> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.changeguard.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Engineering Advisor

> The read a senior engineer would give before a change proceeds — surfaced only when it materially helps.

The **Engineering Advisor** is the judgment layer on top of the pre-flight check: alongside the **SHIP / HOLD / BLOCK** verdict and the CSC Score, it gives the read a senior engineer would — grounded in what's actually live in your cluster right now (active incidents, recent failures, what this change touches), and honest about what it can't see.

An illustrative example of the Advisor's note on a pre-flight check:

> **I'd wait.** `payments-api` has an active incident, and this change touches the same service. Nothing here contradicts the score — but the score can't see the incident timeline. Ship after the incident closes.

## See it, then try it

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Watch the Advisor decide — 2 minutes, no install" icon="play" href="https://demo.changeguard.ai">
    Open the **interactive demo** and choose the Engineering Advisor scenario: a live pre-flight where the score says SHIP and the Advisor says wait — and is right. The exact moment above, played out.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Try this yourself" icon="rocket" href="/get-started/install">
    Install on your own cluster and follow [Your First Recommendation](/get-started/first-30-minutes) — you'll run a real pre-flight in minutes. Advisor notes appear where the Early Access flag is enabled for your tenant.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

To understand what stands behind a note like that — evidence, what the system knows and doesn't, and how to challenge it — read [How ChangeGuard Makes Decisions](/concepts/how-changeguard-decides).

## Silence is deliberate

If the Advisor has nothing material to add beyond the score and the verdict, it stays **silent**. Restraint is the feature — you should never see filler advice, and when a note does appear it's because something changed the decision.

## Availability — Early Access

<Warning>
  The Engineering Advisor is **Early Access**: real and running, but **off by default** (feature flag `AI_ENGINEERING_ADVISOR_ENABLED`) and offered to design partners or on request. If you don't see it in your tenant, that's expected — it is not self-serve today. [Contact us](mailto:support@changeguard.ai) to join the Early Access program.
</Warning>

Don't plan production dependencies on Early Access capabilities. What every tenant has **today, GA**:

* The **pre-flight check** — an on-demand SHIP / HOLD / BLOCK verdict with the score and reasons. See [Connect your first cluster](/get-started/connect-first-cluster#step-3--see-your-cluster-in-the-product).
* **Incident investigation** — root cause with **cited evidence**, a proposed fix, and how to verify it. See [Your First Recommendation](/get-started/first-30-minutes).

## Related Early Access capabilities

The Advisor is one of a set of judgment capabilities in Early Access — **Engineering Opinion** (an owned, evidence-tied position on an incident), **Engineering Experience** (institutional memory from similar past incidents), and **reasoning / confidence factors**. The full list, with flags, is in [Product concepts](/concepts/overview#early-access).

Next: [**Understanding your score →**](/how-it-works)