FAQ
RollCage
A workbench for product designers who make real, running software with their coding agent.
Getting started
- Is this a course or a hosted service?
- Neither on its own. RollCage is an app you install and own.
- Nothing is hosted: your work stays on your machine and in your repository.
- The build class is a separate, live course built on it.
- Do I need to know React, or how to use a terminal?
- No React. If you can maintain a design system, you can run this machine.
- You won't be writing the code. You design with your agent: you run the product and decide what it needs, and the agent writes it and checks it.
- The agent runs the commands.
- Installing doesn't need a terminal. RollCage is a signed, notarized Mac app that brings its own tools.
- It installs the coding agent you choose and sets up each workbench itself.
- You talk to your agent wherever it runs: in a Terminal window RollCage opens for you, or in an app like Cursor or Claude Cowork. Signing in to your agent and to Figma happens there too.
- You type the name and email for your commits in the app. If your Mac doesn't have Git yet, you add Apple's developer tools from inside the app.
- Do I need to know Git?
- No. Your work is versioned from the first change.
- The agent branches and commits as it works and tells you what it did.
- You direct it in plain language.
- What are the three ways in?
- All three are included.
- Learn with the example app, a working product to change and break.
- Build on a new workbench, empty with every instrument running.
- Join your existing app by adding RollCage to a repository your team already ships.
- See all three.
What you need
- What do I need?
- A Mac: macOS 13 Ventura or later on Apple silicon, and an internet connection.
- A coding agent: your own, on your own account. Claude Code and Codex are tested end to end.
- Figma (optional): your own account, to work from the example app's matching library or your own.
- GitHub (optional): only when you want to share work through a remote repository.
- Does RollCage include a coding agent? Which ones work?
- No. You bring your own, on your own account.
- RollCage installs and connects Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, or Grok. Claude Code and Codex are tested end to end.
- The method is ordinary files in your repository, so any agent that can work in a repo can follow it.
- Your agent subscription or usage costs are separate from RollCage.
- Which frontend stacks does it support?
- React, Vue, Svelte, and Angular.
- Is Windows supported?
- No. RollCage runs on macOS 13 Ventura or later on Apple silicon.
- Intel Macs aren't supported.
- Will it work on a company Mac?
- It trusts the certificates your IT team put in the keychain and the proxy settings in your shell, so installs work on networks that inspect HTTPS.
- It warns you before you put a workbench in iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, or Box, because syncing thousands of small files breaks builds in ways that are hard to trace.
Your project and your code
- Does it work with an existing repository?
- Yes. That's the third way in.
- RollCage adds the method, wiring, and readiness checks.
- It leaves your package.json, lockfile, build, CI, and Git history as they were.
- It reports what's missing instead of fixing it for you.
- The instruments, like switching states, accessibility audits, and before-and-after screenshots, come with a new workbench or the example app, not this way in.
- What does RollCage change in my project?
- In an existing repository, it adds the method and its guides in docs/.
- It adds a readiness check in bin/doctor.mjs.
- It adds the wiring that connects your agent to Storybook in adapters/rollcage/, with one entry in .mcp.json.
- It adds two small files that record your ports and the installed version.
- It points your agent instructions at the method: one line at the top of CLAUDE.md, and a short block in AGENTS.md and GEMINI.md.
- If one of your files sits where RollCage keeps its own, yours is kept beside it as a .yours copy.
- Every change is listed when it runs.
- Can I start locally and connect a remote repository later?
- Yes. Work starts under local Git.
- When it's ready to share, connect a remote and the same work becomes collaborative, with no export and no rebuild.
- Each person working on it runs RollCage on their own Mac.
- Does it receive my code or credentials?
- No. RollCage installs into a directory you choose and never receives your source code.
- GitHub, Figma, and your coding agent stay under your own accounts.
- RollCage sends us no telemetry.
- Is it mine to keep?
- Yes. Every version you receive stays yours to run and reinstall.
- Everything it made stays in your repository.
The build class
An eight-week build class on RollCage for product designers: a seat in a small live cohort, or a team pack taught in your company's own environment.
How it runs
- When does it start?
- The next build class starts Thursday, January 14.
- Eight weeks of live online sessions, Thursdays at 5:00pm Pacific, 90 minutes each.
- Small on purpose.
- The founding cohort is underway now.
- A team pack is scheduled with your team and can start anytime.
- Can I do this alongside a full-time job?
- Yes, it's built for working designers.
- One 90-minute live session a week, Thursdays at 5:00pm Pacific, plus about 2 hours of shop time on your own build.
- Every session includes lab time, so you're building with the group, not just listening.
- The loop is designed to run in the gaps of a real job, because that's where you'll run it afterward.
- I'm not technical. Is this over my head?
- If you can maintain a design system, you can run this machine.
- You will not be writing the code.
- You'll be designing with the agent that does: deciding what it should be, judging it running, and shaping it until it's right. That's a design skill.
- What do I need to bring?
- Machine: macOS 13 Ventura or later on Apple silicon, and an internet connection. Intel Macs and Windows aren't supported.
- Coding agent: your own, on your own account. Claude Code and Codex are tested end to end with RollCage, and any agent that can work in a repo can follow the method. Usage costs are separate.
- Figma: your own account, for the example app's matching library. A free one works.
- GitHub: a free account, for publishing and sharing in week six.
- RollCage: included with your seat. A Mac app that installs its own tools and your coding agent, then sets up your workbench with the reference stack: React, TypeScript, Storybook, Vite. You install it in week one. Setup is part of the curriculum, not a prerequisite.
- Editor: optional. RollCage starts what you need, and your project is an ordinary folder you can open in any editor.
- For an individual seat, one rule: personal accounts, not work accounts. A team pack runs on your company's own accounts and environment.
- What's available after graduation?
- Every good shop has the regulars: the people who show up on Saturdays, swap parts, and help each other chase down the weird noise. That's the Guild.
- The tools will change again next quarter. To an operator that's not a threat. It's the sport.
- The Guild is where your codex keeps growing after the cohort: monthly modules that extend the machine (environments, docs sync, re-grounding RollCage on a new stack), breakage reports when platforms shift, codex reviews, and a working crew of designers who run at machine speed.
- Open to cohort alumni.
Cost
- What does it cost?
- The build class is $1,800 a seat, with RollCage included.
- A team pack for two designers starts at $5,000: the same eight sessions on your schedule, taught in your own environment, with RollCage integrated with your product and infrastructure.
- Is RollCage included?
- Yes. Every seat includes RollCage.
- You install it in week one, run the whole class on it, and keep it when the class ends.
- It isn't on sale on its own yet.
- Can my employer pay for it?
- Yes. For a seat, reply to your acceptance email and we'll send an invoice your finance team can work with.
- To train a team, your company buys a team pack.