Projects

Use this section when you want the detailed lifecycle and artifact model behind tracked OAT projects.

Projects are where the workflow layer becomes concrete: lifecycle phases, state.md, plan.md, review gates, PR flow, and repository-analysis helpers all live here.

Reference Contracts

Read Project Artifacts for project file contracts and State Machine for lifecycle and review-state transitions.

Contents

• Lifecycle - End-to-end flow from discovery through completion.
• Reviews - How review request/receive loops work inside OAT projects.
• Planning - Design modes, HiLL checkpoints and project splitting.
• Execution - Implementation execution, project logs and picking up shared projects.
• Closeout - Retrospectives and PR flow.

What This Section Is

This sub-section is the deep technical surface for how tracked OAT projects execute and how their artifacts, reviews, and PR states fit together.

Start Here

• Start with Lifecycle for the end-to-end flow.
• Use Autonomous Project Execution for unattended lifecycle runs and defined boundary behavior.
• Read OAT in Cursor Cloud before running OAT in a cloud workspace.
• Read Artifacts once you need the file contract behind project execution.
• Use Project Splitting when one discovery or brainstorm should become coordinated child projects.
• Use HiLL Checkpoints when you want to understand pause/approval behavior.

Common Tasks

• Understand lifecycle order and alternate lanes in Lifecycle.
• Learn the artifact system of record in Artifacts.
• Split broad scopes into coordination parents and focused children in Project Splitting.
• Understand lifecycle and review transitions in State Machine.
• Learn review and PR expectations in Reviews and PR Flow.
• Review a synced project's durable context in Reviewing OAT PRs.
• Continue remote project work with Picking Up Projects.

Go Deeper

• Lifecycle - End-to-end flow from discovery through completion.
• Autonomous Project Execution - Session activation, gate outcomes, independent review, HiLL closeout, and learnings synthesis.
• OAT in Cursor Cloud - Repository anchoring, environment readiness, user-scope assets, and Cursor execution surfaces.
• Design Modes - How full design balances collaborative, selective collaborative, and draft-and-review interaction.
• HiLL Checkpoints - Human-in-the-Loop Lifecycle configuration and approval behavior.
• Dispatch Policy - Managed capped tiers, managed Uncapped, Inherit Host Defaults, legacy dispatch-ceiling compatibility, and provider-specific enforcement.
• Orchestration Model - The layered dispatch model: roles, selection flow, and per-harness topology.
• Review Flavors - The four review flavors and who resolves each one's target.
• Evidence Layers - The three-layer dispatch evidence model behind records and smoke verification.
• Programmatic Execution - Per-harness headless/CLI execution surfaces and where OAT uses them.
• Artifacts - What lives in state.md, discovery.md, plan.md, implementation.md, and related files.
• Project Splitting - How broad discoveries or brainstorms become coordination parents and child projects.
• State Machine - Lifecycle and review status transitions across a project.
• Reviews - How review request/receive loops work inside OAT projects.
• PR Flow - Progress and final PR generation expectations.
• Reviewing OAT PRs - Record metadata, pinned links, and editor discovery for synced projects.
• Picking Up Projects - Remote discovery, adopting pull, coordination children, and retention boundaries.
• Repository PR Comment Analysis - Repo-wide PR comment collection and triage workflows.