Optional Subsystems
Beyond the core delivery loop, RoboCo ships a set of optional engines — most off by default — that you turn on when you want them. They're the "company-in-a-box" capabilities and the stricter quality gates. This page is the reference for all of them; each has its own page below.
The Feature Flags card
You toggle these from Settings → Feature Flags in the panel rather than hand-editing environment variables. A toggle persists in the settings store and takes effect on the next backend restart. The matching ROBOCO_* environment variable is the same switch at the source — an unset flag falls back to its environment/config default, and some flags carry extra configuration (an API key, a project slug) that only lives in the environment.
The restart contract
Flipping a flag in the panel saves it immediately, but the subsystem it controls is wired up at startup — so the change lands on the next backend restart, not instantly.
What you can turn on
| Subsystem | Flag | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fable + Ponytail doctrine | ROBOCO_FABLE_MODE_ENABLED | off | Composes outcome-first communication + build-lazy doctrine into every spawned agent's prompt (+ guard hooks on the Claude runtime). |
| Architectural Conventions | ROBOCO_CONVENTIONS_ENABLED | off | Per-project rules for where code lives; hard-gates agents from misplaced code and lint suppressions. |
| Toolchain matching | ROBOCO_TOOLCHAIN_MATCH_ENABLED | off (on in the personal compose) | Builds each project under its own declared Python and blocks gates when the suite can't run. |
| Web research | ROBOCO_RESEARCH_ENABLED | off | Gives Board/PM agents gated web search & fetch through a provider you supply. |
| Strategy engine | ROBOCO_STRATEGY_ENGINE_ENABLED | off | Notify-only nudges when the company drifts, goes idle, or stalls. |
| Pitch provisioning | ROBOCO_PROVISIONING_TOKEN (+ org) | inert until set | On pitch approval, auto-creates repos and seeds a build task. |
| External / internal PR review | ROBOCO_EXTERNAL_PR_ENABLED / ROBOCO_INTERNAL_PR_ENABLED | off | Reviews inbound external/fork PRs and untied org-repo PRs. |
| Possibilities matrix | ROBOCO_POSSIBILITIES_MATRIX_ENABLED | off | Lets a developer close an already-done task (commits, open PR, full AC coverage, no open findings) in one call, trusting PR CI-green in place of the local gate. |
| Task & project cost budgets | ROBOCO_TASK_BUDGETS_ENABLED | off (config) / on in the NAS compose | A monthly per-project spend cap refuses new work-starting claims; a per-task $ cap blocks an over-budget task mid-flight and notifies you. |
| Self-healing CI | ROBOCO_SELF_HEAL_ENABLED (+ originate) | off | Watches RoboCo's own CI and, optionally, queues a CEO-gated fix task. |
| Multi-repo CI-watch | ROBOCO_CI_WATCH_ENABLED (+ per-project) | off | Watches each opted-in project's CI and opens one fix task when it goes red; never auto-merges. |
| Dependency-update bot | ROBOCO_DEP_UPDATE_ENABLED (+ per-project) | off | Read-only checks whether an upgrade changes a project's lockfiles and opens an update task; never auto-merges. |
| Environment branches & EnvSync | ROBOCO_ENV_SYNC_ENABLED | off | Cascades a project's declared environment ladder (dev → qa → prod, etc.) down automatically; a clean merge auto-pushes, a conflict opens one sync PR + task. |
| Docs-Sync | ROBOCO_DOCS_SYNC_ENABLED | off | On every release publish, opens a docs-update task against the registered docs-site project when the docs look drifted; never auto-merges. |
| HTTP security (fastapi-guard) | ROBOCO_GUARD_ENABLED | off (config) / active enforcement on the NAS compose | Fronts the API with a WAF, IP/rate controls, security headers, and prompt-injection / secret-exfil / SSRF validators for public/cloud exposure — calibrated so active mode doesn't false-positive on agent traffic. |
| Sandboxed dev DB/Redis/Mongo | ROBOCO_SANDBOX_DB_ENABLED (+ per-project) | off | A dev/QA agent requests a throwaway sandboxed sibling container on demand (request_sandbox) for an opted-in project, instead of production DB credentials in the agent's gate env. |
| DB network isolation | ROBOCO_DB_NETWORK_ISOLATED | off (config) / on in all 3 tracked composes | Compose-topology setting (not a panel flag): a second roboco_data network carries only postgres/redis, so agent containers can't reach them at all. |
| Cloud auth | ROBOCO_CLOUD_AUTH_ENABLED | off | A single seeded CEO login + sliding session cookie, so the panel/API can be exposed beyond a trusted LAN. Requires TLS; not a panel flag. |
| Telegram bridge | ROBOCO_TELEGRAM_ENABLED (+ _INBOUND_ENABLED, _MINIAPP_ENABLED) | off | Telegram DMs to you on CEO escalation and task completion — subject + panel link only, never the body. With the inbound sub-switch on, also /status//queue//task//agents//blocked//usage commands, one-tap Approve/Reject buttons, and /secretary//newtask chat bridging into the panel's own live conversations. With the Mini App sub-switch on (env-only, needs cloud auth), the bot's menu button opens a /tg phone cockpit — a Today brief, native approval cards, an operations ring (Ship/Ack all/Sweep/Fleet), a read-only board with tap-through task detail, inbox, A2A chat — that signs you in automatically off Telegram's own signed launch data; credentials entered in the panel. |
| X (Twitter) engine | ROBOCO_X_ENGINE_ENABLED (+ _REPLIES_ENABLED, _FEATURE_SPOTLIGHT_ENABLED) | off | Drafts release-announcement, mention-reply, and feature-spotlight posts (the last spawns the Head of Marketing to investigate what's shipped), held for your per-post approval; credentials are entered in the panel, never .env. |
| Video engine (HyperFrames) | ROBOCO_VIDEO_ENGINE_ENABLED (+ _ON_RELEASE / _ON_SPOTLIGHT) | off | Authors short marketing videos for X and TikTok via a credential-free video-renderer (HyperFrames) sidecar, held for your per-clip approval. |
| Board Programs | per-program switch on Business → Programs (no master flag) | off | The registry of 14 standing Board assignments (2 migrated + 12 new) — trigger, explore, propose once, hold for your decision, learn from the outcome. |
| Board roadmap engine | ROBOCO_ROADMAP_ENGINE_ENABLED | off | Weekly, the Product Owner proposes a themed cycle of 3-7 roadmap items; you approve or reject each one into the backlog. Now rides the Board Programs registry, behavior-unchanged. |
| Obsidian vault | ROBOCO_OBSIDIAN_VAULT_ENABLED (+ _VAULT_INTAKE_ENABLED) | off; not a panel flag | Projects tasks/journals/A2A into a browsable, rebuildable Obsidian vault; a #roboco-tagged inbox note becomes a held board-review draft. |
Always-on resilience
Provider overload parking (ROBOCO_OVERLOAD_BREAK_ENABLED) and the dangling-image prune (ROBOCO_IMAGE_PRUNE_ENABLED) are on by default — they're not things you enable, they're safety nets you can disable. See Resilience.