Frequently asked questions

Three options. Paste a public GitHub repo URL and we read it on our server, then delete it. Run a private repo or a local folder entirely in your browser, so nothing leaves your machine. Or use the CLI to point it at code locally or in CI. Whichever fits your comfort with privacy.

No. For a public GitHub URL, we read the code on our server to generate your artifacts and then delete it — it's never stored. For private repos and local folders, everything runs in your browser or via CLI, so the code never leaves your machine at all. In CI, it runs on your own runners in your own infra.

Three artifacts, all cited to your real code: (1) a founder runbook to operate and extend your app; (2) a ranked code-verified fix-list to hand to your AI; and (3) an end-user guide for the people who use your app. The runbook and fix-list are free; the end-user guide is paid.

The end-user guide is written for the people who use your app — plain-language help, not code. That's different from developer docs, which are for engineers. Notably, we generate the end-user guide from your code — see end-user vs developer docs.

The founder runbook and code-verified fix-list are free. The end-user guide plus sharing (share link and access code, in-app Help widget, portable export) is $19/month, or $12/month founding for the first 100 people. Cancel anytime. Full details on the pricing page.

The $19/month plan (or $12 founding) adds the end-user guide plus a share link with an access code, an in-app Help widget you can embed for your users, and a portable export you can take anywhere. It's the difference between having a guide and getting it in front of your users cleanly.

Yes, and there's no catch. The founder runbook and code-verified fix-list are genuinely free — the two artifacts that help you operate your app and fix real problems. The paid tier only adds the end-user guide and the sharing tools around it. You can get real value without paying a cent.

It's a continuous audit you wire into your CI pipeline. On every push it re-reads your code, grades the build, and flags what got worse since the last scan — a regression signal. It runs in your own infra, so code never leaves it.

Codacy and SonarQube grade code quality and security (static analysis, secrets, dependencies, quality gates). The Explain My Build audit grades documentability and docs-drift — whether your build can still be explained and what changed for the worse. They're complementary; run both if you're CI-comfortable.

Every claim in the output is cited to a specific place in your code. When Explain My Build can't verify something against your code, it flags it or leaves it out rather than inventing a plausible answer. A shorter honest guide beats a longer confident wrong one. See limitations.

No. It reads code and can flag issues visible in code — like a loose row-level security rule or a committed secret — but it doesn't attack your running app or replace a real security review. For regulated data, treat it as one input and get a qualified human review. See limitations.

All of them. If it produced code, we can read it — Lovable, Bolt, v0, Replit, Cursor, Windsurf, Base44, Claude Code, Gemini, and more. We read the code, not the tool.

No. The whole point is to turn your code into plain English for a non-technical founder. You paste a URL or point it at your folder, and you get readable guides and a clear fix-list. You don't read code; you read the explanation of it. See get a help guide without reading code.

When real money, health, or legal data is at stake, when you've hit the same wall three times, or when uptime becomes business-critical. The runbook and fix-list don't replace a developer for high-stakes work — but they make the handoff far cheaper. See who maintains my AI app.

Yes. The paid plan is month-to-month and you can cancel anytime. There's no lock-in, and the free founder runbook and code-verified fix-list remain useful regardless. See pricing for details.