Polymath Zero

Developers

Repository integration

Zero reads your repository for code context during sessions. It writes nothing to your repository without explicit approval.

What Zero reads

  • File structure (for code context)
  • Specific files referenced in case context
  • Git log (for diff generation and session context)

What Zero writes

  • Code changes during Work mode execution — only after the operator approves the session plan.
  • Nothing is written to your repository without plan approval.

GitHub integration

GitHub integration uses the locally installed gh CLI for repository access. Install it with brew install gh and authenticate with gh auth login. If gh is not installed, Zero works fully for manual Work items — source import is skipped until you set it up.
  • Issue import — Zero fetches issue metadata (title, body, labels, acceptance criteria) and writes problem-definition.md. Requires gh CLI.
  • PR ready-check — Zero can check PR status and surface blockers. Requires gh CLI.
  • Progress comments — Zero can post session progress as issue comments. Operator-controlled. Requires gh CLI with write scope.
  • Proof comment — Zero posts a proof summary as a PR comment when Work resolves. Operator-controlled. Requires gh CLI with write scope.

Required access

  • Repository read access (local filesystem).
  • GitHub: the gh CLI must be authenticated. Read scope is sufficient for import and PR status. Write scope is required for posting comments.
  • Zero does not require write access to your git repository — code changes are applied locally and you create the PR.

Multi-repo and monorepos

Monorepo: Zero supports a single workspace directory — point it at the monorepo root. Code context can reference files across any package within the workspace.

Multiple repos: each Zero workspace is one directory. For multiple repos, open multiple workspaces. Cases in different workspaces are independent.

Team plan: allows multiple machines — each can have different workspaces pointing at different repos.

Each workspace is one directory. Cross-workspace Work item linking is not available in current releases.