KeelenGuide · overnight runs
The overnight run checklist
Updated 27 October 2026
A night of AI coding work is only as good as the setup you leave behind. Pick small tasks with a clear finish line. Make sure your tests can catch a bad change. Decide what may merge without you. Then read the results in the morning before you trust them.
The steps below work with any AI coding agent. The Keelen notes after them say which parts Keelen handles and which stay with you. Keelen does not promise a set amount of work by morning.
What to set up, in order
Pick small tasks with a clear finish line
Choose a bug you can reproduce, a missing test, a small cleanup or a small feature. Write what done looks like in a line or two. Keep design work and unclear product calls for the day, when people can talk them through.
Check that your tests can catch a bad change
Run your tests once before you leave, and fix any that already fail. If the code you are changing has no tests, add a few first. Without checks, a wrong change is hard to spot.
Block merges while a check is red
Turn on branch protection for your main branch. Make your CI checks required, so a change cannot merge while one of them fails. Have the agent work on its own branch, not on main.
Decide what may merge without you
For your first nights, merge by hand. Let the agent open pull requests, and click merge yourself after you read them. Turn on auto merge only for the kind of work you have seen it do well.
Know your usage limits
AI plans and API keys can have usage limits. Find out what yours are and when they reset. If the agent hits a limit in the night, work can stop until the reset. A second AI account helps only if it has room left. If you pay per use, set a spend cap on the key.
Have a way to stop it
Know how to pause the run fast, from your phone if you can. Keep live passwords and customer data out of its reach. Give it access to the one repo it needs, and nothing more.
Review in the morning
Read each diff itself, since a summary can miss things. Look at failed and skipped checks. Answer the questions the agent left for you. Merge only the changes you would accept from a person.
Who should not run work overnight
- Your project has no tests and you do not plan to add any. Without checks, changes made in the night are hard to verify.
- The task is a design choice or a product call. That needs a person who holds the context.
- The project changes direction every week. A standing list of work suits a known direction.
- You need someone on call who owns the result. That is a hire or an agency. A loop gives you more output, not someone to answer for it.
- You expect a fixed amount of work by morning. Progress depends on the task, your setup, usage limits and the questions that need you.
Where Keelen fits
Keelen is an AI coding agent for GitHub repos. Here is how it maps to the list above. The settings are yours to pick for each project.
You pick what can merge
Each project has a merge setting. Gated auto merge is the default, so pick manual merge for your first nights. With manual merge, Keelen opens the pull request and you click merge. Gated auto merge can land a change after its checks and a review window. Branch only mode pushes a branch with no pull request. Plan review is a separate opt in. When it is on, a person approves the plan before any code is written.
Checks before a change lands
If your project has a test command, new tests must fail without the change first. Tests that pass from the start are rejected. A separate review run reads the diff. It does not see the run that wrote the code. Nothing merges over a red required CI check.
When a usage limit hits
Keelen can pause for a known session or usage limit. When it can read the reset time, work can resume after it. Reset handling varies by engine. A second engine can take over while the main one cools down. It must be set up and connected, its key must work, and it must have no cooldown of its own. This does not get around provider limits, lower the provider bill or promise that work will not stop.
When it gets stuck
A real dead end can become a plain English decision card and pause the project. You can also pause one project, or all of them, yourself.
A daily or weekly email, if you want one
The progress digest email is off by default. You can opt in to a daily or weekly email. It covers merged work and open pull requests. It also covers paused or blocked work and decisions that need you. It reports progress. It does not promise finished work.
Try it on one small task
Connect a GitHub repo and an AI account, pick manual merge, and queue one small task tonight. See what it did in the morning.