# Self-driving 101 – Self-driving pocket guide

[](/pocket-guides.md)Aa

[](/pocket-guides/self-driving.md)[](/pocket-guides/self-driving/ai-spend-that-jumps.md)

# Self-driving 101 – Self-driving pocket guide

Self-driving is PostHog using your product data as context to make your product better. Here's how it works: [Scouts](/docs/self-driving/scouts.md) watch your data on a schedule, file [reports](/docs/self-driving/reports.md) when something needs your attention, and an agent opens a pull request that fixes it. You review and merge everything, so nothing ships without you.

## The loop

The whole system is Fig. 1. A [signal](/docs/self-driving/signals.md) is something in your product data that's worth knowing, with its evidence attached. Related signals group into a report for you to review. An agent writes the fix as a pull request, and PostHog measures whether it worked. The outcome becomes new signals, so your product keeps improving itself over time.

SignalSomething worth knowing, with its evidence

ReportRelated signals grouped into one problem

Pull requestAn agent writes the fix; you review and merge

MeasuredPostHog checks whether it worked

the outcome becomes new signals

SignalSomething worth knowing, with its evidence

ReportRelated signals grouped into one problem

Pull requestAn agent writes the fix; you review and merge

MeasuredPostHog checks whether it worked

↻ the outcome becomes new signals

Fig. 1 – The loop. Every scout you enable feeds the same four stages, and the outcome becomes new signals.

High-confidence reports arrive with the pull request already open – you just review and merge. Lower-confidence ones wait in your inbox for you to decide first.

## When a scout writes

A scout run ends one of two ways: it writes a report, or it writes nothing.

A scout writes a report when it spots a change that needs your attention – your AI bill jumped, or your core activation metric dipped. It stays quiet when everything looks healthy, including when a change is just growth.

Quiet is the common case. A scout that reports every day is one you'll mute before you get real value out of it.

## How to read the use cases

Each use case in this pocket guide is a real custom scout you can add to your own product. Every guide covers:

-   the scout's job, and the anatomy of the [inbox](/docs/self-driving/inbox.md) report it files
-   the pull request that report becomes
-   the scout itself – the actual file an agent follows
-   a one-click way to add it to your own product

See also: [Deep dive on self-driving](/docs/self-driving.md) · [The self-improving loop](/docs/self-driving/self-improving-loop.md)

[‹ Start here](/pocket-guides/self-driving.md)[All guides](/pocket-guides.md)p. 1 of 4[AI spend that jumps overnight ›](/pocket-guides/self-driving/ai-spend-that-jumps.md)