Claude Code Starter Kit

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👋 New to terminals or git? Start with GETTING-STARTED.md — a 10-minute walkthrough that assumes nothing.

A starter kit that gets a new Claude Code user from a fresh install to a senior-level setup in about five minutes — opinionated defaults, a curated plugin and MCP catalog, five high-leverage skills, a persistent memory layout, and a CLAUDE.md that encodes good engineering habits.

It is intentionally small. It is not a framework, it does not vendor anything, and it does not lock you in. Every file it writes is plain text you own and can edit.

Install

There are three paths. Pick whichever matches your situation.

Path A — already have Claude Code (recommended)

This is the path for people who already have Claude Code installed and working. It lets Claude itself install the kit, so you can ask clarifying questions in plain English along the way.

1. Clone this repo somewhere on your machine.
2. Open Claude Code in the cloned directory.
3. Say: "read SETUP.md and install the starter kit".

Claude will walk through the adaptive wizard (it first asks whether you're a beginner, intermediate, or senior user, then asks 6–14 follow-up questions tuned to that level). The resulting CLAUDE.md, default model, permission profile, status-line preset, and optional Obsidian-compatible knowledge vault are all shaped by your answers. Restart your session once Claude finishes to pick up the new configuration.

Path B — Windows, no Claude Code yet

This is the path for a brand-new Windows machine. Open PowerShell in the cloned repo and run:

./install/install.ps1

The script installs Claude Code if it is missing, then runs the same wizard Path A uses.

Path C — macOS / Linux

Open a terminal in the cloned repo and run:

bash install/install.sh

Same wizard, same result.

What's inside

• templates/CLAUDE.md.template — a global CLAUDE.md that encodes durable engineering standards (think before coding, simplicity first, surgical changes, goal-driven execution).
• templates/settings.json.template — pre-configured Claude Code settings, including enabledPlugins and extraKnownMarketplaces so the recommended plugins activate on first launch.
• templates/memory/ — a per-CWD auto-memory layout (MEMORY.md index plus typed memory files) that survives across sessions.
• templates/hooks/ — opinionated hooks (statusline, etc.).
• skills/ — five high-leverage skills copied into the repo so they travel with the kit: impeccable (UI/UX), ui-ux-pro-max, gh-issues, graphify, project-prime.
• plugins.md — curated catalog of nine recommended plugins, every description sourced from its marketplace manifest.
• mcps.md — curated catalog of recommended MCP servers (free, key-required, niche/opt-in).
• guide/index.html — an interactive single-file in-browser tour of the kit.
• docs/ — extended documentation:
  • 00-what-this-is.md — the long version of this README.
  • 01-installation.md — installation details and what each script does.
  • 02-customization.md — how to edit CLAUDE.md, add skills, and override per project.
  • 03-daily-workflow.md — how to actually use the kit day-to-day.
  • 04-troubleshooting.md — common issues and how to diagnose them.

Prerequisites

• Claude Code installed. See the official install docs at https://docs.claude.com/en/docs/claude-code/quickstart.
• A POSIX shell (bash or zsh) on macOS/Linux, or PowerShell 7+ on Windows.
• Git (only required if you want to clone this repo; you can also download a zip from GitHub).

What this kit does NOT do

• It does not replace Claude Code. It configures it.
• It does not vendor any plugin source code. Plugins install from their upstream marketplaces.
• It does not collect telemetry or phone home.
• It does not require any paid service. Most of the kit is free; a few MCP servers in mcps.md need accounts on third-party SaaS products, but those are clearly marked.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.

Versioning

See CHANGELOG.md. The current version is 0.5.0.