-page flow, creating vs importing a workspace, describing a task (brief at tasks/-.md), picking an agent, returning to tasks and Launch Agent, swamp start status and --workspace, --no-browser, Ctrl-C, several swamp start processes on one workspace, Open dashboard, and when to use swamp repo init instead. Install Swamp and the AI Agents landing page link to it. swamp-account-requirement.md lists swamp start and swamp start status as exempt and explains the sign-in step. dashboard.md now contrasts the serve dashboard with a new Local dashboard section (swamp dashboard, --repo-dir, --no-browser, the swamp start workspace picker, no login, read-only except approve/reject/resume/cancel run as CLI commands, resumed runs outliving the page, Schedules/Webhooks/Logout/Serve Configuration unavailable, --json refused), and its route table uses the canonical /dashboard/behaviors/... with legacy /models/ and /behaviours/ noted. Live at https://swamp-club.com/manual/how-to/start-a-task-with-swamp-start

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