setup

Setup - Initialize or Upgrade Claude Harness

Initialize or upgrade claude-harness in the current project directory.

Auto-Detection

This command automatically detects what needs to be done:

• Fresh install: Creates v3.0 structure from scratch
• v2.x upgrade: Migrates existing files to v3.0 memory architecture
• Cleanup: Removes legacy command copies from .claude/commands/ (commands are now served from plugin cache)

Note: Commands and hooks are served from the plugin cache. setup.sh only initializes project-level state (memory directories, CLAUDE.md, .gitignore, migrations).

Phase 0: Run setup.sh (Handles ALL Cases)

setup.sh handles fresh installs, v2.x migrations, and cleanup in a single script. Always run it.

Steps:

1. Find the plugin root path from the session context (look for "Plugin Root:" in the session start context)
2. Run: bash {plugin-root}/setup.sh
   • Fresh install: Creates v3.0 structure, .gitignore patterns, CLAUDE.md
   • v2.x migration: Detects legacy files, migrates to v3.0 structure, then creates missing files
   • Cleanup: Removes stale command copies from .claude/commands/ and legacy hooks
   • Existing project files are NEVER overwritten (skipped automatically)
   • .gitignore patterns are added if missing
3. Report what was created vs what was skipped
4. Skip Phase 3 -- setup.sh handles it

Fallback: If the plugin root path is not available in the session context, fall through to Phase 1 -> Phase 4 (manual setup).

Plugin updates: Run claude plugin update claude-harness to update the plugin itself.

Phase 3: Update Project .gitignore (FALLBACK -- only if setup.sh unavailable)

CRITICAL: You MUST update the project's .gitignore to exclude harness ephemeral files. This prevents uncommitted file clutter after /checkpoint.

Execute these steps:

1. Read the current .gitignore file (create if missing)

2. Check if .claude-harness/sessions/ pattern exists in the file

3. If the pattern is NOT present, append these lines to .gitignore:

   # Claude Harness - Ephemeral/Per-Session State
   .claude-harness/sessions/
   .claude-harness/memory/compaction-backups/
   
   # Claude Code - Local settings
   .claude/settings.local.json
   

4. Use the Edit tool to append these patterns to .gitignore

5. Report: "Updated .gitignore with harness ephemeral patterns"

DO NOT SKIP THIS PHASE - it is required for proper harness operation.

File Schemas

Canonical schemas are defined in the plugin's schemas/ directory (JSON Schema format). Key state files:

File	Schema	Created By
sessions/{id}/context.json	schemas/context.schema.json (v3)	Phase 1 context compilation
sessions/{id}/loop-state.json	schemas/loop-state.schema.json (v8)	Phase 4 implementation
sessions/{id}/autonomous-state.json	schemas/autonomous-state.schema.json (v3)	--autonomous mode
features/active.json	schemas/active-features.schema.json (v3)	Phase 2 feature creation
memory/procedural/failures.json	schemas/memory-entries.schema.json (v3)	Verification failures
memory/procedural/successes.json	schemas/memory-entries.schema.json (v3)	Verification passes

All other memory files (episodic, semantic, learned) use v3 schemas as created by setup.sh.

After Setup

Report:

• What was done (fresh install / migration / version update)
• Files created or migrated
• Current plugin version
• Next steps:
  1. Run /claude-harness:start to compile context and sync GitHub
  2. For new projects: Run /claude-harness:prd-breakdown @./prd.md to analyze PRD and extract features
  3. Use /claude-harness:flow "description" for end-to-end automated workflow (recommended)
  4. Use /claude-harness:flow --no-merge "description" for step-by-step control
  5. Use /claude-harness:flow --fix feature-XXX "bug" to create bug fixes