Quick Start

Be productive with claude-base in less than 5 minutes.

Prerequisites

• Claude Code installed and configured
• An existing project or a new directory

Installation

Option 1: One-liner install (recommended)

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/christopherlouet/claude-base/main/install.sh | bash

This installer :

• Clones the foundation to ~/.local/share/claude-base/
• Symlinks the claude-base dispatcher to ~/.local/bin/
• Never modifies your shell rc files, never runs as root, only requires git

After install, use claude-base init to set up a project :

claude-base init --simple /path/to/your-project

Option 2: Manual installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/christopherlouet/claude-base.git temp-base

# Copy the .claude folder
cp -r temp-base/.claude .

# Clean up
rm -rf temp-base

Option 3: Stack-specific install with --preset

# Pick a preset that matches your stack — 11 available
claude-base init --preset nextjs        ./my-web-app
claude-base init --preset react-vite-spa ./my-spa
claude-base init --preset fastapi       ./my-api
claude-base init --preset phaser        ./my-2d-game
claude-base preset list                 # discover all available presets

Each preset filters the foundation to the relevant skills, ships a curated recommendedVendorSkills list printed at install end, and (for several) self-describes a detect block so running claude-base init <existing-project> auto-recognises the stack.

Option 4: Interactive on an empty directory (don't know which preset?)

If you run claude-base init ./my-project on an empty directory without a preset flag, an interactive category prompt fires :

What are you building?
  1) Web frontend
  2) API / Backend
  3) Mobile / Desktop
  4) Game / Interactive media
  5) Data / Database
  6) Infra / DevOps
  7) CLI / Automation
  8) Other / Generic     ← default

The chosen category filters the subsequent menu to relevant presets + types. Default "Other / Generic" → full unfiltered menu (regression-safe). Skipped on non-TTY, --skip-prompts, --yes, --preset, --type, or when auto-detection produced a match. See specs/preset-category-prompt/spec.md for the full design.

Verification

Launch Claude Code in your project:

claude

At startup you should see:

=== Claude Code Session ===
Version: <!-- version -->5.1.0<!-- /version -->
Commandes: 128
Agents: 61
===========================

First workflow

Main workflow: Explore → Specify → Plan → TDD → Audit → Commit

1

Explore

/work:work-explore

Understand the code

→

2

Specify

/work:work-specify

Specify the requirement

→

3

Plan

/work:work-plan

Plan the changes

→

4

TDD

/dev:dev-tdd

Tests first (mandatory)

→

5

Audit

/qa:qa-loop

Quality audit score 90

→

6

Commit

/work:work-commit

Validate

Step 1: Explore

Before any modification, understand the existing code:

/work:work-explore

Claude will analyze:

• The project structure
• The patterns and conventions
• The dependencies
• The points of attention

Step 2: Specify

Define the user stories and acceptance criteria before designing:

/work:work-specify "Add an authentication feature"

Claude will produce:

• Prioritized user stories (P1 = MVP, P2, P3)
• Acceptance criteria (Given/When/Then)
• Functional requirements and edge cases
• Out-of-scope explicitly listed

Step 3: Plan

Once the spec is validated, plan the implementation:

/work:work-plan

Claude will propose:

• The recommended architecture
• The files to create/modify
• The identified risks
• The tests to write

Step 4: TDD

Implement following the plan, tests first:

/dev:dev-tdd "Implement the authentication service"

Red → Green → Refactor cycle, 80%+ coverage on new code.

Step 5: Audit

Run the adaptive audit + fix loop until target score:

/qa:qa-loop "score 90"

Covers security, performance, accessibility — fixes are applied automatically until the target score is reached.

Step 6: Commit

Create a clean commit:

/work:work-commit

Or a complete Pull Request:

/work:work-pr

Essential commands

Command	Usage
/assistant	Entry point - guides you to the right commands (guide mode)
/assistant-auto	Automatic execution of the suitable workflow (auto mode)
/work:work-explore	Explore and understand the code
/work:work-specify	Specify user stories and acceptance criteria
/work:work-plan	Plan a modification
/dev:dev-tdd	Develop in TDD
/qa:qa-loop	Adaptive audit + fix loop until target score
/work:work-commit	Create a clean commit
/work:work-pr	Create a Pull Request

Predefined workflows

For common tasks, use the complete workflows:

# New feature
/work:work-flow-feature "Feature description"

# Bug fix
/work:work-flow-bugfix "Bug description"

# New release
/work:work-flow-release "v2.0.0"

# Product launch
/work:work-flow-launch "My new SaaS"

Getting help

# Complete commands guide (guide mode with confirmation)
/assistant

# Help on a specific command
/assistant "How to use /dev:dev-tdd?"

# Automatic execution without confirmation (advanced users)
/assistant-auto "Add an authentication feature"

Next steps

• Understand the architecture - Difference between Commands, Agents and Skills
• See the workflows - Detailed workflows by task type
• Explore the commands - Complete catalog of the 106 commands