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Arness

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

Section titled “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

Section titled “Install the Marketplace”

This is a one-time setup:

/plugin marketplace add AppsVortex/arness

Pick Your Path

Section titled “Pick Your Path”

Starting a brand-new product?

Section titled “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?

Section titled “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?

Section titled “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?

Section titled “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

Section titled “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

Section titled “The Seven Entry Points”

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

CommandWhat it doesPlugin
/arn-brainstormingNew product — discover, validate, prototype, extract featuresSpark
/arn-planningPlan a feature or fix from scratchCode
/arn-implementingPick up where you left offCode
/arn-shippingCommit, push, open a PRCode
/arn-reviewing-prHandle PR feedbackCode
/arn-assessingDeep-dive codebase reviewCode
/arn-infra-wizardInfrastructure end-to-endInfra

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

Section titled “Next Steps”