--- title: "Get started" description: "Install pando, sign in, clone a repository, and work on a branch in its own worktree." --- > Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.gitpando.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Get started This page takes you from nothing to a merged branch. You need git. ## Install pando `pando` is one program. Pando releases it on Pando itself: each [release](/releases/) of Pando's code carries `pando` for macOS and Linux, on Apple chips or ARM and on Intel or AMD. One command installs the one for this machine: ```sh curl -fsSL https://gitpando.com/install | sh ``` It downloads `pando` from the latest release, checks its SHA-256 against the release's `SHA256SUMS` file, and puts it at `~/.local/bin/pando`. To read the script first, open [app.gitpando.com/install](https://app.gitpando.com/install). The same by hand, without the check: ```sh mkdir -p ~/.local/bin && curl -fsSL -o ~/.local/bin/pando "https://app.gitpando.com/v1/monorepos/ramos/pando/repos/projects-pando/releases/latest/files/pando-$(uname -s | tr A-Z a-z)-$(uname -m | sed 's/x86_64/amd64/;s/aarch64/arm64/')" && chmod +x ~/.local/bin/pando && pando help ``` Put `~/.local/bin` on your `PATH` if it is not there already. The release's `SHA256SUMS` file lists each file's SHA-256, to check it with `shasum -a 256 ~/.local/bin/pando`. Or build it from Pando's source, with Go 1.26: ```sh cd cli go build -o ~/.local/bin/pando ./cmd/pando ``` ## Sign in ```sh pando login ``` With no `--server`, `pando login` signs in to Pando at `https://app.gitpando.com`. `pando` shows a code and a link, and opens your browser. Confirm the code there. The terminal then says `Signed in to ... as `. The credential is kept in `~/.pando/`, readable only by you. From then on, git and `pando` on this machine act as you, with no further sign-in. `pando auth status` shows who this machine is signed in as. ## Clone a repository A repository has an owner and a name, like `ramos/acme`. Clone it the way you would with git: ```sh pando clone ramos/acme cd acme ``` The folder looks like this: ``` acme/ AGENTS.md decisions/ ... shared files, the same on every machine projects/ web/ worktrees/ main/ main, read-only, follows every merge api/ worktrees/ main/ ``` Every project under `projects/` gets a read-only `worktrees/main/`. It moves to the new main after each merge. You never edit it. Each worktree is a git clone: every file of its branch is on disk, so your editor, search and git work as they do in any clone. The shared files around the projects (notes, decisions, plans) are the same on every machine. `pando sync` keeps them live while it runs; see [Shared files](/cli/#shared-files). To start a repository of your own, run `pando init` in a folder that holds your git repos under `projects/`. To use Pando with one ordinary git repo, see [A plain git repository](/plain-git/). ## Work on a branch Each branch gets its own folder, a worktree: ```sh pando worktree add projects/web fix-login cd projects/web/worktrees/fix-login ``` `fix-login` is a new branch off main, or the existing branch of that name. Inside the worktree, git works as usual: ```sh git status git commit -am "Fix the login redirect" git push ``` Main is protected. A push to main is refused with `main is protected; push a branch and merge it`. Push your branch instead. Give every agent its own worktree. Two agents never share one, so neither can break the other's work. See [Worktrees](/worktrees/) for how a Pando worktree differs from `git worktree`. ## Review and merge From inside the worktree: ```sh pando diff # the branch diff against main pando review -m "Looks right" # leave a comment pando merge # land it on main with a merge commit ``` The same branch has a page in the web app: its commits, the diff, reviews, checks and a Merge button. ### A commit's page Each commit has its own page at `///projects//commit/` (in a plain repository, `///commit/`). It shows the commit's message, its author and when it was committed, the branch it came from (or, for a merge commit, the branch it merged), its checks, and the files it changed against its first parent, in the same view as the branch's Files changed. Copy sha copies the full sha. The short sha in a branch's commit list, a file's history, a session's commits, the Merge box and a check's line in the activity (on a commit no branch is at) all open it. The address also takes the first 7 characters of a sha or more. Merge waits for the checks the project requires (see [Checks and CI](/ci/)). Pando merges whole files: if the branch and main both changed a file in different ways, the merge stops and lists the files. Merge main into your branch, fix them, push, and merge again. ## Clean up ```sh pando worktree remove projects/web/worktrees/fix-login ``` `pando worktree remove` refuses while there is work that is not committed or not pushed. The branch stays on the server until it merges. ## Next - [CLI reference](/cli/): every command and flag. - [Projects and references](/references/): keep someone else's repo nearby to read. - [Limits](/limits/): file and push sizes, and other numbers to know. Source: https://docs.gitpando.com/get-started/index.mdx