Your first 10 minutes with CodeNow

If you’ve never opened a coding tool before — or you’ve used VS Code or Cursor but always felt like it was hiding something from you — this guide is for you.

By the end of these 10 minutes, you’ll have:

• ✅ CodeNow installed and running
• ✅ A real project open
• ✅ Had your first actual conversation with SMART-Code — the AI assistant that lives inside CodeNow
• ✅ Seen it read your code, find a bug, or write a small change for you

No prior coding experience needed. We’ll skip every step you don’t absolutely need.

Got 10 minutes? Go. If anything is confusing as you read, that’s our fault. Tell us at hello@codenow.pro — we’ll rewrite that part.

Minute 0–1: Install CodeNow

Pick your computer and download:

Not sure which Mac you have? Click the Apple logo (top-left) → “About This Mac.” If it says “Apple M1,” “M2,” “M3,” or “M4,” pick Apple Silicon. If it says “Intel,” pick Intel.

Once the download finishes, install it like any other app:

• Mac: open the .dmg file → drag CodeNow into your Applications folder → launch from Applications.
• Windows: double-click CodeNow-Setup.exe and follow the prompts.
• Linux: make the .AppImage executable and run it.

You might see a warning the first time on Mac (“CodeNow can’t be opened because…”). That’s macOS being cautious. Right-click the app → Open → Open the first time only. CodeNow is properly signed by Apple’s notarization service — the warning is a standard one-time hoop, not a real problem.

Minute 1–3: Open it and say hello to SMART-Code

When CodeNow launches the first time, you’ll see a sign-in screen. Sign up with your email (free — no credit card). You’ll get a 30-day free trial with 50,000 tokens per day to use SMART-Code, the built-in AI assistant.

What’s a token? A token is roughly one word. So 50,000 tokens = about 50,000 words per day of back-and-forth with the AI. That’s a LOT — enough for 50-100 normal conversations. You won’t run out unless you’re really hammering it.

Once signed in, you’ll see the main CodeNow window. Don’t worry about all the buttons — we only need a few.

Find SMART-Code

Look at the bottom of the window. You’ll see a row of tabs:

TERMINAL · SMART-CODE · CLAUDE CODE · CODEX · GEMINI · BROWSER · OUTPUT · ...

Click “SMART-Code.” That’s your AI assistant. You should see a chat panel with a text box at the bottom.

Say hi

Type into the box:

hello — are you ready?

Press Cmd+Enter (Mac) or Ctrl+Enter (Windows/Linux). You’ll see SMART-Code reply within a second or two, something like:

Hi! Yes — I’m ready. I can read files in your project, search for code, and answer questions about your codebase. What are you working on?

That’s it. You’ve just chatted with the bundled coding AI. No API key, no setup, no friction. The little tag at the top of the reply (SMART-Code · Haiku) tells you which AI brain answered — SMART-Code uses two (Claude Haiku and OpenAI GPT) and picks the right one automatically.

Wait — what’s Haiku? It’s the nickname for Anthropic’s Claude Haiku 4.5, a fast and friendly AI. You’ll see “GPT” tags too when SMART-Code picks OpenAI’s GPT-5 Codex for harder questions. Both are bundled — you don’t pick, SMART-Code does.

Minute 3–5: Open a real project

Now let’s give SMART-Code something to actually look at. Two options:

Option A: Open one of your own projects (if you have one)

If you already have a folder with code on your computer:

1. In CodeNow, click the + button at the top (next to your project tabs)
2. Pick the folder where your project lives
3. Click Open

The folder appears as a new tab and you can browse its files in the sidebar on the left.

Option B: Start fresh with a small sample (if you don’t)

If you don’t have any code yet, do this in your computer’s terminal (Mac: open the Terminal app; Windows: open PowerShell):

git clone https://github.com/sveltejs/realworld.git ~/Documents/sample-project

What’s git clone? It downloads a public project from the internet to your computer. We’re picking a small real-world demo app called “realworld” — popular for tutorials. You can use any project though.

Then in CodeNow, click + → pick the sample-project folder. Done.

Minute 5–8: Ask SMART-Code about your code (the magic moment)

This is where CodeNow gets fun. With your project open and SMART-Code in the bottom panel, try these:

Try 1 — Get an overview

Type:

Give me a 5-sentence summary of what this project is and how it’s organized.

Watch what happens below the text box:

⏳ list_files: .
✓ list_files: .
⏳ read_file: README.md
✓ read_file: README.md
✓ read_file: package.json

These little status pills show SMART-Code actually looking at your project — listing the top folder, reading the README, peeking at package.json to see what tech you use. Then it gives you a real answer based on what it saw. Not a guess.

Try 2 — Find something specific

Type:

Show me where login is handled.

You’ll see:

✓ grep_code: login
✓ read_file: src/lib/api/login.js

SMART-Code searched your project for the word “login,” found it, read the file, and now explains it — with the actual file path so you can open it yourself.

Try 3 — Ask “why”

Pick any file in your sidebar (just click one). It opens in the editor in the middle. Now in SMART-Code, type:

Explain what’s happening in the file I have open.

SMART-Code knows what file you have open (because CodeNow tells it automatically). It’ll read the file and walk you through what each section does — in plain English.

What just happened?

SMART-Code is what’s called an agent. It’s not just a chatbot — it can DO things (read files, search code) before answering, so it gives you real answers about your actual code, not generic ones from its training memory.

The little status pills are the agent showing its work. If you click on a pill, you can see what it found. No mystery.

Minute 8–10: Try a few more things

Open the Terminal tab

Click the TERMINAL tab at the bottom (it’s the first one). You get a real shell — type ls (Mac/Linux) or dir (Windows) and you’ll see your project’s files listed.

What’s a “shell”? It’s the old-school text way of telling your computer to do things. ls says “list files.” Don’t worry about learning it — CodeNow has the terminal because professional developers use it constantly, but you can do most things without it.

Open Claude Code (if you have a Claude subscription)

If you pay for Claude Pro, click CLAUDE CODE tab. CodeNow detects whether you’ve installed Anthropic’s official claude command and either runs it for you or shows you the one-line install command. Same with CODEX (if you have ChatGPT Plus) and GEMINI (free).

The difference: SMART-Code is bundled (we pay for it during your trial); these other tabs let you bring your OWN AI subscriptions if you prefer.

Look at the left sidebar

The sidebar tabs (icons on the very left) include:

• 📁 Files — browse your project
• 🔍 Search — find text across all files (or press Cmd+Shift+F)
• 🔌 Connections — connect SMART-Code to outside tools like GitHub, JIRA, Slack, Stripe
• 🧩 Extensions — add more dev tools (like syntax highlighters)
• 🌿 Git — see what files you’ve changed, ready to commit
• 🤖 Agents — for advanced users who want to BUILD their own AI agents
• ✅ Tasks — like a to-do list for AI work. Every time you ask SMART-Code to do something significant, you can save it as a Task with its own git branch.

You don’t need any of these on day 1. They’re there when you grow into them.

What to do next

Pick whatever sounds most interesting:

If you get stuck

• The terminal looks empty, you can’t type anywhere → click on the area, press a key. If still stuck, click another tab and come back. (known issue, fix shipping in v0.1.36)
• SMART-Code says “Sign in to use SMART-Code Cloud” → your trial session lapsed. Click Sign in and re-authenticate.
• “Quota exceeded” → you’ve used your 50K tokens today. Either wait until midnight UTC for it to reset, switch to Local mode (free + unlimited if you install Ollama), or upgrade to Pro for 500K/day.
• Anything else weird → email us at hello@codenow.pro. We read every message.

A word for first-time developers

Coding has a reputation as something only “real engineers” can do. That’s outdated. In 2026, you can:

1. Have a vague idea (“a contact form on my website”)
2. Tell SMART-Code in plain English
3. Watch it write and explain real code
4. Read along, ask “why does this line do that?” until you understand
5. Use it, ship it, learn it

The AI doesn’t replace understanding — but it removes the part where you stare at a blank screen with no idea where to start. Every step now has a friend who can read your code WITH you.

CodeNow is built for this. The whole IDE assumes you’re learning while you build. SMART-Code’s job is to make the learning curve a ramp, not a wall.

Welcome. Have fun.

— The CodeNow team