Installation Walkthrough

This guide walks you through every step of the installation wizard and explains what each option does. If you just want the quick version, see the Installation page.

Before You Start

Make sure you have Claude Code installed and working. You should be able to run claude in your terminal.

Requirement	Status	Notes
Claude Code	Required	The CLI tool this setup extends
macOS, Linux, or WSL	Required	All three platforms are supported
Node.js	Optional	Needed for the context status line (recommended)

Don’t have Node.js? The installer works fine without it - you’ll just skip the status line step. You can always add it later.

Running the Installer

Start the installer

bash <(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/b33eep/claude-code-setup/main/quick-install.sh)

Or clone and run locally:

git clone https://github.com/b33eep/claude-code-setup.git
cd claude-code-setup
./install.sh

Dependencies check

The installer starts by detecting your operating system and ensuring it has what it needs:

Claude Code Setup Installer
============================

Dependencies
- OS: macOS (Homebrew)
+ jq installed

What’s happening: The installer detects your OS (macOS, Ubuntu, Arch, Fedora, etc.) and installs jq if needed. jq is a small JSON processing tool that the installer uses internally to manage configuration files. You don’t need to interact with jq yourself.

Select MCP Servers

Select Modules

MCP Servers (toggle with number, Enter to confirm):

  ❯ ◉ pdf-reader - Read and analyze PDF documents
    ○ google-search - Web search via Google Custom Search API
    ○ brave-search - Web search via Brave Search API

  ↑↓ navigate  ⎵ toggle  ⏎ confirm

What are MCP servers? MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers give Claude extra tools - reading PDFs, searching the web, etc. Each server adds one capability.

How to use this screen: Use arrow keys (↑↓) to move between options, press Space to toggle an option on/off, and press Enter to confirm your selection.

Here’s what each option does:

Server	Pre-selected	API Key	What it does
pdf-reader	Yes	No	Lets Claude read and analyze PDF files directly. Great for working with documentation, specs, or reports.
google-search	No	Yes	Lets Claude search the web during your session. Useful for looking up documentation, finding solutions, or researching libraries.
brave-search	No	Yes	Alternative to Google Search. Same purpose, different provider. You can only pick one search engine.

💡

Recommendation: Start with just pdf-reader (the default). You can always add a search engine later by running ./install.sh --add or /claude-code-setup inside Claude Code.

If you select a search engine, the installer will ask for API keys during the installation step. For Google Search, you’ll need to:

Go to the Google Cloud Console and enable the Custom Search API
Create a Google API key
Create a Custom Search Engine ID at Programmable Search Engine

Both have free tiers that are sufficient for typical usage.

Select Skills

Skills (toggle with number, Enter to confirm):

  ❯ ◉ create-slidev-presentation
    ◉ skill-creator
    ◉ standards-gradle
    ◉ standards-java
    ◉ standards-javascript
    ◉ standards-kotlin
    ◉ standards-python
    ◉ standards-shell
    ◉ standards-typescript
    ◉ youtube-transcript

  ↑↓ navigate  ⎵ toggle  ⏎ confirm

What are skills? Skills teach Claude coding standards and give it specialized tools. There are two types:

Context skills load automatically when relevant. If your project uses Python, the Python skill loads when Claude writes .py files. You never need to think about them - they just work.

Skill	Languages/Frameworks
standards-python	Python, FastAPI, Django, Flask
standards-javascript	JavaScript, Node.js
standards-typescript	TypeScript, React, Next.js
standards-shell	Bash, Shell scripts
standards-java	Java
standards-kotlin	Kotlin, Android
standards-gradle	Gradle build files

Command skills are invoked explicitly with a slash command:

Skill	Command	What it does
skill-creator	`/skill-creator`	Helps you create your own custom skills
create-slidev-presentation	`/create-slidev-presentation`	Creates presentation slides using Slidev
youtube-transcript	`/youtube-transcript`	Downloads YouTube video transcripts with frame extraction

💡

Recommendation: Keep all skills selected (the default). They take up minimal space and only activate when relevant to your project. There’s no downside to having them all installed.

Select External Plugins

This step only appears if the claude CLI is available on your system. If you don’t see it, that’s fine - you can add plugins later.

External Plugins (via Claude CLI):

  ❯ ○ document-skills - Excel, Word, PowerPoint, PDF creation/editing
    ◉ comprehensive-review - AI-powered code review with architecture, quality, and security agents (recommended)

  ↑↓ navigate  ⎵ toggle  ⏎ confirm

What are external plugins? Third-party plugins for Claude, installed via claude plugin. They add things like code review or document generation.

Plugin	Pre-selected	What it does
comprehensive-review	Yes	Multi-perspective code review with architecture, quality, and security agents. Integrates into the development workflow via `/do-review`.
document-skills	No	Lets Claude create and edit Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and PDF files. Useful if you work with office documents.

💡

Recommendation: Keep comprehensive-review selected. It’s part of the recommended development workflow: write code, then get an automated review before committing.

Installation

After confirming your selections, the installer sets everything up:

Installing Commands
+ init-project.md
+ wrapup.md
+ catchup.md
+ claude-code-setup.md
+ todo.md
+ design.md
+ add-custom.md
+ Project template installed

Installing MCP Servers

  Installing pdf-reader...
+ pdf-reader configured

Installing Skills
+ standards-python installed
+ standards-javascript installed
+ standards-typescript installed
+ standards-shell installed
+ standards-java installed
+ standards-kotlin installed
+ standards-gradle installed
+ create-slidev-presentation installed
+ skill-creator installed
+ youtube-transcript installed

Building CLAUDE.md
+ CLAUDE.md created

What’s happening:

Commands are slash commands you’ll use in Claude Code (/init-project, /wrapup, /catchup, etc.)
MCP servers get configured in ~/.claude.json so Claude can use them
Skills are copied to ~/.claude/skills/ where Claude reads them automatically
CLAUDE.md is the global configuration file that drives the whole setup

If you selected an MCP server that requires API keys (like Google Search), you’ll be prompted to enter them during this step:

Installing MCP Servers

  Installing google-search...

  Setup instructions:
    1. Visit: https://console.cloud.google.com/
    2. Enable Custom Search API
    3. Create API key and Custom Search Engine ID

  Enter your Google API key: AIza...
  Enter your Custom Search Engine ID: ...
+ google-search configured

Status Line

Status Line

ccstatusline shows context usage in the status bar (e.g., Ctx: 21.9%)
Useful to know when to run /wrapup

Enable context status line? (Y/n):

What is this? The status line shows useful information at the bottom of your Claude Code session:

opus | 1.2k | 128k | Ctx: 21.9% | main | +2

Segment	Meaning
`opus`	Current Claude model
`1.2k`	Tokens used in this session
`128k`	Maximum context window
`Ctx: 21.9%`	How full your context is
`main`	Current git branch
`+2`	Uncommitted changes

Why it matters: The context percentage tells you when it’s time to save your work. When it reaches ~80%, run /wrapup to document your progress, then /clear to start fresh. This prevents Claude from losing track of important decisions.

💡

Recommendation: Press Enter or type Y to enable it. If you don’t have Node.js installed, this step is skipped automatically.

Update Notifications

Hooks
+ Update notification hook enabled

The installer automatically configures a hook that checks for updates when you start a new Claude Code session. If a newer version of claude-code-setup is available, you’ll see a notification suggesting to run /claude-code-setup to update.

This step requires no input from you.

Done!

Installation Complete

Installed to:
  ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md
  ~/.claude/commands/
  ~/.claude/skills/
  ~/.claude/settings.json (user settings)
  ~/.claude.json (MCP configuration)

Next steps:
  1. New project: Run /init-project to set up CLAUDE.md
  2. After session: Run /wrapup to document and commit

What Was Installed

Here’s a quick overview of what the installer created:

Path	Purpose
`~/.claude/CLAUDE.md`	Your global workflow configuration. Claude reads this at every session start.
`~/.claude/commands/`	Slash commands (`/init-project`, `/wrapup`, `/catchup`, etc.)
`~/.claude/skills/`	Coding standards and tools that Claude loads automatically
`~/.claude/settings.json`	Claude Code settings (status line, hooks)
`~/.claude/installed.json`	Tracks what modules you’ve installed (used for updates)
`~/.claude/templates/`	Project CLAUDE.md template for `/init-project`
`~/.claude/hooks/`	Update notification hook (checks for new versions)
`~/.claude.json`	MCP server configurations

Next Steps

Disable Auto-Compact - Critical first step
Set up your first project - Run /init-project in a project
Learn the daily workflow - Your first coding session

Managing Your Installation Later

Task	Command
Add more modules	`./install.sh --add` or `/claude-code-setup` in Claude
Update everything	`./install.sh --update`
Remove modules	`./install.sh --remove`
See what’s installed	`./install.sh --list`

See Module Management for details.

Installation Disable Auto-Compact