Getting Started

Complete guide to setting up and using ClaudeKit starter kits for your Claude Code projects

Method 1: Manual Setup

  1. Copy all directories and files of claudekit-engineer repo to your project:
    • .claude/*
    • docs/*
    • plans/*
    • CLAUDE.md
    • .mcp.json
  2. Go to Google AI Studio and grab the API Key, then open .mcp.json to paste into “human-mcp” environment variable.
    • Recommend: install “Human MCP” with user scope to be able to use it in every projects without re-installing: claude mcp add-json human -s user '{"command": "npx", "args": ["@goonnguyen/human-mcp@latest", "-e", "GOOGLE_GEMINI_API_KEY"], "env": { "GOOGLE_GEMINI_API_KEY": "..." }}'
  3. Start Claude Code in your working project: claude (or claude --dangerously-skip-permissions)
  4. Run command: /docs:init to trigger CC scan and create specs for the whole project.You will see some markdown files generated in docs directory, such as “codebase-summary.md”, “code-standards.md”, “system-architecture.md”,...)
  5. Now your project is ready to start development, explore these commands:
    • /cook : develop new feature
    • /fix:fast : fix minor bugs (fast mode)
    • /fix:hard : fix hard bugs
    • /plan : let CC scan, analyze and plan for implementing something
    • /bootstrap : CC will help you bootstrap any new project step by step
    • /brainstorm : brainstorm with CC about anything with project-aware context
    • /ask : just ask any questions
    • ...

Method 2: ClaudeKit CLI

Installation

npm install -g claudekit-cli

bun add -g claudekit-cli
ck --version

Create a new project

# Interactive mode
ck new

# With options
ck new --dir my-project --kit engineer

# Specific version
ck new --kit engineer --version v1.0.0

Update Existing Project

# Interactive mode
ck update

# With options
ck update --kit engineer

# Specific version
ck update --kit engineer --version v1.0.0

Authentication

The CLI requires a GitHub Personal Access Token (PAT) to download releases from private repositories. The authentication flow follows a multi-tier fallback:

  1. GitHub CLI: Uses gh auth token if GitHub CLI is installed and authenticated
  2. Environment Variables: Checks GITHUB_TOKEN or GH_TOKEN
  3. OS Keychain: Retrieves stored token from system keychain
  4. User Prompt: Prompts for token input and offers to save it securely

Creating a Personal Access Token

  1. Go to GitHub Settings → Developer settings → Personal access tokens → Tokens (classic)
  2. Generate new token with repo scope (for private repositories)
  3. Copy the token

Setting Token via Environment Variable

export GITHUB_TOKEN=ghp_your_token_here