Handoff and invites

What Handoff is

Handoff sends a project to another person so they can work on it in their own Piye. You choose who they are:

• A developer builds and fixes things in the code. They get the project in Code (or in their own code editor, once you approve), with access on a branch of their own.
• A non-technical partner works on the app with Piye, the way you do. It opens for them in Visual, with no Git and no terminal.

They get your project, your notes and a written brief, and your version stays yours. Handoff shares a project; it is not two people editing the same file live.

Open Handoff

• In Visual, press Invite at the top of the window.
• In Code, open the account menu at the top right and choose Handoff.
• Or open Settings, Handoff.

Handoff needs a Piye account and an open project.

Invite someone

1. Tell them about your project. Add a few words about it and, if you like, the features wanted next, the look and feel, and anything they should know (deadlines, people to talk to, things to avoid).
2. Let Piye write the brief. Piye reads your project and writes a clear brief: what the app does, what's done, what's left and where to start. It becomes a HANDOFF.md file at the top of the project, the first thing they read. Writing it uses a few credits. Without AI set up, Piye makes the brief from the project's facts alone.
3. Connect your GitHub, the first time. Piye keeps a private copy of your project on your own GitHub account, through Piye's GitHub App, installed once. No GitHub account yet? Make one: it's free and takes a minute. After this first time, sending is one click.
4. Enter their email and choose Developer or Not a developer.
5. Send the invite. They get an email with a link. The link works for 3 days. If email can't be sent, Piye gives you the link to send yourself.

You see the moment they join.

What goes, and what stays

Before anything is sent, Handoff shows exactly what goes.

• Goes: the project's own files, as they are now, including changes you haven't saved in Git yet.
• Stays on your computer: passwords and keys (.env files, certificates, private keys), your chats and Piye's memory of the project. Piye never sends them; the other person sets up their own.
• If an old save in the project's history held a secret, the project goes as a fresh start, without its history.
• If the folder holds other projects, only this folder's own files go. To hand off one of the others, open it first.

What the other person does

1. They open the link from the email. With Piye installed, it opens the project in Piye; without it, the page offers the download and picks up afterwards. They can also paste the link in Settings, Handoff, Open an invite.
2. Piye shows a join card with who invited them and what the project is. Nothing happens until they accept.
3. The project opens: in Code for a developer, on their own branch (piye/<their name>), or in Visual for a partner.

A developer can ask to use their own code editor (such as VS Code, Cursor or Zed). You approve or decline in Handoff.

Getting their work back

When they have made changes, they press Send your work in Handoff. No GitHub account is needed for that. You then see it in Handoff and choose Get their work: the changes arrive in your project for you to review in Source Control (Code) before you keep them.

Manage people

Handoff lists everyone you invited: who joined, their access and what they sent you.

• Send a new link if theirs expired. The old link stops working.
• Cancel an invite or remove someone: they lose access to the project straight away. The copy on their computer stays with them.

Settings, Handoff, Allow invites hides inviting when turned off. It doesn't affect anyone already invited.

Team, Handoff and the console

Teams on the web console are about your account: who can see your apps, and shared credits on Business. Handoff is about one project and the work on it.