Use the in-app guidance

Airlift is designed to tell a developer what to do next, why the action is required, and which evidence will advance the migration. You do not need to infer readiness from a counter or learn the entire navigation before starting work.

The console has three complementary guidance surfaces:

Take the first-use tour

On your first visit, Airlift explains three product rules:

1. An engagement is the governed record for one client migration.
2. Airlift recommends the earliest action the ledger can safely accept.
3. Evidence, not navigation or ticket completion, advances the migration journey.

Select Take the 2-minute tour to highlight the engagement switcher, migration search, journey navigation, phase workspace, and Guide. Use Back, Next, or Skip tour at any time. Press Escape to exit.

The tour records only a browser-local display preference. It does not create a Platform action, change an engagement, or write migration evidence.

Open the Guide from any page

Select Guide in the lower-right corner of the console. The panel answers:

• What is this page for?
• What should I do next?
• Which engagement and phase am I working in?
• How many evidence gates and blockers are recorded?
• Where is the detailed developer article?

Select Replay the product tour if you want the orientation again. The Guide is read-only. It cannot approve, certify, waive, execute cutover, or change any migration record.

Use contextual help

Select a question-mark button beside a field, counter, or workflow term. The help card stays within the browser viewport and has an opaque, high-contrast surface. It can be opened by pointer or keyboard.

• Select Read the developer article for the complete workflow.
• Press Escape to close the card and return focus to its button.
• Select the close button or click outside the card to dismiss it.

Contextual help defines a term. The phase guidance panel remains the authoritative place for the observed state, blocker diagnosis, owner, required evidence, and next action.

Use specialist workbenches without guessing

The advanced compiler, qualification, enterprise-application, modernization, Databricks-native, and application-kit pages use the same guidance hierarchy:

1. Purpose explains when the workbench belongs in a migration and what it does not own.
2. How this workspace works names the prerequisite and the three-step developer path.
3. Summary metrics show governed records, with question-mark help for terms such as native generator, registered bundle, Runway matched, or workspace proof.
4. Current state distinguishes an empty prerequisite from a completed result.
5. One primary action opens the exact upstream workspace needed to continue.

A zero does not automatically mean failure. For example, Generated candidates: 0 means the pipeline compiler has not registered an executable artifact set, while Workspace proven: 0 means no candidate has yet joined generated bytes, Runway, Experiments, and workspace identity on one digest. Open the question-mark help to read the definition, then follow the visible primary action to create the missing upstream record.

These workbenches are intentionally under Advanced tools. Most migration operators should follow the engagement journey. Open a specialist workbench when the journey sends you there or when you are responsible for that compiler, release, validation, or modernization boundary.

Understand why guidance does not use a free-form agent

The console derives guidance from governed engagement projections and deterministic workflow rules. An LLM explanation must never invent readiness, approve evidence, or select a cutover decision. Harness-backed agents can assist bounded migration work, but the Platform action ledger and Airlift policies remain the source of truth.

Continue with the guided migration journey to learn what each of the eight phase workspaces expects.