Open your repository

On Panolayer’s opening screen, choose Open Project….
Select the root folder of your local Git repository.
Open the folder and wait for your codebase to appear in Panolayer.

You can open a Git checkout directly; you don’t need a Panolayer project file.

Panolayer’s opening screen with Open Project above the Todo App and Twitter Clone sample apps. — Choose Open Project… to open your own repository. The Todo App and Twitter Clone samples are available below it; we use Twitter Clone in the examples throughout these docs.

See your first verification result

When you open a codebase, the Panolayer verification engine starts running. It parses the codebase down to its functions, symbols, and dependencies, builds the visual architecture, and checks the code to identify bugs.

Open Issues in the sidebar to follow verification.
Wait for Verification complete. Any issues that need attention appear in the same window under Needs attention.
If an issue is listed, open Details to understand what failed and where it is in your code.

Here’s what that looks like in the Twitter example. The same view shows results for your repository; your project name, files, and issue counts will be different.

The Twitter example’s Issues page after verification completes, with Sources, Architecture, Rules, and Verify finished and issues listed under Needs attention. — Example: the Twitter Clone’s Issues page after verification. In your repository, look for the same verification status, Needs attention list, and Details controls.

For a closer look at the statuses and results, read Understand a verification result.

You’re ready to start working. You’ve installed Panolayer, signed in, opened a repository, and reached its verification results. You can now explore the code or hand a bug to an agent.

Explore your architecture

Open Architecture in the sidebar to understand how your code fits together, what depends on what, where the bugs are, and what they touch. Expand the map to move from the codebase into its groups, files, and functions.

Trace a bug to the source

Follow the red issue badges through the architecture to the affected function. In this Twitter example, the path leads through UI Components → components → Saved Posts → SavedPosts → clearAll.

The Twitter example’s architecture map, with red issue badges along the path from UI Components to SavedPosts and clearAll. — Follow the red badges to see where an issue sits in the codebase and how the affected code connects to the rest of the project.

Open the affected function’s source to see the issue alongside the code and its line number. Here, clearAll appears at line 19 in components/SavedPosts.tsx, with the failure explained directly above it. Your repository will show its own files, functions, and source lines.

SavedPosts.tsx open from the architecture map, showing the clearAll function at line 19, its failing rule, and Fix controls beside the issue. — The source view connects the issue to its function and line of code, with the failure explanation and Fix controls in the same window.

Choose an agent to fix it

Choose Fix beside an issue to open the agent menu. Select Panolayer Agent or another agent you’ve installed in Panolayer, such as Claude Code, Codex CLI, Kilo Code CLI, or OpenCode. See Supported agents for installation and setup.

Control which files agents can access

In the file’s details panel, scroll down to the file controls:

Lock File, under Implementation Lock, prevents AI agents from modifying the file.
Hide from Agents, under Container Agent Access, prevents new container agents from reading the file. Existing agent sessions are unchanged.

The SavedPosts.tsx details panel with Lock File under Implementation Lock and Hide from Agents under Container Agent Access. — Use Lock File to prevent agent edits, or Hide from Agents to keep the file out of new container agent sessions.

For more ways to navigate your codebase, see Explore architecture and dependencies.

Next: fix your first bug

Learn how to send an issue to Panolayer Agent, review the verification result, and decide whether to merge the change. The first-bug walkthrough uses the Twitter example to show the steps you can apply to your own repository.

Fix your first bug with Panolayer

Explore architecture and dependencies →

Build features and fix bugs →