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The CTO is usable in a minute. There is no setup wizard: the first time you open the CTO tab you pick a model, and that’s setup. Linear layers in afterward, only when you need it.

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First run

A project that has never picked a model opens the CTO tab on the model picker instead of the thread. Choose a model and the thread takes over.
1

Pick a model

The CTO only offers models that can take a message into a turn already underway — it is interrupted constantly, by the chats it starts and by its own wake-ups, so a model that queues your message instead of hearing it cannot hold the job. If nothing is listed, sign in to Claude, Codex, or Cursor under Settings → AI → Providers.
2

Tune reasoning effort (optional)

In CTO Settings, set reasoning effort and Fast mode. The CTO reasons across the whole project, so favor a capable model over a fast one.
3

Connect Linear (optional)

Connect it when you want the CTO to browse and update issues from the thread. See Linear.
Picking a model is the whole of first run. Reasoning effort and Linear connect later — the CTO is meant to be a daily chat surface first.

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You don’t choose a personality

There are no personality presets and no work-style toggles. The CTO has one voice, owned by ADE and fixed in its doctrine:
  • It leads with the state of things, then its read on it, then what it would do.
  • It stays level — no exclamation marks, no “great question”, no congratulating you for asking.
  • When it doesn’t know, it says so, says what it would check, and then checks it.
  • It disagrees once, with a reason. If you decide otherwise, it does it your way and drops it.
  • It never says something is done before verifying it.
The same doctrine tells the CTO that it knows the ADE application and not only your repository. When you’re lost in ADE — where a setting lives, what a tab does, why a control is greyed out — ask the CTO. It reads ADE’s own documentation rather than guessing, and it hands you a deeplink to the place instead of directions for finding it.

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Change the model later

CTO → Settings → Model switches the running thread in place. The thread, its memory, and its context all carry over — a model switch is not a reset.

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First useful prompts

Lead with planning and summarization — that’s where the CTO earns its keep.
Ask the CTO to remember decisions as you make them — it keeps durable memory across sessions and model switches, so you don’t have to restate context next time.

CTO overview

What the CTO is and when to reach for it.

Linear

Connect Linear so the CTO can browse and update issues.