Build and Test Code Autonomously

Introduction

Dume Cowork operates as an autonomous desktop agent with access to your file system, terminal, and browser. For coding tasks, it can open your project, write files, run your test suite, read errors, and fix them — all without you writing a single line.

How It Works

Dume Cowork interacts with your development environment at the OS level. It can:

• Read and write files in your project directory
• Run terminal commands — npm, pnpm, cargo, go, pytest, etc.
• Execute tests and read the output
• Open the browser to inspect UI results or API responses
• Search documentation when it needs context on libraries or APIs

The coding loop

Dume Cowork follows a test-driven loop when asked to build something:

1. Read the codebase structure and relevant files
2. Write or modify code
3. Run tests / linter
4. If failures → read the error, patch the code, re-run
5. Repeat until all checks pass
6. Report a summary of changes made

Example: Adding an API endpoint

Add a GET /api/users/:id endpoint to this Express app.
It should fetch a user by ID from the database using Prisma,
return 404 if not found, and include error handling.
Write integration tests using supertest. Run the tests and
fix any failures automatically.

Dume Cowork will:

• Read your existing route files to match conventions
• Write the route handler
• Add Prisma query with proper error handling
• Write test file
• Run pnpm test and iterate if anything fails

Staying in Control

Dume Cowork shows you every action it takes in the activity log. You can:

• Pause at any point to review intermediate changes
• Reject a file change and explain what's wrong
• Guide mid-task with follow-up instructions

The agent will not push to git or deploy without an explicit instruction to do so.

Best Practices

• Give Dume Cowork a clear definition of done: "tests should pass", "the endpoint should return 200 with the expected shape"
• Provide existing code examples or patterns to follow ("match the style in src/routes/products.ts")
• For large refactors, break the task into smaller steps
• Review the diff before committing — Dume Cowork always shows you what changed