Adopt a project

Adoption creates the Mend-owned repository used for sessions. Agents never run against your existing checkout.

Adopt the current repository

From a Git checkout:

mend adopt

Mend finds the repository root, derives a project name, and clones it into the central store.

Choose a name explicitly:

mend adopt --name billing-api

Adopt another source

The source can be a local path or any Git URL:

mend adopt /home/you/Developer/api
mend adopt https://github.com/acme/api.git
mend adopt git@github.com:acme/api.git
mend adopt ssh://git@example.com/acme/api.git

The server performs the clone. A local path must exist on the Mend machine, not only on the laptop where the CLI runs.

Choose Git authentication

--auth selects how the Mend host authenticates remote Git operations:

Mode	Behavior
ambient	Use the Mend server account’s existing Git and SSH setup
mend-key	Use the machine’s Mend-generated deploy key
bridge	Relay signing to an SSH agent shared from another machine

Ambient mode is the default. Verify the host first:

git ls-remote <source>

For a Mend key:

mend keys init
mend keys show
mend adopt git@github.com:acme/api.git --auth mend-key

Add the printed public key as a deploy key on the Git host before adoption. Grant write access only if sessions should push.

For a hardware key that stays on your laptop, keep the bridge running there:

mend keys share

Then adopt with --auth bridge. The remote Mend host sends SSH signing requests back to the shared agent. Press Ctrl+C to stop sharing.

Store layout

Each project has a bare repository and session worktrees:

<store>/<project>/repo.git
<store>/<project>/worktrees/<session>/

The store copy is canonical for Mend. Your previous checkout remains separate. Use normal Git commits, fetches, and pushes to exchange work.

Start the first session

After adoption:

mend codex

The CLI matches the current checkout to an adopted project by original path, remote URL, or project name. Use --project <name> when you need to select one explicitly.

Read Start a session for launch, detach, reattach, and resume behavior.