Start Your First Session
Choose a base session or worktree, pick the right backend, and send the first message.
Once a project exists, Jean gives you two main ways to begin.
Choose a starting point
Use a base session when you want to work directly in the project folder. This is a good fit for repo exploration, small changes, planning, and review work.
Use a worktree when you want a separate branch and path for the task. This is a good fit for feature work, bug fixes, PR reviews, and parallel tasks.
Create a worktree from real context
The new-session modal is more than a branch creator.
You can start from:
- quick actions
- GitHub issues
- pull requests
- security alerts and advisories
- existing branches
- Linear issues
For many of those entry points, Jean can create the workspace and immediately start an investigation flow with the relevant context already loaded.
Pick a backend and model
Each session can carry its own choices for:
- backend
- model
- provider
- reasoning or thinking level
- execution mode
That means one worktree can hold several sessions with different personalities or roles.
Send the first message
In the chat window you can:
- type normally
- mention files
- attach images
- attach text files
- include skills or extra context
Jean keeps that session tied to the current workspace so the conversation does not drift away from the branch you are working on.
Execution modes
Jean exposes three familiar modes for work that needs different levels of autonomy:
- Plan for careful, approval-oriented work
- Build for editing-heavy work with guardrails
- Yolo for fast, fully trusted execution
Use the stricter mode until you trust the task, the repo, and the backend behavior.
Session tabs
A single worktree can hold multiple session tabs.
That is useful when you want to split work such as:
- implementation vs review
- investigation vs fix
- release prep vs active coding
- one backend for planning and another for execution