Codebase mode
Already started building? Plan the next phase against what exists instead of a blank page.
Greenfield planning is the easy case. The harder one is a product that already exists: there is a repository, a stack you did not choose last week, and features half-built.
Codebase mode lets you attach a GitHub repository URL when you create a project. The questionnaire then assumes context you already have, so you spend your answers on the decisions that are still open rather than restating what the code already proves.
Everything downstream works the same way: mindmap, PRD, feature specs and task lists are all produced against your stated reality.
Planning against reality
Most planning tools assume a blank slate. In practice you are usually adding to something that already exists, with a stack that was chosen months ago. Codebase mode lets you declare that up front so the plan starts from where you actually are.
What changes, and what does not
What changes is the framing: instead of describing the product from nothing, you spend your answers on the decisions still open. Mindmaps, PRDs, specs and task lists are produced exactly as they are in idea mode.
Useful well beyond new features
Codebase mode works for migrations, re-platforming and documentation recovery — any situation where the code exists but the plan does not.
What you get
Repository-aware context
Attach a GitHub URL when creating a project so the plan builds on what exists.
Available on every plan
Codebase mode is not gated behind a paid tier — it is part of the product.
Same outputs
Mindmap, PRD, specs and tasks all work identically in either mode.
Good for migrations
Useful when the work is not a new product but a new phase of an existing one.
How it works
- 1
Choose codebase mode
Pick it when creating the project, next to idea mode.
- 2
Add the repository URL
Point Ideon at the GitHub repository for the project.
- 3
Answer with context
Use the questionnaire to describe what is changing, not what already exists.
Good for
- Planning the next phase of a live product
- Adding a major feature to an existing codebase
- Re-documenting a project that outgrew its original plan