The /factory commands
Every /factory command in Claude Code with the CodeBook plugin, including the Factory pane, starting and following a story, and choosing between Run here and Run in CodeBook.
The CodeBook plugin adds one command to Claude Code: /factory. It opens the Factory pane, starts and follows stories, and chooses where agent stations run. Install the plugin first: see Connect Claude.
| Type | What happens |
|---|---|
/factory |
Opens the Factory pane beside the chat. Pick a factory and type what it should make. |
/factory run <factory> "<story>" |
Starts work in that factory and follows it in the pane. Add --here or --cloud to choose where this story runs. |
/factory status |
Where the followed story is, station by station. |
/factory list |
The factories you can see. |
/factory follow <story> [<factory>] |
Follows a story that is already on the board. |
/factory here / /factory cloud |
Where agent stations run, from now on. |
/factory stop |
Stops following the story. The story keeps moving on app.codebook.work. |
/factory help |
This list. |
/factory
Opens the Factory pane. With no story followed yet, it shows Pick a factory: your factories, each with its workspace. Pick one and say what it should make. ← Other factories goes back to the list.
While a story is followed, the pane shows the story's stations as cards, who works each one, and what is on the card. A station that waits for you shows Approve and Send back, with the pull request to look at. A station that waits for an agent here shows Work it here. The two picture buttons, Run here and Run in CodeBook, do the same as /factory here and /factory cloud.
The pane only reads. Every button that changes something (start, approve, send back, move the story) puts the request, in plain words, into your prompt box. Nothing is sent until you press Enter.
/factory run
/factory run Payments "Let customers refund a payment"
The factory name can be several words. The plugin matches it against the names of your own factories, in any case, so /factory run Bug fix factory "…" works without quotes. If you leave the factory out, the plugin uses the factory picked in the pane, or your only factory. If it can't tell which factory you mean, it lists yours and asks.
What lands in your prompt box depends on where the story runs:
- Run here (the default): a request for Claude to run the work here as the factory's manager. When you press Enter, the manager researches, asks you questions, writes the stories with the factory's story writer, asks "proceed?" and then runs every station in your session. See what you can do from the chat.
- Run in CodeBook (
--cloud): a request to start one story with that title, with its agent stations run by CodeBook. The pane follows it as soon as CodeBook has it.
--here and --cloud apply to this one story. /factory start does the same as /factory run.
/factory status
/factory status
Prints the followed story's reference, title and factory, and where it is. It might be moving, waiting for you, waiting for an agent here, being worked here, waiting for a person, or finished. Then it lists every station with its state, the current one marked ▸, and the story's link on app.codebook.work.
/factory list
Your factories, each with its workspace and link. A factory where you may watch but not start stories is marked watch only.
/factory follow
/factory follow #57 Payments
Follows a story that is already on a board you can read, and opens the pane. A reference such as #57 is only unique inside a factory, so name the factory with it.
/factory here and /factory cloud
/factory here: agent stations of the stories you start run here, with your Claude, in this checkout. /factory cloud: they run in CodeBook's cloud. The choice is remembered for your next stories. Run here is where you start.
If you follow a story that runs the other way, the plugin also offers to move that story. The request goes into your prompt box. A story can't move while one of its stations is being worked here: wait until that run is reported.
A factory whose policy keeps work in CodeBook refuses Run here.
/factory stop
Stops following the story in the pane and the chat. Nothing happens to the story: it keeps moving on app.codebook.work, and /factory follow picks it up again.
The same in plain words
You don't have to use /factory. "Run this in the Payments factory, here: …", "How is #57 going?" and "Approve it" work the same, because Claude makes the same calls to CodeBook.