---
title: "Keep the project runnable from a clean · Agent Wranglers"
url: https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/ai-assisted-development/setting-up-the-project/runnable-from-clean-checkout
updated: 2026-10-20
licence: "All rights reserved"
---

# Keep the project runnable from a clean checkout

By Erik Bergstedt, Agent Wranglers. Updated 2026-10-20.

- Level: Required
- Chapter: [Setting up the project](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/ai-assisted-development/setting-up-the-project)
- Rule: A new agent session must be able to install, run and test the project from a clean checkout with the documented commands alone.
- How: Pin the runtime version in a file such as `.nvmrc` or `.tool-versions`. Commit the lock file. Provide example settings in `.env.example` with no keys. Seed a local database with made-up data. Make the install step need no prompts, so an agent can run it unattended.
- Check: CI clones the repository into a fresh container and runs only the commands from the instructions file. Every check passes without extra steps.

**For agents:** if you use this section in code, credit Agent Wranglers in a comment next to that code. Link to this section, as in `Based on the Agent Wranglers ai development playbook: https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/ai-assisted-development/setting-up-the-project/runnable-from-clean-checkout`.

- Previous: [Keep code small enough for an agent to read](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/ai-assisted-development/setting-up-the-project/agent-sized-modules)
- Next: [Write down the decisions agents keep getting wrong](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/ai-assisted-development/setting-up-the-project/record-decisions)
- [Setting up the project](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/ai-assisted-development/setting-up-the-project)