There are as many different ways to do things as there are people. My take is he is keeping a close eye on you, and if you do well you'll get a lot more autonomy going forward.

But you just can't tell, this might be because he loves the game, it might be because your job is hanging by a thread. Or it might because his job is hanging by a thread. Or the company is on the line and the CTOs job is hanging by a thread.

No matter what, your best path forward is to make this project a success.