Getting Started

Six phases from install to ongoing development.

Install the Plugin

In any Claude Code session, run these two commands:

# Add the marketplace
/plugin marketplace add duniecdawid/ultra-claude-code

# Install the plugin
/plugin install uc@ultra-claude

This registers the marketplace and installs Ultra Claude as a plugin. All skills become available as /uc:* slash commands.

Auto-updates: Enable automatic updates so the plugin stays current: /plugin marketplace auto-update duniecdawid/ultra-claude-code

Initialize Your Project

Navigate to your target project and run the initialization skill:

/uc:init-project — scaffolds documentation/, spawns surveyors to explore your codebase, derives .claude/ config files from findings, drafts initial architecture docs, auto-generates coding standards from detected code patterns, and produces a comprehensive testing configuration in documentation/technology/testing/
Review and approve the derived configs, standards candidates, and docs it presents

Works for any project state. /uc:init-project handles greenfield projects, existing documentation migration, and mixed states — all in one skill. After init, run /uc:doc-code-verification-mode to verify and improve the generated docs.

Build Your Documentation Foundation

The init skill drafts architecture and requirements docs from your codebase. Review and refine them — these become the source of truth that governs code growth.

Why this matters: every planning skill (feature mode, debug mode, verification mode) reads these docs to make informed decisions. Feature mode, for example, reads your architecture and requirements to challenge scope, find conflicts, and classify impact. The more context it has, the better the plans it produces. If docs are missing, planning skills handle it — but they work best with a solid foundation.

What gets created:

documentation/technology/architecture/ — system design, components, data flow, technology stack
documentation/product/requirements/ — product requirements and acceptance criteria
Run /uc:docs-manager to audit your documentation structure, reorganize misplaced docs, and regenerate the index
Optionally run /uc:discovery-mode for deeper product research, user personas, and competitive analysis

Documentation governs code. Agents read these docs and validate against them. When code diverges from specs, you fix the spec first.

Plan Your First Feature

Run /uc:feature-mode add user authentication (replace with your feature). Feature mode acts as a senior tech lead — it challenges your scope, researches your codebase, and produces a structured plan before any code is written.

What happens when you run it:

Scope challenge — asks "why?", splits vague requests into concrete pieces, and refuses to plan until scope is sharp
Context gathering — spawns an Explore agent to investigate your codebase and docs in parallel, finding existing patterns and potential conflicts
Architecture assessment — classifies the feature as additive (fits existing patterns), compatible (extends them), or breaking (requires updating architecture docs first)
Structured plan — produces a plan with end-to-end testable tasks, file lists, success criteria, and dependencies in documentation/plans/

When to use feature mode:

Adding new functionality or a significant new capability
Changes that touch multiple files or components
Work where you're unsure about the right approach — feature mode will surface trade-offs and suggest an RFC for ambiguous architecture decisions

Not for small fixes. For bug fixes, use /uc:debug-mode instead. For library research, run /uc:tech-research. Feature mode is for work that benefits from upfront planning — scope challenge, research, and structured task breakdown.

Review and approve the plan, then execute it in Phase 4.

Execute

/uc:plan-execution {plan-name} runs the approved plan with dynamically composed agent teams — the plan name matches the directory created in documentation/plans/
Checkpoints save progress — sessions can resume after interruption

Ongoing Development

/uc:debug-mode — investigate and fix bugs with parallel hypothesis testing
/uc:doc-code-verification-mode — detect documentation drift and plan fixes
/uc:help — get guidance on which skill, agent, or workflow to use

Each skill links to detailed documentation in the Documentation tabs.