mb-start

When to use it

Any time the session is fresh and you want the agent grounded before it offers an opinion.

How it works

1. Reads the room. Opens your folder. Scans identity, bets, last shipped work, and open loops.
2. Names what is open. Unfinished pushes, untouched bets, pending reviews, anything that drifted.
3. Picks the smallest next move. The one least likely to waste your attention.
4. Hands control back. Take the suggestion, route elsewhere, or close the loop. Nothing ships without your approval.

Try it

Open the business folder, start the agent, type the route.

cd my-business
claude
mb-start

What you will see

A short reading of the room. Where you are. What is loaded. What is open. The first route worth taking. Nothing runs yet.

Business: Acme Co
Loaded: voice, offer, audience, soul
Open pushes: Spring launch, day 3 of 7
Open bets: Reddit participation, blog cadence
Ready to review: 1 decision draft

Next: continue the Spring launch push.
You are in control.

Pitfalls

• Skipping start, then asking the agent to remember everything. It cannot. You will fight stale assumptions all session.
• Treating the suggested route as a command. It is a recommendation. Override it any time the room feels different.
• Running it in the wrong folder. The business folder is the brain. Start where the brain lives.

Related routes

• mb-status when you want to know what changed or what is stale.
• mb-think when the next move is research, a decision, or codifying.
• mb-site when the next move is a page, lander, or sales surface.
• mb-end to crystallize lessons and checkpoint.

Advanced (operator and CLI)

Power-user territory. Skip unless you are debugging a session that did not start cleanly, or you want to inspect the fact layer directly.

Entrypoints

mb-start

# Claude Code, when installed
/mb-start

command -v mb
mb --version
mb status --json --peek
mb start --json

Runtime contract

The CLI is the source of truth for repo health, setup, runtime wiring, updates, providers, and repair. The agent should not invent shell inspection while the CLI can answer.

1. Start in the current repo. If status says this is not a Main Branch repo, ask for the business folder path.
2. Stop on runtime mismatch. Tell the operator to fix the runtime or login-shell PATH first.
3. Ask before repair or update. Use mb doctor repair --plan for the plan. Apply only after approval.
4. Translate the output. Lead with business meaning. Put technical receipt second.

Business memory lanes

Memory is split into lanes so the agent cites the right context instead of flattening your business into a summary.

First-time setup

Start with the folder that will become the business brain. mb onboard creates and wires it.

pipx install mainbranch
mb onboard --name "My Business" --path my-business
cd my-business
mb status --json --peek
mb start --json

Operator control

Main Branch recommends. It does not seize control.