Platform Guide 🟡 Intermediate 14 min read

How the CEO Agent Works: A Complete Walkthrough

From plain-language description to working application — every step of the orchestration process, explained.

Best for: Anyone evaluating or using CEO.ai — technical or not. CEOs who want to understand what they're buying. Developers who want to understand the architecture. Team members who'll be using it daily.

Prerequisites: Basic understanding of what AI agents are. If you're starting from zero, read What Is RAG Training? first.

The Big Picture: What the CEO Agent Actually Is

Before we walk through the steps, let's establish what the CEO Agent is — and equally important, what it isn't.

The simplest explanation

The CEO Agent is an AI project manager that takes your plain-language description of what you want built, assembles the right team of AI specialists, and delivers a complete, working project — committed to your GitHub repository.

It doesn't write all the code itself. It doesn't just generate one file. It orchestrates an entire team of AI agents — selecting the right architect to design the system, then assigning every sub-task to the best available specialist agent.

The human analogy

Think about what happens when a CEO at a software company says: "We need an app that captures leads from Telegram and puts them in Salesforce."

In a traditional company, here's what follows:

  1. 1 The CEO tells the CTO what they need
  2. 2 The CTO assigns a senior architect to design the system
  3. 3 The architect writes a specification — system architecture, data models, task breakdown
  4. 4 A project manager assigns each task to the right developer based on their skills
  5. 5 Frontend developer builds the UI
  6. 6 Backend developer builds the API logic
  7. 7 DevOps engineer handles infrastructure
  8. 8 Integration specialist handles the Salesforce and Telegram connections
  9. 9 Everything is committed to version control
  10. 10 The CEO reviews the result

The CEO Agent does steps 2 through 9. Automatically. In hours instead of weeks.

The CEO (you) handles step 1 (describe what you need) and step 10 (review the result). Everything in between is orchestrated.

What it produces

The CEO Agent doesn't produce a prototype, a mockup, or a "proof of concept." It produces:

  • Working code — frontend, backend, database, infrastructure, integrations
  • Complete file structure — organized into proper directories
  • Full commit history — every sub-task committed separately, traceable to the agent that produced it
  • Deployment configurations — Terraform, Docker, CI/CD configs as needed

All committed to YOUR GitHub repository. You own it entirely.

Now let's walk through how it happens, step by step.

1

You Describe the Project

What you do: Write a description of what you want built. In plain language.

You type something like this:

"Build an app that captures lead information from Telegram conversations in natural language, transforms the data using an AI agent on the backend, and inserts structured lead records into our connected Salesforce account. Include a monitoring dashboard to view captured leads and their status. Use React for the frontend, AWS Lambda for the backend, and DynamoDB for storage. Deploy using Terraform."

Or it could be simpler:

"Build an internal tool where our support team can search across all our knowledge base articles and get AI-generated answer suggestions for customer tickets."

Or more complex:

"Build a multi-channel messaging system where AI agents respond to customer inquiries on WhatsApp, Slack, and Telegram. Each channel should route to the same AI agent via our Agent API. Include conversation logging, a search interface for reviewing past conversations, and admin controls for updating the agent's knowledge base. Deploy on AWS."

The key point: You describe the WHAT — what you want the system to do, who will use it, and what the expected behavior is. You do NOT need to describe the HOW — the architecture, the specific code patterns, the database schema, or the deployment configuration. That's the architect's job (Step 3).

What happens behind the scenes

When you submit your project description, the CEO Agent analyzes it to understand:

  • Project scope — how big is this? How many components are needed?
  • Technology requirements — what platforms, services, and languages are involved?
  • Integration points — what external systems need to connect?
  • Complexity level — is this a simple CRUD app or a complex multi-system architecture?
  • Domain requirements — does this project need specialized knowledge?

This analysis informs the most important decision the CEO Agent makes: which architect to assign.

2

The CEO Agent Selects the Best Architect

This is not random assignment. It's not round-robin. It's an intelligent selection based on multiple factors.

The CEO Agent evaluates every available architect agent and picks the one best suited for YOUR specific project. It maintains awareness of every agent in the system — your private agents, system-provided agents, and any community agents you've opted into.

What the CEO Agent evaluates

1 Domain expertise match

Does the architect have experience (via RAG knowledge or past ratings) with the type of project you've described? An architect trained on API integration patterns is a better fit for an integration project than one specialized in data visualization.

2 Technology stack familiarity

If you've specified technologies (React, AWS, Terraform), the CEO Agent looks for architects with demonstrated capability in those areas — either through RAG training or through past project ratings involving them.

3 Historical performance ratings

Every time you rate an architect's performance (Step 7), that rating feeds into future selection decisions. Architects that consistently receive high ratings on similar project types are more likely to be selected.

4 RAG knowledge relevance

If an architect has been trained on knowledge relevant to your project — your company's API docs, your infrastructure preferences, your coding standards — it has an advantage over a generic architect.

5 Complexity calibration

Simple projects don't need your most sophisticated architect. Complex projects shouldn't get a lightweight one. The CEO Agent matches the complexity of the project to the capability of the architect.

Why this matters

Architect selection is the highest-leverage decision in the entire process. A great architect produces a clear, well-structured specification that makes every downstream agent's job easier. A mediocre architect produces a vague specification that leads to inconsistent, poorly integrated output.

After the CEO Agent selects the architect, you can see which one was chosen and why. This isn't a black box — the selection is visible in the project details, so you understand the reasoning and can evaluate whether the choice was appropriate.

3

The Architect Generates the Blueprint

This is the step that separates the CEO Agent from every "AI coding assistant" on the market.

The selected architect agent takes your project description and produces a complete specification — the blueprint that all other agents will work from. Those other tools generate code file by file, with no overarching architecture. The CEO Agent's architect creates a unified design FIRST, then delegates implementation.

What the architect produces

System Architecture

How all the components connect and communicate. Which services handle which responsibilities. Where data flows.

Example: For the Telegram-to-Salesforce project, the architect specifies that Telegram webhooks hit an API Gateway, which triggers a Lambda function, which calls the AI data transformation agent, which writes to DynamoDB, which triggers another Lambda that syncs to Salesforce via REST API. The frontend is a separate React app that reads from DynamoDB for the monitoring dashboard.

Data Models

Database schemas, API contracts, data structures, and how information is represented at each layer.

Example: The architect defines the Lead schema — fields for name, company, email, interest, follow-up date, source channel, raw message text, processing status, Salesforce sync status, and timestamps. Plus the API response format for the frontend.

Technology Decisions

Specific frameworks, services, libraries, and tools — and the reasoning behind each choice.

Example: React with TypeScript for the frontend (type safety for data-heavy dashboard), AWS Lambda with Node.js for backend (serverless, scales automatically), DynamoDB for storage (matches Lambda's event-driven model), Terraform for infrastructure (infrastructure-as-code, reproducible deployments).

Complete Task List

This is the critical output. The architect breaks the entire project into discrete, assignable sub-tasks. Each task is specific enough that a single agent can complete it, independent enough that it can be worked on without waiting for other tasks, and clear about inputs and outputs.

Example task list for the Telegram-to-Salesforce project:

# Task Category Description
1 Frontend: Lead dashboard layout Frontend Build the main dashboard component with lead list, status indicators, and search
2 Frontend: Lead detail view Frontend Build the individual lead detail view with all fields and raw message display
3 Frontend: API integration Frontend Connect the dashboard to the backend API for data retrieval
4 Database: Schema and migrations Database Create DynamoDB table definitions and initial setup
5 Backend: Telegram webhook handler Backend Lambda function to receive and validate Telegram webhook events
6 Backend: AI data transformation Backend Lambda function that processes raw message text through AI agent for structured data extraction
7 Backend: Salesforce sync Integration Lambda function that syncs processed leads to Salesforce via REST API
8 Backend: Dashboard API Backend API Gateway + Lambda endpoints for the frontend to query lead data
9 Infrastructure: Terraform configs Infra Complete Terraform definitions for all AWS resources
10 Integration: Telegram Bot setup Integration Bot registration, webhook URL configuration, authentication
11 Integration: Salesforce OAuth Integration OAuth flow implementation for Salesforce API access

Task Dependencies

Which tasks can run in parallel and which depend on others completing first. This lets the CEO Agent optimize execution.

The role of RAG knowledge here

This is where architect RAG training pays enormous dividends.

An architect trained on YOUR Salesforce field mappings will produce a data model that matches your CRM configuration perfectly. An architect trained on YOUR AWS infrastructure patterns will produce Terraform configs that follow your naming conventions and security policies.

Without RAG training, the architect produces a generically correct specification. With RAG training, it produces a specification that's correct for YOUR specific environment.

4

The CEO Agent Assigns Every Sub-Task

With the architect's task list in hand, the CEO Agent becomes a staffing manager.

For each sub-task, it selects the best available agent. The CEO Agent sees your complete agent roster — custom agents you've built, system agents provided by the platform, and any community agents you've enabled.

The assignment logic

For each task on the list, the CEO Agent evaluates:

What type of work is this?

Frontend development? Backend logic? Database design? Infrastructure configuration? API integration?

Which agents are available?

Each agent has a defined type (Architect or Executor), category, model, and performance history.

Which agent is the best match?

Based on agent category, the model powering the agent, RAG knowledge relevance, and historical ratings on similar tasks.

Why specialized assignment matters

This is the multi-agent advantage in action.

A single AI trying to write everything — frontend React components, Lambda functions, Terraform configs, Salesforce integration code — produces inconsistent quality. It might be great at React but mediocre at Terraform.

When each task goes to a specialist:

  • The frontend tasks go to an agent that's excellent at React and UI code
  • The infrastructure tasks go to an agent that's trained on Terraform and AWS patterns
  • The integration tasks go to an agent that knows the Salesforce API
  • The database tasks go to an agent that understands DynamoDB schema design

Each agent produces its best work on the task it's best suited for. The combined output is dramatically higher quality than any single agent could produce across all domains.

5

Agents Execute and Code Is Generated

Every assigned agent executes its sub-task. Code is generated for every component of the project.

What gets generated

Layer What's Generated
Frontend React/Next.js components, pages, routing, state management, API client, styling
Backend Lambda functions (or server routes), business logic, request handling, validation, error handling
Database Schema definitions, migration files, seed data, query patterns, index configurations
Infrastructure Terraform configs (or Docker/CloudFormation), IAM roles, networking, service configurations
Integrations API client code, webhook handlers, OAuth flows, authentication, data transformation
Configuration Environment variables, build scripts, package.json, tsconfig, deployment scripts

Quality characteristics

The generated code isn't "AI slop" — throwaway code that looks right but doesn't work. It's structured to be:

Readable

Clean variable names, logical file organization, comments where they add value.

Coherent

Components work together because the architect designed the system first.

Production-oriented

Error handling, input validation, environment variable management, sensible defaults.

Complete

Not just the "interesting" code — the boring-but-essential parts too. Deployable, not just compilable.

Is it perfect?

No. And we're transparent about that.

First-pass output is typically 80-95% of the way to production-ready. The remaining 5-20% falls into predictable categories:

  • Environment-specific configurations — field mappings unique to your Salesforce org, API endpoints specific to your infrastructure, authentication details
  • Edge cases — unusual input formats, rare error conditions, business logic nuances not captured in the description
  • Stylistic preferences — coding conventions, naming patterns, or structural choices that don't match your team's preferences

This is where Step 7 (review, rate, and refine) comes in. And it's where the system improves most dramatically — because the fixes you apply through RAG training and feedback become permanent improvements for future projects.

6

Everything Is Committed to GitHub

The complete project — every file, every component — is committed to your GitHub repository.

What the commit history looks like

This isn't one massive commit with everything dumped together. Each sub-task gets its own commit (or series of commits), meaning:

  • You can trace every file to the agent that produced it. If a Lambda function has an issue, you can see which agent wrote it and on what task.
  • You can review changes incrementally. Look at frontend commits separately from backend separately from infrastructure.
  • You can revert specific components. If one agent's output needs to be redone, revert just that portion without affecting the rest.
  • You have full version control from day one. The project doesn't arrive as a zip file. It arrives as a properly version-controlled repository with history.

Why this matters

Ownership

The code is in YOUR repository. On YOUR GitHub account. Under YOUR control. You can fork it, modify it, extend it, deploy it, open-source it, or sell it. There's no vendor lock-in on the output.

Auditability

For teams that care about code provenance (regulated industries, security-conscious organizations, or just good engineering practice), the commit history provides a clear trail of what was generated, when, and by which agent.

Collaboration

If you have human developers on your team, they can immediately start working with the generated code. It's in Git. They can create branches, make changes, submit pull requests — the same workflow they're already using.

7

You Review, Rate, and Refine

The project is delivered. Now you evaluate the output — and your evaluation teaches the CEO Agent to do better next time.

You look at the output. Maybe you deploy it to a test environment. Maybe your developer reviews the code. Maybe you just try using the monitoring dashboard and see if it works. Then you provide feedback through three mechanisms:

Mechanism 1: The Rating System

You rate the output at three levels:

⭐ Total Project Rating

"How good was the overall output?"

Tells the CEO Agent about the quality of its end-to-end orchestration — architect selection, task breakdown, agent assignments, and overall coherence.

⭐ Architect Performance Rating

"How good was the specification and task breakdown?"

A high rating means "this architect was a good choice." The CEO Agent learns to select this architect more often for similar projects. A low rating means the CEO Agent will consider other architects next time.

⭐ Individual Sub-Agent Ratings

"How good was each agent's specific contribution?"

The most granular and arguably most valuable feedback. An agent rated highly on frontend work gets more frontend assignments. An agent rated poorly on database work gets fewer database assignments.

Mechanism 2: Continue Conversations

Each sub-task maintains its conversation thread with the assigned agent. You can go back to ANY specific agent and refine their contribution:

"The Salesforce sync Lambda needs to also handle custom fields X, Y, and Z"
"The monitoring dashboard should default to the last 7 days instead of all time"
"The Terraform config needs to use our existing VPC instead of creating a new one"

The agent responds with updated code, and you can continue the conversation as many times as needed — drilling into specifics without starting over.

Mechanism 3: RAG Update and Re-run

For systemic issues — where the architect's fundamental approach needs adjustment — you can:

  1. 1 Update the architect's RAG knowledge with the missing context (your Salesforce field mappings, your infrastructure conventions, your API documentation)
  2. 2 Re-run the project with the same description

This is the most common refinement pattern. The first pass reveals what the architect didn't know about your specific environment. You fill that gap with a RAG update. The second pass is dramatically better.

Real example: The Telegram-to-Salesforce project's first pass was about 90% there. The architect didn't know the exact Salesforce field mappings for our org. We uploaded those mappings as RAG knowledge, re-ran, and the second pass handled them correctly. Total refinement time: about an hour.

How the Rating System Makes the CEO Agent Smarter

The rating system isn't just feedback for you — it's the learning mechanism for the entire platform.

The Learning Loop

You submit a project
CEO Agent selects architect (based on past ratings + knowledge match)
Architect generates spec → CEO Agent assigns sub-tasks → Agents execute
You rate: project, architect, each sub-agent
Ratings update the selection model
NEXT project → CEO Agent makes better selections → Cycle repeats

The Compounding Effect

1

Project 1

The CEO Agent makes reasonable but generic selections. Results are good but not customized to your preferences.

5

Project 5

The CEO Agent has learned which architects work well for your project types and which sub-agents produce work you rate highly. Results improve noticeably.

15

Project 15

The CEO Agent has a detailed model of your preferences, your standards, and which agents produce the best results. It's like having a project manager who's worked with you for a year.

50

Project 50

The system deeply understands your business's technical environment, quality standards, and the agent roster's strengths and weaknesses. Selections are precise. First-pass quality is consistently high.

This is why the CEO Agent is fundamentally different from a static code generation tool. It doesn't produce the same generic output forever. It learns. It improves. It adapts to YOU.

The Role of RAG Knowledge in Architect Performance

It's the single most effective lever you have for improving CEO Agent output quality.

The architect can only design what it knows how to design. RAG knowledge defines the boundaries of what it knows.

An architect without RAG knowledge designs generic, best-practice systems. An architect with deep RAG knowledge designs systems tailored to your infrastructure, your conventions, your integrations, and your standards.

What to Feed Your Architects

Knowledge Type What It Does Example
Your API documentation Architects design correct integration points Your Salesforce custom field definitions, endpoint URLs, auth requirements
Your coding standards Generated code follows your conventions Your ESLint config, naming conventions doc, PR review checklist
Your infrastructure patterns Terraform/deployment configs match your environment Your existing VPC configuration, naming patterns, security policies
Past specifications Architects learn your architectural style Spec documents from previous projects your team has built
Third-party platform docs Architects design correct connections API docs for the specific version of Salesforce, Stripe, or HubSpot you use
Your tech stack documentation Architects make appropriate technology choices "We use Next.js 14, Prisma for ORM, and deploy to Vercel"
Lessons learned Architects avoid past mistakes "We tried X approach and it didn't work because Y — use Z instead"

The Refinement Pattern

Here's the most common success pattern for CEO Agent projects:

1 First project with a new architect: Output is good but generically structured. Maybe 80-85% aligned with your specific needs.
2 You identify the gaps: "The Salesforce fields don't match our org." "The Terraform configs create new infrastructure instead of using our existing VPC."
3 You add RAG knowledge: Upload your Salesforce field definitions, your Terraform module patterns, your frontend component library docs.
4 Second project: The architect incorporates the new knowledge. Output jumps to 90-95% alignment.
5 Fifth project: Output is consistently 95%+ aligned. The architect designs systems that feel like they were designed by someone who works at your company.

Architect RAG Training Is the Highest-ROI Investment

A well-trained architect doesn't just improve its own output — it improves every agent that works from its specification. If the architect gets the data model right, the database agent, backend agent, and frontend agent all work with the correct structure. If the architect gets the API contracts right, the integration agents produce correct connections on the first try.

How to Write Better Project Descriptions

The CEO Agent adapts to whatever level of detail you provide. But more detail leads to better results on the first pass.

The Spectrum of Detail

Minimal Will work, but expect more refinement

"Build a lead capture app for Telegram to Salesforce."

The CEO Agent will interpret this and produce something reasonable — but it'll make many assumptions. Some will match your preferences. Some won't.

Good Significantly better first-pass results

"Build an app that captures lead information from Telegram conversations in natural language, transforms the data using an AI agent, and inserts structured lead records into our Salesforce account. Include a monitoring dashboard."

Excellent Minimal refinement needed

"Build an app that captures lead information from Telegram conversations in natural language, transforms the data using an AI agent on the backend, and automatically inserts structured lead records into our connected Salesforce account with fields: Name, Company, Email, Interest Area, Follow-Up Date, and Source Channel. Include a monitoring dashboard where our sales team can view captured leads, filter by status (New, Synced, Error), and see the raw Telegram message alongside the structured data. Use React with TypeScript for the frontend, AWS Lambda with Node.js for the backend, DynamoDB for storage, and Terraform for infrastructure. The Telegram bot should handle both private messages and group chat mentions."

The Description Checklist

Before submitting a project, try to include:

Element Question to Answer Example
What it does What is the core function? "Captures leads from Telegram and puts them in Salesforce"
Who uses it Who are the end users? "Our sales team uses the monitoring dashboard"
Key features What are the must-have capabilities? "Filter by status, view raw messages, search by company"
Data model What information is captured? "Name, Company, Email, Interest, Follow-Up Date"
Integrations What external systems connect? "Telegram Bot API, Salesforce REST API"
Tech preferences Any tech stack requirements? "React, AWS Lambda, DynamoDB, Terraform"
Behavioral details Any specific behaviors? "Handle both private messages and group mentions"

The "Second Project" Shortcut

Your first project is a learning experience for both you AND the system. Don't agonize over the perfect description. Write what you know, submit it, review the output, and use what you learn to write better descriptions, add RAG knowledge, and rate agents. By your third or fourth project, you'll intuitively know what level of detail the CEO Agent needs.

Frequently Asked Questions

The CEO Agent in Context: Your AI Development Team

Here's the final mental model:

Traditional Team CEO Agent Equivalent
CEO describes what they need You write the project description
CTO selects the right architect CEO Agent evaluates and selects the best architect
Architect designs the system Architect agent generates specification and task list
Project manager assigns tasks CEO Agent assigns each sub-task to the best agent
Development team builds each component Specialized executor agents generate code for each task
Code is committed to version control Everything is committed to your GitHub with full history
CEO reviews and provides feedback You rate the project, architect, and sub-agents
Team learns from feedback CEO Agent improves selection decisions for future projects

The entire cycle — which takes a traditional team 2–12 weeks — takes the CEO Agent 1–3 hours.

That's not an exaggeration for marketing purposes. The Telegram-to-Salesforce app (frontend, database, AWS Lambda backend, Terraform infrastructure, and two third-party integrations) was one-shotted in about an hour. Refinement took another hour. Total: ~2 hours for what would have been a 2–4 week project with a human team or a $10,000–$25,000 contract with an agency.

The math either works for your business or it doesn't. But at least now you understand exactly what's happening under the hood.

Ready to See the CEO Agent in Action?

Bring a project idea to your setup call. We'll show you how the CEO Agent breaks it down, assigns agents, and delivers a working result — so you can see the orchestration process firsthand.

Every CEO.ai plan includes access to the CEO Agent. Most customers run their first project within days of starting.

No contracts · Guided setup included · Most customers live within one week

Download This Guide as PDF

Keep this walkthrough handy for your team. Includes the Description Checklist as a bonus one-page reference.

No spam. We'll send the PDF and occasional product updates. Unsubscribe anytime.