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title Getting Started
description Install Arness and run your first workflow in under 5 minutes
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Getting Started

Arness installs through the Claude Code plugin marketplace. Pick the plugin that matches your starting point — you can always add more later.

Prerequisites

  • Claude Code (CLI, Desktop, or Web)
  • Git initialized in your project (or an empty directory for greenfield)
  • Optional: GitHub CLI (gh) or Bitbucket CLI (bkt) for PR and issue workflows
  • Optional: Atlassian MCP for Jira integration

Install the Marketplace

This is a one-time setup:

/plugin marketplace add AppsVortex/arness

Pick Your Path

Starting a brand-new product?

Install Arness Spark and let it guide you from raw idea to validated prototype:

/plugin install arn-spark@arn-marketplace
/arn-brainstorming

Spark walks you through product discovery, concept validation, architecture decisions, prototyping, and feature extraction — with decision gates at every step. It auto-configures on first run. When you're ready to build, it hands off a prioritized feature backlog to the development pipeline.

Learn more about Arness Spark

Have an existing codebase?

Install Arness Code to get the development pipeline:

/plugin install arn-code@arn-marketplace
/arn-planning

On first run, Arness analyzes your codebase, learns your patterns and conventions, and auto-configures everything it needs. Then /arn-planning takes your feature idea through spec, plan, build, review, and ship.

Learn more about Arness Code

Need to deploy?

Install Arness Infra for the infrastructure lifecycle:

/plugin install arn-infra@arn-marketplace
/arn-infra-wizard

The wizard audits your toolchain, walks you through containerization, IaC generation, environment configuration, and deployment — auto-configuring and adapting to your experience level.

Learn more about Arness Infra

Want the full lifecycle?

Install all three:

/plugin install arn-spark@arn-marketplace
/plugin install arn-code@arn-marketplace
/plugin install arn-infra@arn-marketplace

Each plugin works independently, but together they connect: Spark's feature backlog feeds Code's planning pipeline, and Code's shipped artifacts feed Infra's deployment workflow.

What Happens on First Run

The first time you invoke any Arness skill, it automatically:

  1. Creates your profile — asks about your role, experience, and preferred tech stack (once — reused across all sessions and projects)
  2. Analyzes your project — detects Git, platform (GitHub/Bitbucket), issue tracker, existing patterns and conventions. On existing codebases, Arness retroactively learns your code patterns, application architecture, and infrastructure tools.
  3. Sets up .arness/ — creates the artifact directory where specs, plans, reports, and other artifacts live. Your source tree stays clean.
  4. Writes configuration — adds an ## Arness section to your project's CLAUDE.md with directory paths and preferences

Everything is plain text. You can read, edit, or delete any of it.

Optional init skills: For more control over setup, you can run /arn-spark-init, /arn-code-init, or /arn-infra-init explicitly — but it's not required. Running init later also updates Arness to the latest version.

Works on any project. Arness adapts to both brand-new projects and existing codebases. There's no migration, no setup ceremony — just install and go.

The Seven Entry Points

Once installed, these are the only commands you need to remember:

Command What it does Plugin
/arn-brainstorming New product — discover, validate, prototype, extract features Spark
/arn-planning Plan a feature or fix from scratch Code
/arn-implementing Pick up where you left off Code
/arn-shipping Commit, push, open a PR Code
/arn-reviewing-pr Handle PR feedback Code
/arn-assessing Deep-dive codebase review Code
/arn-infra-wizard Infrastructure end-to-end Infra

Each entry point detects your project state and guides you through the relevant workflow steps. You don't need to know the 134 skills and agents behind them — the entry points orchestrate everything.

Lost? Each plugin has a help skill — /arn-spark-help, /arn-code-help, /arn-infra-help — that shows your current pipeline position and suggests what to do next. Help skills are cross-plugin aware: they detect activity in the other plugins and provide hints, so any help command can orient you across the full lifecycle.

Next Steps