Quick Start

Get up and running with DevDaily in 5 minutes. This guide walks you through initialization and your first commands.

Make sure you’ve completed the installation before proceeding.

Initial Setup

Navigate to a git repository

DevDaily analyzes your git history, so you need to be in a git repository:

cd /path/to/your/project

If you don’t have a project handy, you can clone any repository to test DevDaily.

Run the initialization wizard

devdaily init

This interactive setup wizard will:

Create a dd alias for quick access
Set up shell completions for tab completion
Optionally configure git hooks for auto-snapshots
Optionally set up Slack/Discord notifications

Example output:

╭─────────────────────────────────────────╮
│                                         │
│   DevDaily Setup Wizard                 │
│                                         │
╰─────────────────────────────────────────╯

? Set up shell alias 'dd'? (Y/n) 
✓ Added alias to ~/.zshrc

? Install shell completions? (Y/n) 
✓ Shell completions installed

? Install git hooks for auto-snapshots? (y/N) 
○ Skipped git hooks

Setup complete! Restart your shell or run:
  source ~/.zshrc

Reload your shell

source ~/.zshrc  # or ~/.bashrc for bash

Or simply open a new terminal window.

Verify the setup

dd --version

The dd alias should now work as a shortcut for devdaily.

Your First Standup

Let’s generate your first standup note from your recent commits.

Generate a standup for today's work

devdaily standup

Or use the short alias:

dd s

DevDaily will:

Analyze your git commits from the last 24 hours
Fetch related PRs and tickets
Generate an AI-powered summary using GitHub Copilot CLI
Copy the result to your clipboard

Review the output

Example standup output:

╭──────────────────────────────────────────╮
│                                          │
│   Your Standup                           │
│                                          │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────╯

## Completed

- Implemented JWT token refresh logic in the auth service
- Fixed race condition in WebSocket reconnection handler
- Updated API rate limiting middleware to return proper 429 status codes

## In Progress

- Migrating user preferences to the new settings schema (PROJ-234)
- Reviewing PR #42 for the dashboard CSV export feature

## Blockers

- Waiting on DevOps team for staging environment Redis upgrade

────────────────────────────────────────────

commits: 5  │  days: 1  │  PRs: 2  │  primary area: backend

✓ Copied to clipboard

Try different time ranges

Look back further if you want to cover more work:

# Last 3 days
devdaily standup --days 3

# Entire week
devdaily standup --days 7

The standup is automatically copied to your clipboard. Just paste it into Slack, Teams, or your standup document!

Generate a PR Description

Create professional PR descriptions from your branch changes.

Create a feature branch and make some commits

git checkout -b feature/new-dashboard
# ... make your changes and commit ...
git add .
git commit -m "feat: add user dashboard with analytics"

Generate a PR description

devdaily pr

Or use the short alias:

dd pr

DevDaily will:

Analyze your branch commits compared to the base branch
Extract ticket IDs from branch name and commits
Detect and use your PR template (if you have one)
Generate a comprehensive PR description

Review and choose an action

Example PR output:

╭──────────────────────────────────────────╮
│                                          │
│   PR Description Generator               │
│                                          │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────╯

Generated PR Description
────────────────────────────────────────────

# feat: add user dashboard with analytics

## Description

- Added user dashboard with real-time analytics
- Implemented chart components using Recharts
- Added data export functionality (CSV/JSON)

## Type of Change

- [x] New feature
- [ ] Bug fix

## Testing

- Added unit tests for dashboard components
- Manual testing against staging environment

────────────────────────────────────────────

? What would you like to do?
  ❯ Copy to clipboard
    Create PR on GitHub
    Create draft PR
    Configure labels & reviewers
    Exit

Create the PR directly (optional)

Skip the menu and create the PR immediately:

# Create a regular PR
devdaily pr --create

# Create a draft PR
devdaily pr --draft

# Interactive mode with labels and reviewers
devdaily pr --interactive

# Generate and copy
devdaily pr
# Select "Copy to clipboard" from the menu

# Create PR on GitHub
devdaily pr --create

# Create as draft
devdaily pr --draft

# Compare against develop instead of main
devdaily pr --base develop

Generate a Weekly Summary

Compile your weekly accomplishments across all commits, PRs, and tickets.

Generate this week's summary

devdaily week

Or use the short alias:

dd w

Review the summary

Example weekly output:

╭──────────────────────────────────────────╮
│                                          │
│   Weekly Summary                         │
│                                          │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────╯

## Highlights

Focused on backend auth improvements and API reliability this
week. Shipped JWT token refresh, fixed rate limiting, and
closed several long-standing bugs in the WebSocket layer.

## Key Accomplishments

### Features Shipped
- Implemented automatic JWT token refresh with configurable
  expiry thresholds (PROJ-234)
- Added CSV export for dashboard analytics reports (PROJ-289)
- Built dark mode toggle for the settings page (#42)

### Bug Fixes
- Fixed API rate limiting to return HTTP 429 instead of 500
- Resolved race condition in WebSocket reconnection handler
- Fixed login page crash on mobile Safari (PROJ-201)

### Technical Improvements
- Refactored user service to use repository pattern
- Added integration test suite for auth middleware
- Updated CI pipeline to run tests in parallel

## Stats

23 commits │ 4 PRs merged │ 1 PR open │ 3 tickets closed

────────────────────────────────────────────

✓ Copied to clipboard

Try different time ranges

# Last week
devdaily week --last

# Specific date range
devdaily week --from 2025-01-01 --to 2025-01-07

# All projects (cross-repo summary)
devdaily week --all-projects

Essential Commands Cheat Sheet

Here are the most common commands you’ll use daily:

# Today's standup
dd s

# Last 3 days
dd standup --days 3

# Send to Slack
dd standup --send

# Slack format
dd standup --format slack

# Include specific ticket
dd standup --ticket PROJ-123

# Generate PR description
dd pr

# Create PR on GitHub
dd pr --create

# Draft PR
dd pr --draft

# Against develop branch
dd pr --base develop

# Interactive mode
dd pr --interactive

# This week
dd w

# Last week
dd week --last

# All projects
dd week --all-projects

# Save to journal
dd week --save

# JSON format
dd week --json

# Where did I leave off?
dd context

# AI summary
dd context --ai

# Search for "auth"
dd recall "auth"

# Search by file
dd recall --file src/auth.ts

Output Formats

DevDaily supports multiple output formats for different workflows:

Markdown
Slack
Plain Text
JSON

Default format, perfect for GitHub, Notion, or documentation:

devdaily standup --format markdown

Formatted with Slack’s markdown syntax:

devdaily standup --format slack

Output:

*Completed*

• Implemented JWT token refresh logic
• Fixed race condition in WebSocket handler

*In Progress*

• Migrating user preferences schema (PROJ-234)

Clean text without formatting:

devdaily standup --format plain

Output:

Completed:

• Implemented JWT token refresh logic
• Fixed race condition in WebSocket handler

In Progress:

• Migrating user preferences schema (PROJ-234)

Machine-readable for automation:

devdaily standup --format json

Output:

{
  "generatedAt": "2025-07-14T09:30:00.000Z",
  "meta": {
    "commits": 5,
    "prs": 2,
    "days": 1
  },
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "Completed",
      "items": [
        "Implemented JWT token refresh logic"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Common Options

These flags work across most commands:

Flag	Description	Example
`--format`	Output format (markdown, slack, plain, json)	`dd s --format slack`
`--no-copy`	Don’t copy to clipboard	`dd pr --no-copy`
`--debug`	Show full prompt and context	`dd s --debug`
`--days <n>`	Look back N days	`dd s --days 3`
`--send`	Send to Slack/Discord	`dd s --send`

Next Steps

Now that you’ve mastered the basics, explore more advanced features:

Configuration

Customize DevDaily to match your workflow

Commands Reference

Complete reference for all commands and options

Context & Memory

Learn about auto-snapshots and work journaling

Integrations

Connect Jira, Linear, Slack, and Discord

Tips & Tricks

Use aliases for speed:

dd s = standup
dd pr = PR description
dd w = weekly summary
dd ctx = context recovery

Configure defaults in .devdaily.json:

{
  "standup": { "defaultDays": 1 },
  "pr": { "defaultBase": "develop" },
  "output": { "format": "slack" }
}

Send standups to Slack automatically:

# Set up webhook once
dd init --notifications

# Then send with --send flag
dd standup --send

Troubleshooting

No commits found

Problem: No commits or PRs found in the last 1 day(s) Solution:

# Increase the time range
devdaily standup --days 3

# Or check if you're filtering by author
devdaily standup --author your.email@example.com

GitHub Copilot CLI not working

Problem: GitHub Copilot CLI not found Solution:

# Install the extension
gh extension install github/gh-copilot

# Verify it works
gh copilot --version

Not in a git repository

Problem: Not a git repository Solution:

# Navigate to a git repository
cd /path/to/your/project

# Or initialize a new repo
git init

Webhook test fails

Problem: Slack/Discord webhook not working Solution:

# Reconfigure webhooks
devdaily init --notifications

# Test the webhook
devdaily standup --test-webhook

Get Help

Need more help?

Run Diagnostics

devdaily doctor

Checks all prerequisites and shows their status

Command Help

devdaily --help
devdaily standup --help

Shows all available options for any command

Get Started

Core Features

Configuration

Advanced

Troubleshooting

Quick Start

Quick Start

Initial Setup

Your First Standup

Generate a PR Description

Generate a Weekly Summary

Essential Commands Cheat Sheet

Output Formats

Common Options

Next Steps

Configuration

Commands Reference

Context & Memory

Integrations

Tips & Tricks

Troubleshooting

No commits found

GitHub Copilot CLI not working

Not in a git repository

Webhook test fails

Get Help

Run Diagnostics

Command Help

​Quick Start

​Initial Setup

​Your First Standup

​Generate a PR Description

​Generate a Weekly Summary

​Essential Commands Cheat Sheet

​Output Formats

​Common Options

​Next Steps

Configuration

Commands Reference

Context & Memory

Integrations

​Tips & Tricks

​Troubleshooting

​No commits found

​GitHub Copilot CLI not working

​Not in a git repository

​Webhook test fails

​Get Help

Run Diagnostics

Command Help

Quick Start

Initial Setup

Your First Standup

Generate a PR Description

Generate a Weekly Summary

Essential Commands Cheat Sheet

Output Formats

Common Options

Next Steps

Tips & Tricks

Troubleshooting

No commits found

GitHub Copilot CLI not working

Not in a git repository

Webhook test fails

Get Help