01
HARDEN FIRST
Before anything else, your repo gets the engineering it never had: tests, CI, review, end-to-end journeys through your busiest paths. The hardening lands as one setup PR — you read it like any other.
02:47 AM · A RUN IS IN PROGRESS
Your app breaks at 2am.
Someone competent is on shift.
Athema hardens the app AI wrote for you — tests, CI, review — then takes the shift: operating, fixing, and improving it while you sleep. Every change is gated against regressions. Every change is a PR you approve. Below is the board, working.
01LIVE RUN
RUN BOARD
adw-7f3k2c81 · issue #87
- PLAN
- BUILD
- TEST
- E2E
- REVIEW
- REVIEW_CODE
- FINALIZE
- MERGE
EVENTS · events.jsonlPLAIN RECORD, AS IT HAPPENS
02:47:11rundispatched — issue #87: “Customers can’t find where to type their discount code.”
02:47:13stage_startplan
02:47:36planread the checkout code and everything wired to it — weighed 3 approaches
02:47:52planchose the smallest change that works: 2 files · payment code untouched
02:47:53stage_doneplan
02:47:55stage_startbuild
02:48:41builddiscount field, label, totals wiring — one commit, whole-first
02:48:42stage_donebuild
02:48:44stage_starttest — 214 checks
02:49:12test214 checks: 212 passed · 2 failed
02:49:13gatecomparing failures against the pre-change baseline…
02:49:14gateintroduced: 0 · pre-existing: 2 → PASS — debt reported, not hidden
02:49:16stage_starte2e — journey “checkout”, smoke tier
02:49:58e2edriving a real browser through your busiest path
02:50:14e2escreenshot captured → checkout-discount.png
02:50:31e2eWELCOME10 applied · total updated · journey PASS
02:50:33stage_startreview — spec-conformance lens
02:51:02reviewno blockers · 1 note (label copy)
02:51:04stage_startreview_code — code-level lens
02:51:39review_codeno blockers · no security findings
02:51:40gateround 1/4 → CONVERGED
02:51:42stage_startfinalize
02:51:58finalizePR #213 opened · +64 −3 · 2 files
02:51:59mergemerge_policy: human — holding for your approval. It will wait.
CHECKS
214/214
212 PASSED · 2 PRE-EXISTING
REGRESSION GATE
INTRODUCED0
PRE-EXISTING2
PASS · DEBT REPORTED
E2E CAPTURE checkout-discount.png
Linen tote — natural$42.00
WELCOME10APPLY
✓ WELCOME10 — 10% off
Total$37.80
COST
$0.42
CONTEXT PEAK
41%
PULL REQUEST
#213+64 −3 · 2 files
merge_policy: human — nothing merges itself
MERGED BY YOU · 02:52 · ON WATCH
GATE ROUNDS 1/4 · CONVERGED
DETECT → FIX → RE-VALIDATE · BOUNDED · FAIL-CLOSED
STATUS.JSON v2 · EVERY RUN KEEPS THIS RECORD
THIS IS WHAT THE PRODUCT SHOWS YOU WHILE IT WORKS — STAGED HERE AS A REPLAY, HONEST TO THE EVENT SHAPES A REAL RUN EMITS.
02THE CONDITION
You fix one thing.
Three other things break.
You built a real app. People pay for it. Then day 2 arrived: a codebase you didn’t write, can’t read, and are now afraid to touch — and the only help on offer was the same AI that made the mess. The reports below are real, and attributed.
SOURCEREPORTFILED AS
r/SaaS“fix one thing and break three other things”THE LOOP
r/nocode“If something works, NEVER TOUCH IT. Fixing one thing breaks three others”THE FEAR
@leojr94_ · X“guys, i’m under attack” — day 2 of a vibe-coded SaaS in productionDAY 2
Medium“it breaks in production at 2am [and] you’re reading code you didn’t write, trying to debug logic you never learned”2:00 AM
S. Krouse · HN 758↑“asking AI to fix it… is like paying off credit card debt with another credit card”THE RECOURSE
Hacker News“One day, it just breaks and you don’t know why”THE END
Nobody told you about day 2. Athema is the day-2 infrastructure.
03THE MECHANISM
Not more AI piled on broken AI.
Discipline, installed.
Your lived experience is that AI fixing AI code makes it worse. Correct — without discipline, it does. So Athema doesn’t start by changing your code. It starts by making your code safe to change.
02
GATE EVERY CHANGE
Every run compares failures against a pre-change baseline. It blocks only what the change broke — never demanding an impossible all-green from a repo that arrived with debt.
03
SHIP AS A PR
Nothing merges itself. Every change lands as a pull request with a plain-language summary and proof attached. The merge guard is fail-closed: missing or ambiguous state defaults to “do not merge.”
04
EARN AUTONOMY
Autonomy is a measured number, not a vibe: L0 vibe-slop to L5 self-maintaining, scored from how often the work needs a human. Anything touching money, logins, or data always comes to you.
04THE REGRESSION GATE
Blocks what you broke.
Reports what was already broken.
Vibe-coded repos arrive with failing tests. A gate that demands all-green would never pass — so instead of pretending, Athema splits every failure into two honest piles:
INTRODUCED = CURRENT − BASELINEBLOCKS THE CHANGE
PRE-EXISTING = CURRENT ∩ BASELINEREPORTED, NEVER HIDDEN
EACH ROUND → CONVERGED | FIX | EXHAUSTEDBOUNDED · FAIL-CLOSED
If the gate can’t converge inside its round budget, it stops and says so. Failing closed is a feature: the honest answer beats a confident mess.
FIX ISSUE · AUTO-FILEDFROM RUN adw-7f3k2c81
Fix 2 pre-existing failing tests
test: cart total rounds to whole cents
test: search with empty query returns 500
“These failures are inherited debt, not a regression, so they did not block delivery.”
ONE CLICK → A RUN THAT PAYS THE DEBT DOWN
MERGE GUARD · FAIL-CLOSEDRUNS ON EVERY PR
not-ready-for-merge marker presentREFUSE
gates not greenREFUSE
unresolved review blockersREFUSE
no blockers · your approval givenMERGE
Absent or ambiguous state defaults to “do not merge.” Never the other way around.
BOTH ARE REAL ARTIFACTS — EVERY RUN FILES A DEBT REPORT WHEN IT FINDS INHERITED FAILURES; THE GUARD RUNS ON EVERY MERGE, HOWEVER TRIGGERED.
05INSTRUMENTATION
Autonomy you can read off a dial.
The dashboard doesn’t ask for trust — it shows readings. How often the work needed you. What each change cost. What’s waiting for your approval. Representative values shown; yours will be yours.
LADDER OF AUTONOMY PER REPO · EARNED
L2
L0VIBE-SLOPL1HARDENEDL2SMALL FIXESL3ROUTINE WORKL4EXCEPTIONSL5SELF-MAINTAINING
L2 — trusted with small fixes: ships bug fixes and tune-ups alone, asks first for anything your customers would notice. The rung climbs only when the record earns it.
INTERVENTION RATE 30 DAYS
38%▼ TRENDING DOWN
How often a run needed a human. This number is the product: it should fall, measurably, month over month.
COST PER CHANGE METERED
fix: mobile menu not closing$0.29
tune-up: image loading$0.41
feature: discount codes$0.42
Every run is metered and budget-capped. No seats, no retainer — you pay for work performed.
NEEDS YOU RIGHT NOW
1PR #213 — awaiting your approval
Everything else is quiet. When nothing needs you, the board says so — it never manufactures urgency.
06THE ECONOMICS
A rescue is a moment.
This is the engineer that never leaves.
The market already prices your situation: “vibe-code rescue” runs $2,500–$6,000 per incident, or $200 an hour — then the human leaves and the rot resumes. Athema is a standing shift. A plan is a monthly budget of work: fixes, features, and the quiet upkeep you never see.
PLANPRICEBUDGETWHAT RUNS
SOLO
$50/MO
$50 OF WORK · 1 APP
The night shift, every night. Every change a PR you approve. Morning notes and metered costs.
STUDIOMOST MAKERS
$300/MO
$300 OF WORK · 5 APPS
Everything in Solo. The full autonomy dial, L0–L5. Signals from customers and reviews.
SCALE
LET’S TALK
CUSTOM · UNLIMITED APPS
Higher autonomy ceilings. Concierge onboarding. A human on call.
ANNUAL: TWO MONTHS FREE · CHANGE OR LEAVE ANY MONTH · UNUSED BUDGET ROLLS OVER ONCE · PAY FOR THE WORK, NOT THE SEATS
07START
Connect your app.
Get one PR.
No migration, no rewrite, no call. Your code stays in your GitHub, and the first thing Athema sends you is a pull request you can read.
CONNECT YOUR APPWORKS WITH APPS FROM LOVABLE · V0 · BOLT · CURSOR · CLAUDE — ANY REPO ON GITHUB
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STEP 01
Install the GitHub App
Scoped to the repos you pick. No code leaves GitHub to sign up; you can uninstall any time.
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STEP 02
Review the setup PR
Athema hardens the repo — tests, CI, e2e journeys, the operating substrate — and opens one PR. You approve it like any other.
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STEP 03
The board goes live
Ask for work in plain language. Watch runs on the board. Approve PRs. Sleep.