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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.codecobra.ai/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

Once you create a task, you work through two main phases: planning and development. This page covers both in detail so you know exactly what to expect.

Planning phase

In the planning phase, you have a conversation with CodeCobra to define what you need. This is a collaborative process — you describe the problem, CodeCobra asks questions, and together you arrive at a clear plan. Before diving into specific requirements, consider starting with questions:
  • “What does Odoo already offer for managing customer credit limits?”
  • “How do other businesses typically handle this workflow in Odoo?”
  • “What are the standard reports available in the Inventory module?”
This helps you understand what already exists, avoid duplicating built-in features, and make more informed decisions about what to customize. See Explore and learn Odoo for more on this.

Describe your requirements

When you’re ready to build, describe what you need in the chat. You can be as detailed or as high-level as you like — CodeCobra adapts to your level. High-level approach:
“I need a way to track equipment maintenance schedules for our manufacturing floor.”
Detailed approach:
“I need a maintenance scheduling module that tracks 50 pieces of equipment. Each piece should have a maintenance interval (daily, weekly, monthly), a responsible technician, and a log of past maintenance. There should be a calendar view and automatic reminders 2 days before scheduled maintenance.”
Both work well. With a high-level description, CodeCobra asks more clarifying questions to fill in the details. With a detailed description, it can move more quickly to generating the plan.

How CodeCobra plans

During planning, CodeCobra:
  1. Examines your codebase — reads your existing Odoo modules to understand your current setup
  2. Asks clarifying questions — if anything is ambiguous, it asks rather than assuming
  3. Identifies existing capabilities — highlights what Odoo already provides that’s relevant
  4. Generates a development plan — a structured document describing exactly what will be built

Upload files for context

If you have screenshots, specifications, mockups, or reference documents, attach them in the chat. This is especially useful for:
  • UI mockups — showing exactly how you want something to look
  • Current screenshots — showing what you have today and what needs to change
  • Business documents — forms, reports, or workflows that the customization should support
  • Specifications — detailed requirements from your team
You can upload up to 8 files per task, with a maximum of 15 MB each.

Review the plan

The development plan appears in a side panel next to the chat. It’s a detailed document that includes:
  • What will be built and why
  • How it relates to your existing Odoo setup
  • Specific requirements, features, and behaviors
  • User stories describing how people will interact with the new functionality
Take your time reading through it. The plan is your contract with CodeCobra — what’s in the plan is what gets built.

Plan versions

Every time the plan is updated, a new version is saved. You can:
  • Browse versions — use the navigation arrows to step through v1, v2, v3, etc.
  • Compare changes — see how the plan evolved based on your feedback
  • Restore an older version — if a later revision went in the wrong direction, go back to an earlier version

Iterate until you’re satisfied

If anything in the plan isn’t right, say so in the chat:
  • “Move the priority field above the status field in the form view”
  • “Add a filter for date range on the dashboard”
  • “I also need this to work for purchase orders, not just sales orders”
  • “Remove the email notification part — we’ll handle that separately”
The plan updates in real time. You can go back and forth as many times as you need — there’s no penalty for iteration.
Don’t rush through the planning stage. A well-reviewed plan leads to better results and fewer rounds of changes during development. It’s much easier to adjust a plan than to rework code.

Start development

When the plan looks good, click Start Development to move to the next phase. If your project has connected GitHub repositories, you’ll see a branch selection step where you can choose which branches CodeCobra should work with for each repository. You can use existing branches or create new ones.

Skip planning entirely (Advanced Mode)

For trivial fixes — a typo, a field label, a quick tweak you already know by heart — the planning conversation can feel like overkill. If you turn on Advanced Mode in Settings, a “Skip planning, start building” button appears at the bottom of the empty-chat state during the Planning stage. Clicking it jumps the task straight to Development without generating a plan first. You can still describe what you need in the next message — you just skip the structured plan document.
Skip Planning is disabled by default because a reviewed plan almost always produces better results for anything non-trivial. Reach for it when the change is genuinely small enough that a plan would add friction, not clarity.

Development phase

During development, CodeCobra writes the actual Odoo module code based on the approved plan.

Watch progress in real time

The chat shows what CodeCobra is doing as it works. You’ll see activities like:
  • Reading files — examining your existing codebase
  • Writing and editing files — creating new module code
  • Running tests — verifying that the code works correctly
  • Running commands — setting up module dependencies and structure
  • Searching your codebase — finding relevant patterns and configurations
Each activity can be expanded to see more detail about what CodeCobra is doing.

Continue chatting during development

Development isn’t a hands-off process. You can interact with CodeCobra while it works:
  • Ask questions — “Why did you create a separate model for this instead of adding fields to the existing one?”
  • Provide feedback — “The field label should say ‘Expected Delivery’ not ‘Delivery Date’”
  • Add requirements — “I forgot to mention — we also need a print button for this report”
  • Report issues — “The calculation in the risk score seems wrong for invoices with multiple lines”
CodeCobra processes your feedback and adjusts its work accordingly.

Preview changes in a live Odoo instance

This is one of CodeCobra’s most valuable features. A live Odoo instance appears in a preview panel with your changes already applied. You can:
ActionHow
Browse the interfaceClick through menus, views, and forms just like your real Odoo
Test your customizationEnter data, trigger workflows, and verify the results
Switch usersTest with different Odoo user accounts to verify permissions
Toggle debug modeEnable developer mode to inspect technical details
Navigate freelyUse back/forward buttons and the URL bar within the preview
The preview updates as CodeCobra makes changes, so you can test incrementally.
Don’t just look — actively test. Create records, trigger automations, check that filters work, and verify that calculations are correct. The more thoroughly you test in the preview, the more confident you can be when deploying.

Provide feedback on the preview

If something doesn’t look right, describe the issue in the chat:
  • “The dashboard is missing the ‘Total Revenue’ column we discussed”
  • “When I create a new record, the default value for priority should be ‘Normal’ not ‘High’”
  • “The list view looks good, but the form view is missing the notes field”
CodeCobra makes the changes and you can immediately test the updated version in the preview.

When CodeCobra asks you questions

During both planning and development, CodeCobra may ask you structured questions with answer options. These appear as interactive forms in the chat. Select your preferred option or type a custom answer. This helps CodeCobra make the right decisions without guessing.

Next steps

Review and deploy

Learn how to merge your changes to staging and production, or download them as a ZIP.