---
title: "Tune-ups"
description: "Evidence-backed coaching recommendations that unlock as Cadence sees more of your work."
url: "https://teamcadence.ai/docs/desktop/tune-ups/"
---
## What a tune-up is

A tune-up is a specific, evidence-backed recommendation for improving how you work with AI coding agents - grounded in your own recent sessions, not generic advice. Cadence surfaces up to three at a time in the tray.

## When they unlock

Tune-ups aren't available from day one - Cadence needs enough session volume to have real evidence behind a recommendation. The first tune-up unlocks after your sessions cross roughly 10 million significant tokens, with new ones offered every ~25 million tokens after that. During the gap, the tray shows progress toward the next one ("in ~2M tokens") rather than leaving the slot empty.

"Significant" tokens exclude trivial or throwaway sessions - the same filter used elsewhere (see [Sessions](/docs/concepts/sessions/)), so the count reflects real usage, not noise.

## Where they show up

Tune-ups live in the desktop tray, with a detail view for each one that explains the recommendation and the sessions it's based on. A tune-up becoming ready can also trigger a nudge notification if you have those enabled.

## Why they're capped at three

Cadence intentionally limits how many tune-ups are active at once. The goal is a short, actionable list grounded in real evidence - not a running backlog of every possible improvement.