Build the release binary with cargo build --release, then run scripts/cronos-ai to open the dashboard. Outside Herdr, the launcher starts Cronos-AI in its dedicated cronos-ai Herdr session; inside a Herdr pane, it opens the TUI directly in that pane. For a TUI in the current terminal, you can still run target/release/cronos-ai without a subcommand, but supervised task execution requires Herdr. The dashboard checks for pi, herdr, openspec, and git; if any are missing, it asks you to install them and press Enter to retry. It never installs tools automatically.
Navigation
The top line shows where you are (Projects › project › task) and, on the right, how many task runners are working. The bottom two lines show the latest message or error and the keys for the current screen.
- Projects: each row shows the project's status, repository, check command (flagged when missing), check time limit (muted when it is the 60-minute default), and task count. Use ↑/↓ to select a project and Enter to open its task list. Press p for Agent profiles, where you create, edit, and delete the skills, extensions, MCP servers, model, and time limit agents can use; see workflow-agent profiles. Active and archived projects are shown so archived work remains inspectable. Press n to create a project with a name, description, repository, check command, check time limit in minutes, publish mode, whether merges are released, how many tasks run at a time, whether workers are sandboxed, and the prioritizer (choose the last five with ←/→; the agent prioritizer's model is set with the CLI).
- Tasks: use ↑/↓ to select a task. Each row shows status, priority, title, current workflow step, how long that step has been running, and the number of dependencies; the panel title counts tasks by status. Press g for the project's requirements: n adds one (choose functional or non-functional with ←/→), d deletes one, and p runs the planner in the background; when its plan is ready it appears under the requirements with each task's priority, the requirements it covers, and its dependencies, and y creates the tasks or x discards the plan. Press b to switch to a board with a column per status (Rejected appears only when it has tasks) and a card per task; use ←/→ to move between columns and ↑/↓ within one, and b again to return to the table. Under both views a summary shows a progress bar, tasks done out of those not abandoned, the average time from a task's first step to its completion, and the number of tasks in Error. Press Enter for details. Press s to resume every In Progress task whose task runner is not running and then start ready tasks until the project's parallel capacity is reached (with the agent prioritizer, in the order it chooses; its reason appears in the first task's activity); the panel title shows the capacity when it is above one, and the header counts running task runners. Starting requires a repository, a check command, and a Herdr-managed session.
- Task details: a progress line marks each workflow step as done (✓), current (●), or ahead (○), followed by status, priority, the current step and how long it has been running (shown when the terminal is wide enough), attempt and automatic revisions (
n/3), the worktree, branch, OpenSpec change, approvals, and where the work will be (or was) published, then human decisions, recovery context, and agent activity. Use ↑/↓ to select an activity update. - Review view: press v in task details to read the OpenSpec change, the task-branch commits, the diff summary against the base, the latest check output, and then every changed file's diff (added lines green, removed lines red; very long diffs stop after 5,000 lines with a note). A warning at the top flags a task branch that changed the check program. Use ↑/↓ to scroll, PgUp/PgDn to page, ] and [ to jump to the next or previous file (the title shows which one), and Esc or Backspace to return.
- At the specification or final-code approval step, press y to approve or n to request revisions and enter a note. A revision returns the workflow to specification generation or code generation without changing the task from In Progress. Final-code approval unlocks documentation; once the task runner stops at local merge, Rust merges the task branch locally, and pushes or opens a pull request only when the project's publish mode asks for it.
- For an Error task, press t to retry only the failed step (same attempt, worktree, and approvals), r to discard the attempt and retry from specification generation, or c to enter clarification context and regenerate specifications. These actions wait if a step process still owns the task, and first stop agents a crashed task runner left running.
- Press a in task details to abandon the task; enter a reason to mark it Rejected. Backspace/Esc cancels an open dialog or returns one level; r refreshes immediately (outside an Error task's details) and q exits.
The dashboard refreshes persisted project and task state once per second, so status, step, and activity updates written by the workflow host appear without restarting. An error message stays visible until your next key press. Activity is kept per task with a 100-event limit; older task files without activity data remain readable and show an empty activity panel.