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.mdand@importsystem 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.
What's next
- CLI Reference — all commands and flags
- Publishing Guide — share your own packages
- Spec Reference — the
planmode.yamlschema - Browse Packages — explore the registry