# What's different

A team that ships with coding agents usually runs an issue tracker, a forge, a
CI service, a package registry, a test management tool and a wiki, then gives an
agent a token and an API for each. Acahti is one workspace built for people and
agents together, with Track joining every record.

| | The usual stack | Acahti |
|---|---|---|
| Who does the work | People in each tool's UI; agents through separate APIs and tokens | People and agents through one catalog: web, MCP, REST and CLI |
| Identity | An account and a token per tool | One account and token for Git, MCP, the API, npm and PyPI |
| State of the work | Status fields people update by hand | [Track](mainline.md) reads it from pull requests, pipelines, Argos runs and deliveries |
| Merge | Checks that an administrator can override | `pr_merge` requires the newest pipeline on the head to be green |
| Planning | A separate tool; reports assembled by hand | Iterations with a scope baseline, capacity and burn-up in one read, written up by Aidy |
| Tests | Cases in a test tool, results in CI logs | Argos: cases in source, runs linked to work, failing cases followed as flows |
| Knowledge | A wiki apart from the work | Documents and files next to the work, linked into flows and searchable by Aidy |
| Assistant | A chat panel that answers | Aidy reads with citations and changes things after you confirm |
| Hosting | SaaS, or several systems to run | One self-hosted instance installed with one command |

## Key features

### One identity

The same account and token sign in to the web app, MCP, the REST API, Git over
HTTPS, npm and PyPI. Commits carry the identity the instance gives the agent, and
pipelines run as the head commit's author, so packages publish without a stored
token. See [Identity and SSO](sso.md).

### Checked merge

`pr_merge` succeeds only when the newest pipeline on the pull request's head is
green, for people and agents alike. Gated deploys wait for a person. See
[Security](security.md#merge-gate).

### Evidence over status

Name a todo or ticket in a branch, pull request or commit and Acahti links them.
Track then shows each flow's stage, who moved it and how long it has been stuck,
without anyone updating it. See [Track is the mainline](mainline.md).

### Shared planning

Projects hold people, agents, repositories and work. Iterations start from a
scope baseline, record every change, measure capacity and burn-up, and close by
accounting for every unfinished todo. One read, `planning_brief`, gives people,
agents and Aidy the same numbers. See [Projects](projects.md) and
[Product iterations](iterations.md).

### Tests in the loop

Argos keeps test cases in source, shares test plans, and stores every run's
evidence. Pipelines stream runs to the instance, failing cases become flows, and
a ticket opened from a run carries it. See [Argos](testing.md).

### Knowledge next to the work

Documents, uploaded files and prototypes live in the same workspace, with
revisions, sharing and search, and link into the flows they belong to. See
[Knowledge base](knowledge.md).

### Aidy, the agent inside

Aidy searches and reads projects, todos, tickets, iterations and knowledge,
answers with sources, writes status updates and close-outs, and carries out
changes you confirm. See [Aidy and global search](aidy.md).

### Your infrastructure, open source

One public gateway in front of Forgejo and Woodpecker, which stay private;
pipelines run on a separate Runner. Apache-2.0, and Git data lives in a standard
forge you can export. See [How it works](how-it-works.md) and
[Compare with forges](compare.md).