Documentation

Getting started

Q: The Patchy bot is not responding — what do I do?

Send /status to check whether your accounts are still connected. If a credential has expired, go to patchydev.com/connect to re-authorize.

Connect your accounts, message the bot, and ship code — without opening your laptop.

Overview

Patchy is a Telegram bot that writes code in your GitHub repositories, deploys live preview environments via Vercel, and submits pull requests — all from a conversation. Each editing session is called a run: it starts when you send your first message and ends when you send /approve or /discard.

1. Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have:

A Telegram account
A GitHub account with at least one repository
A Vercel account (free tier is fine)
An Anthropic API key — obtain one at console.anthropic.com

Patchy uses your own Anthropic API key to process requests. You are billed directly by Anthropic for model usage; Patchy bills separately for runs (sessions).

2. Connect your accounts

Go to patchydev.com/connect and complete the three-step setup:

Step 1 — Link GitHub

Click Connect GitHub and authorize Patchy through the GitHub OAuth flow. Patchy requests repository read/write access to clone your code, create branches, commit changes, and open pull requests. You can limit access to specific repositories in the GitHub authorization screen.

Step 2 — Link Vercel

Click Connect Verceland authorize through Vercel OAuth. Patchy uses this to deploy preview environments automatically after each change. Previews are deployed to your Vercel account and count against your Vercel plan’s deployment quota.

Step 3 — Add your Anthropic API key

Paste your Anthropic API key into the setup form. The key is encrypted at rest (AES-256) and is only used to send code-change requests to Anthropic on your behalf. It is never logged, shared, or used for any other purpose.

3. Start the Telegram bot

After connecting your accounts, you will receive a link to open the Patchy bot in Telegram. Send /start to activate the bot. The bot will confirm that your accounts are linked and show your current plan and remaining runs.

4. Starting a run

To begin a coding session, tell the bot which repository and branch to work on, then describe what you want to change:

You: work on github.com/yourname/my-app, main branch
Bot: ✓ Cloned my-app @ main. What would you like to change?

You: Add a dark mode toggle to the nav bar
Bot: Working on it…
     ✓ Modified src/components/Navbar.tsx
     ✓ Modified src/styles/theme.css
     Preview: https://my-app-abc123.vercel.app

Patchy creates a new branch for each run (e.g. patchy/dark-mode-toggle), commits changes there, and deploys a Vercel preview URL so you can see results immediately.

5. Iterating

Keep messaging the bot to refine the changes. Each follow-up message adds commits to the same branch and redeploys the preview. There is no limit to the number of back-and-forth messages within a single run.

You: The toggle icon is too small, make it 20px
Bot: ✓ Updated icon size in Navbar.tsx
     Preview: https://my-app-abc123.vercel.app

6. Finishing a run

When you are satisfied with the result, you have two options:

`/approve`

Submits a pull request from the Patchy branch to your target branch (e.g. main). The PR is opened in your GitHub repository with a summary of the changes. From there, you review and merge it as you would any other PR.

`/discard`

Abandons the run. The branch is deleted and the preview is removed. Use this if the changes are not what you wanted.

Both commands end the run and consume one run from your plan quota.

7. Other bot commands

Command	Description
`/start`	Activate the bot and verify account connections
`/status`	Show your plan, remaining runs, and current session state
`/approve`	Submit a pull request and end the current run
`/discard`	Abandon the current run without creating a PR
`/help`	Show available commands

8. Plans and runs

A run is one complete editing session — from your first message in a repo to /approve or /discard. Plans include a monthly run quota:

Free — 10 runs / month
Hobby — 50 runs / month ($19/mo)
Pro — 200 runs / month ($49/mo)
Scale — 500 runs / month ($99/mo)
Enterprise — Unlimited runs (custom pricing — contact us)

Unused runs on Free, Hobby, Pro, and Scale do not carry over. If you exceed your quota, additional runs are billed at $0.75 each. Enterprise plan runs are unlimited with no overage. Manage your plan and billing from your account dashboard.

9. Security and data handling

Each run executes in an isolated environment that is destroyed when the session ends. OAuth tokens and your Anthropic API key are encrypted at rest (AES-256) and in transit (TLS 1.2+). Patchy does not retain the content of your messages or code changes after a run completes.

Patchy acts with only the permissions you grant through OAuth. You can revoke access at any time from your GitHub and Vercel account settings.

10. Troubleshooting

The bot is not responding

Send /status to check whether your accounts are still connected. If a credential has expired, go to patchydev.com/connect to re-authorize.

The preview URL is not loading

Vercel previews typically deploy within 30–60 seconds. If the URL returns an error after two minutes, there may be a build error in your project. The bot will include any build error output in its response.

A pull request was not created

Make sure your GitHub token has write access to the target repository. If you limited OAuth access to specific repos during setup, you may need to re-authorize and include the correct repository.

11. Contact and support

For questions not covered here, email support@patchydev.com or open a conversation via the Patchy bot with /help.