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Tools and Access

This page covers the tools and accounts you'll need to work at Timeless Biotech. Your manager or onboarding buddy should provision most of these by your first day, but this guide walks through what you should have and how to use it.

Email & Communication

Email Address

You'll receive a @timelessbiotech.com email address. This is your primary work email and is used for: - GitHub notifications and commits - AWS account recovery - Slack SSO - Customer and partner communications - Internal documentation

Setup: Check with ops@timelessbiotech.com if your email isn't created by day 1.

Slack

We use Slack for team communication, quick questions, and coordination.

Key channels: - #general — company announcements, all-hands items - #engineering — engineering discussions, deployments, incident updates - #clinical — clinical team discussions, data validation items - #random — off-topic, non-work chat - #help — ask questions, get unblocked - #incidents — real-time incident updates (automated) - #deployments — deployment notifications (automated)

Best practices: - Check channel topic descriptions for the purpose of each channel - Use threads to keep conversations organized - Use status to show your availability (in meetings, out, focusing) - Don't spam @channel or @here unless urgent

AWS Console Access

We run MenoTime on AWS (us-west-1 region) and you'll need console access for deployments, debugging, and infrastructure work.

Getting Started

  1. IAM User Creation: Ops will create an IAM user for you with your @timelessbiotech.com email
  2. Temporary Password: You'll receive a temporary password via secure channel
  3. First Login: Go to https://timelessbiotech.signin.aws.amazon.com/console
  4. Log in with your username (usually firstname.lastname) and temporary password
  5. Change your password to something secure
  6. Set up MFA (see below)

MFA Setup (Required)

Multi-factor authentication is mandatory for all AWS access.

Process: 1. In AWS console, go to IAM Dashboard 2. Click on your username (top-right) 3. Click "Security credentials" 4. Under "Multi-factor authentication," click "Assign MFA device" 5. Choose "Virtual MFA device" 6. Use Google Authenticator, Authy, or Microsoft Authenticator to scan the QR code 7. Enter two consecutive MFA codes to confirm 8. Save your recovery codes in a secure location (1Password, etc.)

Once MFA is set up, you'll need to provide your MFA code every time you log in to the console or use programmatic access.

AWS Permissions

Your initial IAM role grants: - Read access to most AWS services (for exploration and debugging) - Write access to ECS and related services (for deployments) - No access to billing, IAM management, or deletion of resources

If you need additional permissions, ask in #engineering or contact your engineering lead.

AWS CLI Setup

To interact with AWS from your local machine, you'll need the AWS CLI configured with credentials.

Installation:

# macOS
brew install awscli

# Linux
sudo apt-get install awscli

# Or use pip
pip install awscli

Configuration:

aws configure

When prompted: - Access Key ID: Generate in IAM console (Security credentials > Access keys > Create access key) - Secret Access Key: Provided when you create the access key (save it securely!) - Default region: us-west-1 - Default output format: json

MFA with AWS CLI: When using AWS CLI, you'll need to generate temporary credentials using your MFA device. See the development guide for detailed instructions.

GitHub Repository Access

Our code lives in GitHub under the Timeless Biotech organization.

Main Repositories

  • menotime-api — Python FastAPI backend
  • menotime-web — React frontend
  • menotime-infra — Infrastructure as Code (Terraform)
  • menotime-docs — User documentation and guides

Getting Access

  1. Create or use your existing GitHub account
  2. Ensure you've set up SSH keys for authentication: bash ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your.email@timelessbiotech.com"
  3. Add your public key to your GitHub account
  4. Provide your GitHub username to ops@timelessbiotech.com
  5. You'll be added to the organization and teams

Repository Access Levels

  • menotime-api: Engineering team has write access
  • menotime-web: Engineering team has write access
  • menotime-infra: Engineering team has write access; infrastructure changes require code review
  • menotime-docs: Read access for all; write for clinical and product team

Code Review Policy

All code changes go through pull request review: 1. Create a feature branch 2. Make your changes with clear commits 3. Open a pull request with description 4. At least one engineer must review and approve 5. CI checks must pass 6. Merge and deploy

See the development guide for detailed Git workflow.

Development Tools

Install these tools on your local development machine.

Required Tools

Python 3.11+

# Check version
python3 --version

# macOS (using Homebrew)
brew install python@3.11

# Linux
sudo apt-get install python3.11 python3.11-venv

Docker & Docker Compose

# Installation: https://docs.docker.com/install/

# Verify installation
docker --version
docker-compose --version

Git

# macOS
brew install git

# Linux
sudo apt-get install git

# Configure
git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "your.email@timelessbiotech.com"

AWS CLI (see above section)

PostgreSQL Client Tools

# macOS
brew install postgresql

# Linux
sudo apt-get install postgresql-client

# Verify
psql --version

AWS SAM CLI (for local Lambda testing):

# macOS
brew install aws-sam-cli

# Installation instructions: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/serverless-application-model/

direnv (for environment variable management):

# macOS
brew install direnv

# Linux
sudo apt-get install direnv

pre-commit (for Git hooks):

pip install pre-commit

Development Environment Setup

Detailed instructions for setting up your local dev environment are in the Development Environment guide. In short:

  1. Clone the menotime-api repository
  2. Create a Python virtual environment
  3. Install dependencies
  4. Configure environment variables
  5. Run the application locally with Docker Compose

Estimated setup time: 30-45 minutes. Your onboarding buddy can pair with you on this if you get stuck.

VPN & Network Access

We don't require a VPN for general work. However, if you need to: - Access production databases directly - Use SSH to connect to servers - Access certain internal tools

...you may need VPN access. Contact ops@timelessbiotech.com if you need this.

1Password (Password Management)

We use 1Password for centralized credential and secret management.

Setup: 1. You'll be invited to the Timeless Biotech 1Password vault 2. Accept the invitation and create your account 3. Download the 1Password app for your devices 4. Store personal passwords, API keys, and other credentials here (not in .env files) 5. Share credentials with your team by adding them to shared 1Password items

Never commit secrets to GitHub. Always use 1Password or environment variables.

Okta (SSO)

We use Okta for single sign-on to various tools and services (Slack, GitHub, Asana, etc.).

You'll receive an Okta invitation email. Set up your account: 1. Click the invitation link 2. Create a strong password 3. Set up MFA in Okta 4. Bookmark your Okta dashboard for easy access

Most logins to company tools will go through Okta rather than requiring separate passwords.

Asana (Project Management)

We use Asana for project planning, sprint management, and task tracking.

Getting started: 1. You'll be invited to the Timeless Biotech Asana workspace 2. Accept the invitation 3. Add yourself to the relevant team projects (Engineering, your specific product team, etc.) 4. Check out the team calendar for meetings and sprints

Key projects: - Engineering Sprint [Current Quarter] - Product Roadmap - Clinical Data Validation - Operations & Onboarding

Figma (Design & Product)

Design files and product mockups are in Figma.

  1. You'll be invited to the Timeless Biotech workspace
  2. You have view-only access to design files
  3. If you need edit access, ask your manager
  4. Check Figma regularly for the latest design decisions and UI specs

Documentation & Knowledge Base

Internal Wiki

We use Notion for internal documentation: - Company policies and procedures - Team standards and best practices - Onboarding checklists - Meeting notes and decision logs

Access: You'll be invited to the Notion workspace during onboarding.

This Playbook

You're reading it! This is our public/internal-facing playbook. Use it as a reference for how we work.

Checklist: Your First Day

By the end of day 1, you should have:

  • [ ] @timelessbiotech.com email address created
  • [ ] Slack account set up and in key channels
  • [ ] AWS console access with MFA configured
  • [ ] GitHub access to relevant repositories
  • [ ] Local development tools installed (Python, Docker, Git, AWS CLI)
  • [ ] 1Password account created
  • [ ] Okta SSO configured
  • [ ] Asana access to team projects
  • [ ] Notion access to internal wiki

If any of these are missing, reach out to ops@timelessbiotech.com or your onboarding buddy.

Last updated: February 2025