Claude Code
A terminal coding agent with CLAUDE.md, skills, agents, hooks, MCP, and versioned plugins
- claude-code
- harness
- setup
Claude Code is Anthropic's terminal coding agent. Its base layer is CLAUDE.md, a file for persistent project context and rules. Skills, subagents, hooks, MCP, and plugins sit on top of it. A setup is therefore a coordinated set of rules, workflows, roles, and integrations, not merely a collection of prompt files.
Native surface
| Area | What Claude Code reads | ai-stp projection |
|---|---|---|
| User | ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md, rules/, skills/, agents/, commands/, settings.json | Shared instruction, skill, agent, command, hook, and setting |
| Project | CLAUDE.md, .claude/CLAUDE.md, .claude/rules/, .claude/skills/, .claude/agents/, .claude/commands/, .claude/settings.json, .mcp.json | Project-scoped components |
| Plugin | .claude-plugin/plugin.json at plugin root; skills/, agents/, hooks/, .mcp.json, settings.json beside it | Versioned packaging surface |
Do not confuse .claude-plugin/ with the plugin contents: that directory contains the manifest, while component directories live at the package root. A CLAUDE.md inside a plugin does not become project context; shipped context belongs in a skill.
How the setup is assembled
ai-stpdiscovers declared native surfaces and excludes cache, sessions, and auth state.- Each object receives a passport with its kind, version, source, and trust line.
- The assembler checks the graph: MCP remains MCP, rather than becoming arbitrary text inside
CLAUDE.md. - The public
claude-setup-systemreceives the exact plan and writes the target harness. The website only stores and displays the result.
This preserves the difference between always-loaded instruction, task-triggered skill, isolated-context agent, event hook, and external-service MCP.
When to choose Claude Code
Choose Claude Code when the workflow lives in the terminal and the team needs project rules, reusable skills, and versioned plugins together. For a local experiment, .claude/skills/ is enough; for distribution across repositories, use a manifest-backed plugin with an exact version.
Links
- Claude Code extensions overview
- CLAUDE.md and project memory
- Creating plugins
- Public NDDev OpenNetwork claude-setup-system
Trust boundary
Harness support does not mean that every third-party skill or plugin is safe. Review contents, exact version, permissions, and rollback before installation.
Observe → passport → compatibility check → exact plan → provider installation. That sequence matters more than a polished UI or a famous system name.