Everything you need to know about Pongogo, how it works, and how to
get the most out of it.
General
Why is it called "Pongogo"?
The name combines "Pongo" (the genus name for
orangutans, one of our closest primate relatives known for
their intelligence and problem-solving abilities) with
"GoGo" (representing energy, movement, and
enthusiasm). Together they create "Pongogo"—a clever,
energetic helper that swings through your codebase with
purpose!
What is Pongogo?
Pongogo is an
app + service that seamlessly integrates your IDE with
project management
to give solo founders and small teams an on-demand agentic
feature team. It creates warm, personable AI teammates that
feel genuinely collaborative—without the coldness, sycophancy,
or hallucinations that undermine trust in typical AI
interactions. Through interactive workflows and self-improving
patterns, it gets better at understanding your preferences and
working style over time.
Who is Pongogo for?
Pongogo is designed for
solo founders, indie developers, and small teams
who want an on-demand feature team without hiring. It's
opinionated by design with specific views on how software
should be built: roles-as-code for EM/PM guidance,
quality-first workflows with tests and docs by default, and
trust-based principles that ensure complete understanding of
your codebase.
How It Works
What is MCP?
MCP stands for Model Context Protocol.
Pongogo is built around emerging standards like MCP servers,
instruction files for agents, and the latest IDE functionality
in VS Code/Copilot, Claude Code, Warp, ChatGPT Codex, and
Cursor. Everything lives in your repo and PRs—no platform
switch required.
What does Pongogo do in practice?
Pongogo provides key functionality including:
Intelligent task routing—assigns work to
cloud agents, client agents, or humans based on complexity
Self-improving knowledge—learns from retros
and creates guardrails to prevent repeating mistakes
Agentic PM—manages roadmaps, breaks work
into chunks, knows what can run in parallel
Trust-based principles—ensures agents truly
read and understand context, no shortcuts
Prototype sprints—from idea to MVP with
clean, maintainable code and decision logs
How does the autonomy ladder work?
Pongogo uses a
propose → patch → apply workflow with bounded
autonomy. Agents propose focused patches and scaffold tests
alongside code. You review diffs with approvals at each step.
Everything has audit trails and easy rollback. This keeps you
in control while letting agents do the heavy lifting.
Installation & Setup
How do I install Pongogo?
The easiest way is via Homebrew on macOS:
$ brew install
pongogo/tap/pongogo
You can also build from source. Check the documentation for
detailed instructions.
What clients does Pongogo work with?
Pongogo works with any MCP-compatible client,
including:
→ Claude
Desktop
→ Cursor
→ Windsurf
→ Other
MCP-compatible tools
How do I configure my AI client?
After installing Pongogo, start the MCP server with
pongogo serve, then add the server URL to your client's MCP configuration.
Each client has slightly different settings—check your
client's documentation for details on adding MCP servers.
Customization
Can I add my own instruction files?
Yes! Pongogo is designed to be extensible.
You can add custom instruction files for your team's specific
conventions, coding standards, or domain knowledge. These will
be indexed and routed alongside the built-in instructions.
Can I disable certain instruction categories?
Yes, you can configure which instruction categories are
active. This is useful if you have your own guidelines for
certain areas or want to focus the agent on specific topics.
Still Have Questions?
Can't find what you're looking for? Reach out and we'll help you get
unstuck.