After you click Continue, Modeinspect installs your codebase in a dev environment it hosts, starts it, and ends on Create Canvas. The card says Setup usually takes 2-5 minutes. You can leave the page: the codebase stays listed under CODEBASES in the sidebar until setup is done.
How it fits
Setup first checks that the project is React or Next.js with Tailwind. Then it installs dependencies and runs the project's own dev command. When that is enough, the page changes to You're all set!.
When the plain install and start are not enough, Auto-setup takes over and the page becomes a log. The panel Auto-setup is running in sandbox shows what the agent reads, which commands it runs, and each step it records. Auto-setup changes configuration files it needs, such as .env files. It never edits your application code.
Auto-setup stops when it needs something only you know: an API key, a connection string, a configuration file, or a choice between options. The panel then reads Auto-setup needs your input, and setup waits until you answer. See Answer Auto-setup's questions.
Once the agent is done, Verifying codebase replays the recorded steps on a clean copy of your code. If the replay fails, you get the setup config to fix, as in Review and verify the setup config. If it passes, the card reads You're all set! and Create Canvas opens your first canvas on the running app.
If you do not know the answers setup asks for, click Send to coworker at the top of the page. It gives you a link and a message to pass to an engineer, who signs up and continues from where you left off.
What it does not do
It does not start databases or other services. When the app needs one, Auto-setup asks you for a hosted connection string.
It does not change your application code, and it does not commit anything to your repository.
It does not set up codebases outside React and Next.js with Tailwind.