First-party. This plugin is built and maintained by ShipWithAI. Unlike the reviewed third-party tools in this toolkit, it is our own product — judge it accordingly.
Problem it solves
Every developer on a team configures Claude Code slightly differently. One has strict permissions, one has none. One wired an MCP server, the others did not. One keeps memory files, the rest re-explain the project every session. Code review then means arguing about which harness was right rather than about the code.
Starter replaces that with one interview. Everyone answers the same questions and gets the same seven pillars configured the same way.
How to install
/plugin marketplace add ShipWithAI/shipwithai-plugins/plugin install shipwithai-starter@shipwithaiHow to use
/shipwithai-starter:init # start here — interview + full configuration/shipwithai-starter:new-project # greenfield: empty directory to scaffold + harness/shipwithai-starter:review # audit harness health, detect drift/shipwithai-starter:update-ssot # re-sync CLAUDE.md and architecture docs with the codeThe seven pillars, and which tier each belongs to:
| Pillar | Files | Tier |
|---|---|---|
| Memory | CLAUDE.md, .claude/memory/ lifecycle | Essential |
| Permissions | .claude/settings.json | Essential |
| Hooks | .claude/settings.json hooks | Standard |
| MCP | .mcp.json | Standard |
| Agents | .claude/agents/ | Full |
| SSOT | docs/architecture.md, docs/adr/ | Full |
| Observability | .claude/hooks/observe.py, .claude/logs/ | Full |
Individual pillars have their own skills, so you can configure one at a time instead of running
the whole interview — setup-memory, setup-permissions, setup-hooks, setup-mcp,
setup-agents, setup-ssot, setup-observability.
Pro tips
- Start at the essential tier and let the harness earn its next tier. A full-tier harness on a project nobody has shipped yet is configuration theatre.
- Run
/shipwithai-starter:reviewmonthly. Drift between docs and code is the failure mode that quietly wastes the most tokens. - Turn on observability early if you intend to use
optimize-harnesslater — it can only analyze logs that already exist.
When NOT to use
Skip it for solo throwaway projects, where ShipWithAI Harness gets you there in one command. Skip the full tier entirely until the project has a real architecture worth documenting.