Install
Get Defiant running in under five minutes. Install guide →
Defiant 2.0 Documentation
Defiant is an AI-native software factory. You describe what you want to build; Defiant’s 14 specialized AI agents plan it, build it, review it, and ship it — autonomously, in parallel, under a governance layer that enforces your organization’s standards from first line to production deploy.
How it works
A sprint is the unit of work. You create a sprint with a goal. The Conductor — a TypeScript daemon running locally — drives a state machine from INTAKE through THINK, PLAN, BUILD, SHIP, to COMPLETE. At each state transition, the right agents are dispatched with structured handoff packets. Agents run inside isolated git worktrees, write code, open PRs, run tests, and post completion certificates. You stay in the loop via the CLI, the desktop workspace, or the REST API.
Quickstart
Create your first sprint and watch agents build. Quickstart →
Architecture
Understand the Conductor, agents, and mandate system. Overview →
CLI Reference
Every command, flag, and environment variable. CLI →
Core concepts
The Conductor
The local TypeScript daemon that orchestrates everything. Runs the sprint state machine, dispatches agents, maintains the event log, and enforces token budgets.
14 Agents
Captain, Architect, Navigator, Builder, Reviewer, Guardian, and eight more — each with a defined role, authority level, and skill set.
Mandate System
50 global mandates plus vertical-pack mandates govern every agent action. Mandates are versioned YAML, checked at commit time, and auditable.
Vertical Packs
Domain-specific mandate sets for Solo Founder, B2B SaaS, Marketplace, Fintech, Healthcare, and PE Portfolio workloads.
Quick orientation
| Concept | What it is |
|---|---|
| Sprint | A unit of work with a goal, assigned agents, and a state machine |
| Conductor | The local daemon at ~/.defiant/ipc/conductor.sock |
| Handoff packet | Structured JSON passed between agents at state transitions |
| Completion certificate | Signed artifact proving typecheck + tests passed |
| Token budget | 200k per task, 2M per day; throttle states: green / yellow / orange / red |
| Mandate | A YAML rule that all agents must satisfy |
| Vertical pack | A bundle of mandates for a specific industry or business model |
What Defiant is not
- Not a code completion tool. Defiant doesn’t autocomplete lines in your editor — it runs entire sprints end to end.
- Not a CI/CD pipeline. It works alongside your pipeline; it doesn’t replace GitHub Actions or your deploy tooling.
- Not a hosted LLM service. You bring your own API keys (Anthropic, OpenAI). Defiant is the orchestration layer.
- Not Defiant 1.x. This is a complete rewrite. No backward compatibility with 1.x projects.
Where to go next
- Follow the install guide to get the CLI and Conductor running.
- Run through the quickstart to create your first sprint.
- Read the architecture overview to understand what’s happening under the hood.
- Browse the 14 agent pages to understand who does what.