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Aviad Shakargy
Aviad Shakargy

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DevTime v0.1.1 - I made the first-run experience much easier

#programming #ci #python #opensource

A few days ago I released DevTime v0.1.0.

It worked. The repo was public, the demo was ready, the README was detailed, and the release was clean.

But there was still one problem: it was too annoying for a stranger to try.

Trying it meant cloning a repo, creating a virtual environment, and installing from source. That is a fine path for a contributor. It is not a great path for someone who just wants to understand what the tool does in one minute.

So DevTime v0.1.1 is about one thing: make DevTime easy to try.

If you are new here, DevTime is a local-first Engineering Intelligence CLI that scans a repository and helps it explain itself from evidence.

GitHub logo Shakargy / devtime

Local-first Engineering Intelligence for software repositories.

DevTime

Local-first Engineering Intelligence for software repositories.

DevTime helps a codebase explain itself from evidence.

It scans code, tests, configs, routes, and decisions to identify supported software concepts, link claims to files, surface uncertainty, and warn about a narrow set of risky changes.

No cloud. No telemetry. No code execution. No AI required.

DevTime demo - Repository memory from evidence

Watch the 2-minute demo: DevTime scans a repo locally, explains concepts from evidence, surfaces uncertainty, catches a risky diff, and shows how a corroborated decision improves understanding.

Try DevTime in 60 seconds

pipx install devtime-ei
dtc demo init
cd devtime-demo-saas
dtc init
dtc scan
dtc concepts
dtc explain "Billing Webhooks"
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The PyPI distribution is devtime-ei. The Python package remains devtime, and the CLI command remains dtc. dtc demo init copies a small static example repo into ./devtime-demo-saas so you can try DevTime without cloning this repository.

From source

git clone https://github.com/Shakargy/devtime.git
cd
…
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View on GitHub

What Changed in v0.1.1

DevTime is now published on PyPI. The distribution name is:

devtime-ei
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The Python package is still:

import devtime
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And the CLI command is still:

dtc
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So the new install path is one line:

pipx install devtime-ei
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No clone. No virtual environment setup. No installing from source.

Try It Without Cloning

After installing, you can create a local demo repo directly from the installed package:

dtc demo init
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Then scan it:

cd devtime-demo-saas
dtc init
dtc scan
dtc concepts
dtc explain "Billing Webhooks"
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

That means someone can now try DevTime on a real example without cloning the GitHub repo first.

Why I Added the Demo Command

DevTime is about evidence, so a fake printed example is not enough. The demo needs real files, real routes, real tests, and real uncertainty.

So this command:

dtc demo init
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copies a small packaged demo repository into your current directory. It does not:

  • Execute any code
  • Call the network
  • Send anything anywhere

It just creates a local demo app you can scan. The output shows how DevTime detects concepts like:

  • Authentication
  • Billing Webhooks
  • Background Jobs
  • Data Export
  • Admin Permissions
  • File Uploads

Then it explains those concepts from evidence:

dtc explain "Billing Webhooks"
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The goal is not just to say "this repo has billing webhooks". The goal is to show what DevTime believes, which files support it, what is still uncertain, and what evidence is missing.

That last part matters because DevTime should not pretend to know more than the repository can prove.

The Rule I Care About Most

No claim without evidence.

If evidence is weak, DevTime should not sound confident. It should show uncertainty. That is why one of the main product principles is:

Uncertainty is a feature, not a bug.

This matters even more now because AI coding tools are making code generation faster. The bottleneck is not only writing code. The bottleneck is understanding what the codebase can prove.

AI writes. EI remembers.

A Nice Thing That Happened

After the public release, a GitHub user opened the first external PR to improve the README. It was a docs-only change, but it mattered. It proved the public backlog worked:

  • I opened small good-first-issue items
  • someone found one
  • they forked the repo
  • they sent a PR
  • it got merged

For a new open-source project, that small loop feels important.

What is in v0.1.1?

New commands:

dtc demo init
dtc demo init --force
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Plus:

  • PyPI package (devtime-ei)
  • pipx install support
  • packaged demo repository
  • README quickstart starting from pipx install
  • 97 passing tests
  • no cloud
  • no telemetry
  • no code execution during scan
  • no AI required

Quick Install

Install with pipx:

pipx install devtime-ei
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Or with pip:

pip install devtime-ei
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Create the demo repo:

dtc demo init
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Run the demo:

cd devtime-demo-saas
dtc init
dtc scan
dtc concepts
dtc explain "Billing Webhooks"
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What I Want Feedback On

The most useful feedback is not "nice project". The most useful feedback is:

  • DevTime got this concept wrong
  • This claim is too strong
  • This uncertainty is missing
  • This evidence is weak
  • This repo structure confused it
  • The install flow failed
  • The wording is misleading

That kind of feedback can become a fixture and make the tool more trustworthy.

Links

GitHub logo Shakargy / devtime

Local-first Engineering Intelligence for software repositories.

DevTime

Local-first Engineering Intelligence for software repositories.

DevTime helps a codebase explain itself from evidence.

It scans code, tests, configs, routes, and decisions to identify supported software concepts, link claims to files, surface uncertainty, and warn about a narrow set of risky changes.

No cloud. No telemetry. No code execution. No AI required.

DevTime demo - Repository memory from evidence

Watch the 2-minute demo: DevTime scans a repo locally, explains concepts from evidence, surfaces uncertainty, catches a risky diff, and shows how a corroborated decision improves understanding.

Try DevTime in 60 seconds

pipx install devtime-ei
dtc demo init
cd devtime-demo-saas
dtc init
dtc scan
dtc concepts
dtc explain "Billing Webhooks"
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

The PyPI distribution is devtime-ei. The Python package remains devtime, and the CLI command remains dtc. dtc demo init copies a small static example repo into ./devtime-demo-saas so you can try DevTime without cloning this repository.

From source

git clone https://github.com/Shakargy/devtime.git
cd
…
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode
View on GitHub

If you try it on a repo and it gets something wrong, please open an issue. That is exactly the feedback I am looking for!

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