planmode

Getting Started

What is Planmode?

Planmode is the open source package manager for AI plans, rules, and prompts. It lets you discover, install, and share the instructions that drive AI-assisted development.

Think of it as npm for AI instructions. Developers share code through npm, pip, and cargo. But AI instructions — the plans, rules, and prompts that drive AI-assisted development — have had no equivalent. Until now.

Prerequisites

  • Node.js 20+ — Planmode is built on Node.js
  • Claude Code — Planmode uses Claude Code's CLAUDE.md and @import system as its runtime
  • Git — packages are fetched from Git repositories

Install the CLI

npm install -g planmode

Quick start

1. Search for a package

planmode search nextjs

This searches the registry for packages matching "nextjs" and shows results in a table.

2. Install a package

planmode install nextjs-tailwind-starter

This downloads the plan, places it in plans/nextjs-tailwind-starter.md, and adds an @import line to your CLAUDE.md. Dependencies (like rules) are installed automatically.

3. Use with Claude Code

That's it. Claude Code automatically picks up the installed plans and rules through its native @import and .claude/rules/ auto-discovery. Start a conversation and the AI will follow the installed instructions.

4. Run a templated prompt

planmode run rest-api-generator --resource users --framework express

Templated prompts accept variables. The rendered output goes to stdout, so you can pipe it into Claude Code: planmode run rest-api-generator --resource users | claude

Package types

Plans

Multi-step implementation guides. Active during a task, removed when done. Installed to plans/*.md and referenced via @import in CLAUDE.md.

Rules

Always-on constraints that shape every AI interaction. Installed to .claude/rules/*.md and auto-loaded by Claude Code.

Prompts

Standalone, single-use instructions with templating support. Rendered and output to stdout via planmode run.

Use with Claude Code (MCP)

Planmode includes an MCP server that lets Claude Code search, install, preview, and manage packages directly from your conversations — no terminal needed.

Prerequisites

  • Claude Code CLI — the claude command must be installed and working
  • Planmode — installed globally via npm install -g planmode

One-time setup

planmode mcp setup

This registers the planmode-mcp server with Claude Code over stdio. You only need to run this once.

Manual setup

If the automatic setup doesn't work, register manually:

claude mcp add --transport stdio planmode -- planmode-mcp

Verify it works

Start a new Claude Code session and ask:

"Search planmode for a Next.js starter plan"

Claude should call the planmode_search tool and return results from the registry.

What Claude can do

Once connected, Claude has access to 17 tools:

  • Search and discover — planmode_search, planmode_info
  • Preview before install — planmode_preview, planmode_read
  • Install and manage — planmode_install, planmode_uninstall, planmode_update, planmode_list
  • Create and publish — planmode_init, planmode_publish, planmode_validate, planmode_test
  • Run prompts — planmode_run
  • Health check — planmode_doctor
  • Generate plans — planmode_record_start, planmode_record_stop, planmode_snapshot

Installed packages are also exposed as MCP resources that Claude can browse automatically.

Example prompts

  • "Search planmode for a Next.js starter plan"
  • "Show me what the typescript-strict rule contains"
  • "Install the docker-compose-stack plan"
  • "Run a health check on my planmode packages"
  • "Create a new rule called my-coding-standards"
  • "Record my work and generate a plan from my commits"

Remove

planmode mcp remove

See the CLI Reference for full details.

What's next