Tools
Ship is tool-agnostic. This section defines capability boundaries, not mandatory vendors.
Five capabilities every setup needs
| Capability | Why it exists | Typical implementations |
|---|---|---|
| Tracker truth | Shared queue and state machine | Linear, Jira, GitHub Issues, Azure Boards, ClickUp, spreadsheet |
| Scheduler | Deterministic timing and retries | GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Buildkite, cron + runner |
| Agent runtime | Executes prompts against repository | Cursor, Codex, Claude Code, Copilot + scripts |
| Regression runner | Verifies product integrity in hosted env | Playwright, Cypress, custom e2e |
| Security/dependency signal | Adds evidence for risk decisions | Snyk, OSS scanners, internal tooling |
What Ship standardizes
- Interfaces between these capabilities.
- Guardrails (queue fences, state transitions, evidence trail).
- Prompt-driven adoption workflow.
- Reference implementations for real-world patterns.
What Ship does not standardize
- Vendor lock-in.
- One mandatory API surface.
- One mandatory deployment topology.
Use with other docs
- Setup path: Getting started
- Adaptation details: Tracker adaptation contract
- API surface for agents: Backend API
- Process policy: Delivery, quality & release
- Why these boundaries exist: The book