The first hour

At the end of this hour a card (Karte) is in Done: made from an idea, released by you, implemented on its own by the runner (Runner), reviewed by a second Claude model in a fresh session and looked through by you. The hour counts from a computer with macOS, Linux or WSL2 ready to use. On Windows you first set up WSL2 following Windows via WSL2; including the restart this takes about 30 minutes.

Prerequisites

• macOS, Linux or Windows with WSL2
• git, Node.js version 18 or later and curl
• Claude Code
• a Claude account you log in with
• your git identity

The local board needs no further account.

The steps

1. Check the tools

Time: about 5 minutes.

git --version
node --version
claude --version

Done when every command prints a version number, node at least v18.

Otherwise: If Node.js is missing or older, install it via nvm with nvm install --lts. If Claude Code is missing, install it with npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code. git comes from your system's package manager.

2. Log in to Claude

Time: about 3 minutes.

Run claude, log in and end the session again. Then:

claude -p "Reply only with OK"

Done when the output is OK; this is also how the runner starts its sessions.

Otherwise: Run claude once more and complete the login.

3. Set your git identity

Time: about 1 minute.

git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "you@example.org"

Done when git config user.email prints your address.

Otherwise: If the command prints nothing, repeat the second line.

4. Create the project

Time: about 1 minute.

mkdir ~/first-hour && cd ~/first-hour && git init -b main

Done when git status names the branch main.

Otherwise: If git does not know the option -b, it is older than 2.28. Update git and run git init -b main in the folder.

5. Install the kit

Time: about 3 minutes.

curl -O https://docs.mwolff.org/install.mjs
node install.mjs

The installer asks one question after another; for the first hour you answer like this:

Question	Answer
Language	en
Skills globally or for this project only	project
Code host	local
Issue tracker	local
all others, including the commit gate	Enter

What each question means is described under Installation. At the end the installer reports WARNING: There are uncommitted files in the workspace; step 8 cleans that up.

Done when ls .claude/kit shows board.mjs among others.

Otherwise: Check the network connection and repeat the step.

6. Check the board

Time: about 1 minute.

The answer local for the issue tracker creates the local board with five columns (Spalten) from Backlog to Done; you create neither columns nor labels. Each card is a file under issues/.

node .claude/kit/board.mjs issue list

Done when the output is [], an empty board.

Otherwise: If .claude/workflow.config.json does not contain "issueTracker": "local", repeat step 5 and answer local for the issue tracker.

7. Enter the check command

Time: about 2 minutes.

The runner implements a card only if it can check it afterwards. In .claude/workflow.config.json replace the line "buildChecks": [], with:

"buildChecks": ["node --test"],

Then:

node .claude/kit/checks.mjs run --stage push

Done when the output contains the line ran: node --test → gruen.

Otherwise: If the command reports an error in the config, compare the line character by character with the one above. Without this entry the runner would stop in step 12 with Error: buildChecks in workflow.config.json has no check.

8. Clean the workspace

Time: about 1 minute.

git add -A
git commit -m "Kit set up"
git status --short

Done when git status --short prints nothing.

Otherwise: If git rejects the commit because name or email are missing, repeat step 3 and then this step.

9. Create the idea

Time: about 1 minute.

node .claude/kit/board.mjs issue create --kind idea --author-model human --title "Greeting as a function" --body 'A file gruss.mjs with export function begruesse(name) that returns Hallo, <name>!, plus a test with node:test under test/.'

Done when the output names an id, a four-digit number; it stands for <id> in the following commands.

Otherwise: If the command reports No author model given, --author-model human is missing, the note that a human wrote the idea.

10. Talk the idea through

Time: about 10 minutes.

Start claude in the project and run in the session:

/triage <id>

/triage clarifies open points with you and proposes lane (Bahn) 3, a single work package (Arbeitspaket). Confirm; /task creates the package after your confirmation. End the session.

Done when node .claude/kit/board.mjs issue list shows a card with [Task] in the title and "status": "backlog". From here on <id> stands for its number.

Otherwise: If /triage proposes another lane, answer that there is nothing to weigh up and choose lane 3. If the card is still missing, run /task <id> with the number of the idea.

11. Release the card

Time: about 1 minute.

node .claude/kit/board.mjs issue move <id> ready
node .claude/kit/board.mjs issue label add <id> kit:nightrun

Moving to Ready is your GO; the label tells the runner that it may take the card.

Done when issue list shows the card with "status": "ready" and the label kit:nightrun.

Otherwise: If the card does not exist, you took the number of the idea; take that of the [Task] card.

12. Start the runner

Time: about 15 minutes, most of it waiting.

git status --short
node .claude/kit/night.mjs --dry-run
node .claude/kit/night.mjs

git status --short is empty or shows only issues/; cards do not count as a change for the runner. If the dry run reports -> session 1, start the runner: it implements the card in a fresh session, checks with node --test and commits locally.

Done when issue list shows the card with "status": "in_review" and git log --oneline has a new commit on top.

Otherwise:

• Working tree is not clean: commit as in step 8 and start again.
• buildChecks in workflow.config.json has no check: back to step 7.
• skipped (no label 'kit:nightrun'): second command from step 11.

13. Have the result reviewed

Time: about 5 minutes.

Start a fresh session with claude and write in one message:

/kit-review card <id>

A second Claude model reads the change without knowing the implementation and writes its findings to the card. In a team, a reviewer from another model family takes this place.

Done when node .claude/kit/board.mjs issue get <id> shows a comment with ## Code review (step 6).

Otherwise: If the findings are only in the chat, name the card number once more in the same session.

14. Look through and move to Done

Time: about 5 minutes.

git show --stat HEAD
node --test
node .claude/kit/board.mjs issue move <id> done

Read the findings and look at the commit. Moving to Done is your acceptance.

Done when git show --stat HEAD names gruss.mjs and a file under test/, node --test ends with fail 0 and issue list shows the card with "status": "done".

Otherwise: Do not move to Done. Write the defect to the card with issue comment <id> --text "…", move it to ready and start step 12 again.

What comes next

• Switch to GitHub or GitLab: Issue tracker and code host.
• Publish with push main and merge production: Push and Merge.
• Reviewer from another model family, team settings: Team config, Settings.
• Bind every commit to a green check run: The commit gate.
• The kit in your own project: Installation, without a remote Working locally.
• Undertakings with something to weigh up on lane 2: Three lanes.
• The runner with chain, several cards and without supervision: The chain.
• The runner on Windows: Windows via WSL2.
• All seventeen skills: The skills.