River
Y CombinatorBacked by Y Combinator

TechnicalFree

Generate developer onboarding guide

Describe your team and its tools, and get a first-month guide for a new developer, from day one setup to their first shipped change.

Context to provide

River's Developer Onboarding Guide Generator creates first-month onboarding plans spanning Day 1 through Week 4. You provide team context and tech stack, and the AI writes complete guides covering setup, learning, first contributions, and team integration. Perfect for engineering managers systematizing onboarding and ensuring new hires succeed.

Unlike informal onboarding, we create structured plans. The AI understands engineering onboarding best practices, balances technical setup with team integration, and creates realistic timelines for new developer success.

This tool is perfect for engineering managers onboarding new hires, technical leads building onboarding programs, startups scaling teams, and organizations improving developer experience.

Effective Developer Onboarding

Good onboarding gets developers productive quickly while building team connections. Effective programs cover technical setup (Day 1), codebase familiarity (Week 1), first contributions (Week 2), and increasing responsibility (Weeks 3-4). Clear structure reduces anxiety, accelerates productivity, and improves retention. Great onboarding makes new hires feel welcomed and sets them up for success.

How It Works

  1. Specify team and stack

    Provide team type and technologies

  2. AI generates guide

    Creates complete onboarding plan

  3. Customize and use

    Adapt to your team, use for new hires

What You Get

  • A first-month plan, from day one setup to owning a small project
  • Day 1 through Week 4 structured plan
  • Technical setup and learning milestones
  • First contribution guidance
  • Team integration activities
  • Progressive responsibility increase

Common questions

How long should onboarding take?

Typical onboarding spans 30-90 days. First 30 days are critical. This guide covers first month intensively, with understanding that full productivity takes longer. Adjust timeline based on role complexity and experience level.

Should new developers ship code in first week?

Yes, small contributions build confidence. Start with documentation fixes, small bugs, or tooling improvements. Early wins matter. Save complex features for after foundational understanding is built.

How do I balance technical onboarding with team integration?

Interweave both. Technical setup happens early but pair programming, team lunches, and 1-on-1s with teammates build connections. Isolated developers don't succeed. Social integration matters as much as technical competence.

Generate developer onboarding guide

Describe what you need, add any files you have, and your workspace opens with the work already underway.