AI-Assisted Coding

Some take-home assessments are AI-assisted — you solve the problem with a coding assistant we provide, instead of entirely on your own. You may also hear this called “vibe coding” informally. This guide covers getting set up and working with the assistant; for the parts shared with every take-home (deadline, packaging your ZIP, submitting), see the Take-Home Assessment guide. Your recruiter will tell you if this applies to you. If you’re not sure, check your invitation email or your assignment page.

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What’s Different From a Standard Assessment

• You’re given an AI coding agent with an AI usage budget already funded for you. On your assignment page you choose Kimchi (a terminal agent from Cast AI) or OpenCode (an open-source terminal agent); if your recruiter allows only one, you get that one. Both work with any editor. Once you run setup, the assignment stays with the agent you picked
• Your AI session is recorded and shared with the hiring team as part of your submission. Keep using the Hello Recruiter models already set up in your workspace
• The full brief unlocks once you’ve set up your workspace, or, if your assessment is timed, once your timer starts
• Everything else works the same: same deadline, same ZIP upload, same “you can’t resubmit once you’re done”

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Setting Up Your Workspace

Open the Set up workspace tab on your assignment page. It gives you two ways to get set up: Automatic setup or Manual setup. Pick whichever you’re more comfortable with — they end up in the same place. Automatic setup walks you through five steps: Choose your coding agent, Pick your OS and editor, Open your folder, run one command, Let it open — approve VS Code’s first-run prompts, and Build with your agent, then submit. A Troubleshooting & FAQ section sits below the steps.

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Automatic Setup

The steps below show OpenCode; Kimchi is set up the same way. If your recruiter allows only one agent, there’s nothing to choose and the steps start at your OS and editor. Pick your editor and operating system — your operating system is usually picked for you: With VS Code, your agent starts inside VS Code. With any other editor, it starts in the terminal where you ran the command. You’re then given a single command to paste into a terminal, opened in the folder where you want to work:

• Windows (PowerShell): irm "<your assignment's install link>" | iex
• Mac/Linux (bash): curl -fsSL "<your assignment's install link>" | bash

On a fresh Ubuntu or Debian install without curl, run sudo apt install -y curl first. The link is generated specifically for your invitation, so it’s shown on your own assignment page rather than reproduced here. Running it:

1. Creates your workspace, a take-home-assessment folder where you ran the command.
2. Saves your own agent settings first, if you already use the agent you picked, and puts them back when you’re done — see If You Already Use OpenCode or Kimchi.
3. Installs Git if it’s missing, which submitting your work needs.
4. Installs OpenCode or Kimchi in its own folder, so a copy you already use isn’t replaced.
5. Sets up the agent with your assessment’s AI key and a small plugin that labels your session for review.
6. Fills in your workspace with problem_statement.md and the scripts that submit your work and restore your setup.
7. Opens your editor, installing it first if it’s missing (except Visual Studio).

On a timed assessment, setup asks you to start your timer before it downloads problem_statement.md — see If Your Assessment Is Timed.

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If You Already Use OpenCode or Kimchi

If you already use the agent you picked, setup swaps your settings for the assessment’s, and puts yours back when you’re done:

• Nothing changes until you say so. Setup lists the settings files it’s about to swap and waits for you to press Enter. Press Ctrl+C instead, and nothing on your computer has changed.
• Your settings are saved first, exactly as they were.
• Your own copy of the agent stays as it is. The assessment’s copy is installed in its own folder.
• When you submit, you’re asked whether to put your setup back — just press Enter. You can also do it any time: from your workspace, run bash .hello-recruiter/restore.sh (macOS or Linux) or .\.hello-recruiter\restore.cmd (Windows), or run the Restore my setup task in VS Code.

Restoring puts your settings back exactly as they were — open a new terminal afterwards to pick them up. The copy of the agent that setup installed stays in its own folder, and Git and your editor, if setup installed them, stay as ordinary installs, so you can remove any of them whenever you like. If you’ve already deleted your workspace, run the copy of the restore script saved with your backup, ~/.hello-recruiter/backups/<your assignment>/restore.sh (on Windows, restore.cmd).

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If You’re Using VS Code

VS Code opens on its own and tries to start your agent. The first time only, it needs a few clicks before it will — otherwise nothing starts: Your agent then starts in VS Code’s terminal, with your problem statement open beside it: VS Code also shows its own Chat panel. You can close it — work with the agent in the terminal. Missed the Allow button? Open the Command Palette (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+P), run Tasks: Manage Automatic Tasks and choose Allow Automatic Tasks, then run Developer: Reload Window. Would rather not allow automatic tasks? Open a terminal in the folder and run opencode . (OpenCode) or kimchi (Kimchi) yourself.

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If You’re Using Another Editor

The agent starts in the terminal where you ran the command — keep that window open while you work. To start it again later, open a terminal in your workspace folder and run opencode . (OpenCode) or kimchi (Kimchi).

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Manual Setup

If you’d rather do each step yourself instead of running the install command:

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If Your Assessment Is Timed

On a timed assessment, you have a set number of minutes from the moment your timer starts — see Timed Assessments for how it works on your assignment page. With an AI assistant, your timer starts only once your workspace is ready, so installing takes none of your time. Until then, Read the brief shows This is a timed assessment with three steps — Set up your AI workspace, Start your timer, Submit before time runs out — and a Set up AI workspace button that opens the setup steps.

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Starting With Automatic Setup

Running setup again after your timer has started never restarts it. If setup can’t ask you, it says your timer hasn’t started. Start it from the Start your timer step under Manual setup on your assignment page, or run setup again in a terminal.

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Starting With Manual Setup

The Get the problem statement step becomes Start your timer. Get your AI key first, then click Start the 60-minute timer — your problem statement opens with it, in that step and under Read the brief. Manual setup doesn’t add the countdown to your agent, so follow your time left on your assignment page.

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The Countdown in Your Agent

With the automatic setup, a timed assessment also shows your time left inside OpenCode or Kimchi — at the bottom of OpenCode’s screen, or under the box where you type in Kimchi. It changes color in the last 10 minutes, and a reminder pops up at 15, 5 and 1 minutes left, and when your time is up.

• It’s only on your screen. Nothing it shows is sent to the AI or saved in your session.
• It goes with the assessment’s settings. Putting your own setup back takes it out too.

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When Your Time Is Up

The AI assistant stops answering, and your agent tells you: “Time is up. The AI assistant has stopped - submit your work now.” You have 5 more minutes to submit, with the submit task or script or with Upload my work (see Submitting Your Work). After that the submission window closes until your recruiter reopens it, and reopening never turns the AI assistant back on.

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Working With the Agent

• Pick a Hello Recruiter model. In OpenCode, open the model picker and make sure it’s set to a Hello Recruiter model, not one of the Free ones. Kimchi is already set to your Hello Recruiter model.
• “Allow” prompts are normal. If the agent asks you to allow an action before running it, that’s its usual permission check, not an error.
• Keep an eye on your AI budget. Beside the deadline at the top of your assignment page, AI budget shows how much you have left, in US dollars, and turns amber when 20% or less is left. When it’s all spent it reads used up: the agent stops answering, but you can keep working and submit as usual.
• See what your session has cost. OpenCode shows the cost of your session, and in Kimchi the /session command does. The numbers follow your budget closely, though they can differ by a little.
• Your problem statement — problem_statement.md in your workspace holds the task: the overview, background, requirements and deliverables. The full brief, including how your work is evaluated, is on your assignment page under Read the brief.

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Submitting Your Work

Same as a standard assessment — package your project as a ZIP and upload it with Upload my work (see Packaging Your ZIP File). If you used the automatic setup, you can also submit from your workspace:

• In VS Code — open the Command Palette (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+P), run Tasks: Run Task, then pick Submit assessment.
• In a terminal — from your workspace folder, run bash .hello-recruiter/submit.sh (macOS or Linux) or .\.hello-recruiter\submit.cmd (Windows).

The submit script packages your work and leaves out problem_statement.md, the setup scripts, and build output such as node_modules. Once your work is uploaded, it asks whether to put your own setup back — press Enter for yes — and opens your submission page.

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Coming Back Later, and Troubleshooting

You don’t need to run setup again to keep working — reopen your workspace folder in your editor (VS Code starts your agent for you), or open a terminal there and run opencode . or kimchi. Your key, your agent’s settings and the problem statement are all still there. The Troubleshooting & FAQ panel on your assignment page covers the common issues, including how to put your own settings back early:

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