Core ideas in five minutes

Nomain rests on a small number of ideas that everything else builds on. Learn these six and the rest of the product follows naturally.

1. A System is the thing you work with

A System is Nomain's model of one of your software systems. It has a name, a description, one or more sources behind it, and a set of statistics: lines of code, programs, jobs, and business domains. You browse Systems on the Systems page and open one to explore it.

2. Sources are where the code comes from

A System is built from one or more repositories. A repository is a saved connection to where your code lives (Git or SFTP), defined once and reusable across Systems. When a repository is attached to a System it becomes one of that System's sources. A single System can span several repositories, so related code held in separate repos is understood as one connected whole.

3. Analysis turns code into the model

Nomain builds and refreshes a System by running an analysis. A run reads the code, builds its structure, explains each part in plain language, summarizes any attached documents, and reconstructs business processes. Analysis is what turns raw source into something you can chat with and navigate. Runs can be started manually or scheduled, and you can follow their progress step by step.

4. Chat is how you ask questions

Chat is where you ask questions in plain language about a System and get an answer grounded in its actual code and documents. Behind each answer, an AI agent searches the System, reads what it finds, and writes a reply with clickable references back to the exact code the claim is based on.

5. The map and the business view are how you explore

Every System can be explored two ways:

• The System map is an interactive graph where each dot is a real building block (a program, file, job, copybook, or screen) and lines show how they connect.
• The business process view is the same System seen in business terms, organized into domains → areas → processes, with each process drawn as a step-by-step diagram.

6. Memory makes the assistant personal

As you chat, the assistant keeps durable memory about you: your role, how you like to work, and the projects you deal with, so it does not have to relearn them every conversation. You can review, edit, or delete anything it remembers at any time.

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Putting it together

A typical first session looks like this:

1. Open the Systems page and click a System to open it.
2. Read its execution statistics and browse its business processes.
3. Open a chat, pick that System, and ask a question like "What does the daily billing job do?"
4. Follow the references in the answer to light up the relevant parts on the map.
5. Drill into a program on the map to read Nomain's explanation of it.

Next steps

Take the quick tour of the app to learn the navigation, then dive into Systems.