Quickstart

Use this when

You have Claude Code installed, you have a repo you want to try bassclef in, and you want a step-by-step walkthrough from zero to a pull request on your branch.

Skip this when

You already ran the three commands and want reference detail. Head to the individual skill pages under Skills, or read the install page for install-only detail.

Time and cost

• Time: about 15 minutes end to end.
• Prerequisites: Claude Code installed, a git repo, an idea for a UI change worth ~1 hour of implementation work.
• Cost: bassclef itself is free and open-source. Claude API calls run on your own budget.

Step 1 — Install bassclef

Follow the install page. One npm command plus bassclef init inside your repo. Two minutes.

Verify the install worked:

bassclef check

Expected: a table showing the substrate version, the wired skills, and the wired hooks. If anything looks wrong, the failure-mode playbook has the recovery steps for each class.

Step 2 — Sketch a UI with /riff

In Claude Code inside your repo, type:

/riff a modal that lets a user schedule a Slack DM to themselves in
30 days as a reminder to review a decision they made today

Replace the paragraph after /riff with what you actually want to sketch. Any UI idea works — a modal, a settings screen, a dashboard tile, a form field.

Claude comes back with three clickable HTML mocks on a local /prototypes/<slug>/ URL. Each mock is drafted through a different design lens. You click through them in your browser and pick the direction that feels right.

Expected time: 3-5 minutes for /riff to run.

Step 3 — Turn one sketch into a plan with /launch

Once you have picked a variant, type:

/launch --variant b

/launch reads the variant you picked and produces:

• A spec at docs/specs/YYYY-MM-DD-<slug>.md
• INVEST-shaped user stories
• A GRASP decomposition (which classes take which responsibilities)
• A migration plan (branch shape, feature flag, cutover checklist)

You review the spec. If it looks right, move on. If it does not, edit the spec — bassclef reads it as authoritative for step 4.

Expected time: 5-7 minutes for /launch to run + your review time.

Step 4 — Ship the plan with /build

Type:

/build

/build dispatches the Builder role per user story. For each one, it writes code, runs /verify, commits, and moves on. When all stories are done, /build dispatches Reviewer against the spec. If Reviewer signs off, /build opens a pull request on your branch.

You review the pull request the same way you would review a teammate's. You merge when you are ready.

Expected time: varies — depends on story count and complexity. A small feature might take 20 minutes. A medium one, an hour.

What you shipped

By the end of the four steps, you have:

• A pull request open on your repo with real code
• A spec that documents what the code does and why
• INVEST stories that trace to the spec
• A Reviewer-signed-off record in the pull request body
• A migration plan for anyone deploying this

Your reviewer can compare the code against the spec you agreed on before implementation started. No handoff surprise. No demo that does not compile.

What to try next

• Read the tightest-3 deep dive for the design thinking behind the three commands
• Browse the Skills catalog to see what else bassclef ships beyond the core three
• Bookmark the failure-mode playbook for when something breaks at 2am