TaCoS Quickstart (5 Minutes)

This guide gets you from install to first useful resume summary quickly, while keeping privacy choices explicit.

Local-Only In 60 Seconds

1. Open your project folder in VS Code.
2. Open Command Palette and run TaCoS: Set Privacy Preset.
3. Choose Minimal (recommended for first run).
4. Run TaCoS: Resume Summary Quick.
5. Open TaCoS: Show Last Summary if the panel is not already visible.

What to expect:

• You get an instant local summary (Now, Next, Blocked, Restore) with calm status-bar support.
• Companion Home includes Intent (editable) with inline Save and Reset to inferred.
• Deeper Trust/Evidence details stay collapsed until you open them.
• No AI payload is sent in local mode.

Demo Resume Card (Optional, 20 Seconds)

If you want to preview the layout before collecting live context:

1. Run TaCoS: Show Demo Resume Card.
2. Confirm the top card is clearly labeled as sample onboarding data.
3. Select Show real resume now when you are ready to switch to live local context.

Notes:

• Demo mode is in-memory sample data only.
• Demo mode does not mix with workspace evidence or AI payload sends.

Optional AI In 2 Minutes

Use this only if you want refinement beyond local-only summaries.

1. Run TaCoS: Configure AI Provider.
2. Choose VS Code LM or OpenAI (direct API).
3. If you choose OpenAI, run TaCoS: Set OpenAI API Key.
4. Trigger a summary again with TaCoS: Resume Summary Quick.
5. Review the generated TaCoS: Review AI Payload preview document.
6. Choose one consent action:

• Send once
• Always allow in this workspace
• Do not send

Default safety posture:

• tacos.aiIncludeCheckpointNotes = false
• tacos.aiIncludeScratchpad = false
• AI payload preview shows inclusion flags and redaction summary before send.
• You can open the same payload preview from surfaced guidance (Companion Home, Why am I seeing this?, and Trust Center).

Control later:

• Run TaCoS: Revoke AI Payload Consent to require payload review again.
• Run TaCoS: Configure AI Provider and switch back to local at any time.
• Run TaCoS: Quiet Now (1 hour) for one-tap temporary suppression.
• Run TaCoS: Configure Summary Quiet Hours for recurring quiet windows or temporary quiet presets.
• Run TaCoS: Test Sanitizer to validate local redaction behavior without AI send.

Privacy Presets (Plain Language)

Use TaCoS: Set Privacy Preset to switch.

Preset	What TaCoS Uses	Typical Use
Minimal	No diff, no terminal history, no debug history, local summary provider	Default safest baseline
Balanced	Terminal + debug history, no diff, local summary provider	More context without diff capture
Max Context	Terminal + debug history + diff, local summary provider	Richest local context for hard resumes

Notes:

• Presets control local collection defaults and set provider back to local.
• In Restricted Mode, risky actions and AI refinement are blocked until workspace trust is granted.

Fast Sanity Check

After setup, confirm:

• TaCoS status bar entry appears.
• Companion Home shows Now / Next / Blocked / Restore.
• Companion Home intent editor updates the summary intent inline and stays scoped to the current partition/context.
• TaCoS: Export Local Metrics writes .tacos/metrics.csv when you want local adoption metrics.

Sticky Notes + Scratchpad (30 Seconds)

1. Run TaCoS: Add Checkpoint Note and capture one line for future-you.
2. Run TaCoS: Open Scratchpad to open the scoped scratchpad in a real editor tab.
3. Run TaCoS: Append to Scratchpad to append selected text (or clipboard fallback) with a timestamp divider.
4. Trigger TaCoS: Show Resume Brief Now and confirm the panel shows your notes/scratchpad context.

Expected:

• Checkpoint notes influence resume guidance and standup Next.
• Scratchpad content persists across reload/restart without creating a repo file by default.