kitstarter

The tutor layer inside Claude Code.

Most people hit a blank terminal, don't know what to ask for, and never touch the powerful stuff (plan mode, thinking, subagents, checkpoints). kitstarter is a stateful engine that installs alongside your agent and fixes that: it always tells you where you are and what's next, it forces ambiguity out of a build before any code gets written, and it teaches you the Claude Code power move at the exact moment you need it, once, ever. It works in Claude Code, Codex, and Antigravity, and any tool that reads AGENTS.md; the engine itself (the hooks that make it stateful) is Claude Code's superpower.

The three engines

1. Navigator - never a blank terminal. The install interview (.kitstarter/seed.json) feeds /start, which plans your project and writes .kitstarter/journey.json. Every session after that opens with a HUD: project, progress bar, step N of M, what you finished last time, what's next. /step keeps it current.
2. Clarity engine - ask ask ask, enforced. A vague build prompt arms a lock: the agent can't touch your files until you've confirmed the goal through multiple-choice questions. Say "just do it" any time to skip. Tune it: kitstarter clarity strict|relaxed|off.
3. Tutor - moment-triggered lessons on the tool itself, not general coding craft. Big request, stuck on a bug, describing a visual problem in words: the tutor recognizes the moment and teaches the matching Claude Code power move, 4-6 lines, once, ever. Toggle: kitstarter tutor on|off.

All three run on a small state layer (~/.kitstarter for what you and your profile know, .kitstarter/ in each project for the roadmap and decisions) that fails open: missing or corrupt state never breaks a session, the kit just behaves like plain AGENTS.md rules.

What else is in the kit

Built on the same spine:

• 16 skills: /start, /tour, /step, /check, /fix, /review, /lean, /design-intake, /design-check, /polish, /ship, /secrets, /recover, /explain, /connect-mcp, /claude-tips.
• Anti-slop: bin/detect-slop.mjs, a real detector for AI-slop tells (flat gradients written as hex, fonts loaded wrong, em-dash saturation, and more), auto-scanned after edits. The Stop hook reacts by mode: kitstarter slop notify|strict|off (default notify: it names open tells at wrap-up, shipping them stays your call; strict blocks the agent from finishing once, it never loops).
• The statusline cockpit: Claude Code's own bottom line becomes the navigator - project, progress bar, step N of M, an "asking first" light while the clarity round runs. On screen every session, no second terminal needed. (kitstarter statusline on|off; your own status line, if you have one, is never replaced.)
• Session receipts: a short card at session end with what the engine earned you - lessons taught, blind builds caught, steps shipped. Re-read any time: kitstarter recap.
• The ship celebration: /ship verifies your live URL, then marks the moment with the mascot and your URL in a box, plus an honest tally. Run kitstarter celebrate --url <url> yourself in a terminal for the full animated version (fireworks included).
• kitstarter watch: the second-pane theater - a live terminal HUD with the roadmap, clarity/tutor status lights, and the agent's activity feed, animated.
• kitstarter powers: the 20-power Claude Code map, what you've been taught vs. not yet.
• Voices: opt-in output styles teaching and buddy that swap the tone (default stays direct). Switch via /config -> Output style.
• A safety-guard hook before destructive commands, and a session greeting on start.

Install

npx kitstarter-cli            # install into this project (the whole engine, one tier)
npx kitstarter-cli --global   # into ~/.claude for every project

Interactive terminals get the animated install, then a 60-second interview whose answers seed /start so the agent never re-asks the basics. Then run /tour.

Use it

• Run /tour first, it sets you up by asking.
• New project or feature: /start.
• Check where things stand any time: kitstarter status.
• Clean uninstall: kitstarter remove (keeps your AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, and .kitstarter/ roadmap; those are yours).

© kitstarter. Commercial kit, see LICENSE.