claude-gdlc-wizard
June 12, 2026 · View on GitHub
GDLC enforcement for Claude Code. The sibling of claude-sdlc-wizard, for games instead of code.
SDLC governs whether code is correct. GDLC governs whether a game is fun, fair, readable, and persona-aligned. Most games are correctness-underdetermined — passing every unit test doesn't make them good.
This wizard installs the GDLC skill suite into any Claude Code project: persona-driven playtest cycles, triangulated findings, and a ratchet that only tightens.
Status
Shipped (v0.2.1, 2026-04-25). Phase 1 CERTIFIED; framework playbook consolidated into this repo (Path A); skills migrated to local-repo paths (no sibling clone required). Originally extracted from BaseInfinity/gdlc on 2026-04-23 (now deprecated, see DEPRECATED.md). Case studies to date:
- #1 codeguesser — 17 playtests, 355+ regression tests, 26 earned rules (complete)
- #2 pdlc/TamAGI — consuming now
- #3, #4, #5 — queued (another game project, Canvas-based project, terminal clone)
What You Get
4 skills, installed into your Claude Code project:
| Skill | Invoke | What it does |
|---|---|---|
/gdlc | during a feature cycle | Picks the right playtest cycle type (gameplay-matrix / art-craft-review / pipeline-contract-audit), runs persona agents, triangulates findings, promotes P0s to TDD RED |
/gdlc-setup | first install | Auto-scans your project, detects surfaces (gameplay / art / pipeline), scaffolds a case-study GDLC.md, installs the skill suite. Asks only what scanning can't reveal. |
/gdlc-update | periodically | Reads CHANGELOG, shows rule diffs, runs drift detection on managed files, applies updates selectively while preserving your GDLC.md |
/gdlc-feedback | when you hit a gap | Files structured issues upstream to BaseInfinity/claude-gdlc-wizard — earned-rule candidates, playbook gaps, wizard bugs, methodology questions. Stock GitHub labels. |
Install
Pick whichever fits your environment. All four paths land the same surface: 4 skills + 2 hooks + helper + settings.json + wizard doc. No sibling-repo clone required — the wizard is fully self-contained as of v0.2.1.
Path 1 — npx (recommended)
From your game project root:
npx -y claude-gdlc-wizard init
That installs everything under .claude/ and writes CLAUDE_CODE_GDLC_WIZARD.md to project root. Re-run any time — idempotent. --force overwrites; --dry-run previews.
Path 2 — curl | bash
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/BaseInfinity/claude-gdlc-wizard/main/install.sh | bash
Wraps the npx flow with Node ≥ 18 preflight + download guard.
Path 3 — Claude Code plugin
Use the Claude Code plugin marketplace mechanism (see Anthropic docs) to install the plugin defined at .claude-plugin/plugin.json. Hooks resolve through ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT} automatically.
Path 4 — manual clone
git clone https://github.com/BaseInfinity/claude-gdlc-wizard ~/tmp/claude-gdlc-wizard
node ~/tmp/claude-gdlc-wizard/cli/bin/gdlc-wizard.js init
rm -rf ~/tmp/claude-gdlc-wizard
After install — every path
In Claude Code, run /gdlc-setup. It auto-scans your project, asks the minimum, and scaffolds your GDLC.md. Verify with npx claude-gdlc-wizard check — expect every installed item (settings.json + 3 hook files + 4 skills + wizard doc + .gitignore additions = ~10 rows) to report MATCH.
How It Works
GDLC runs one or more of three cycle types per release, never combined:
| Cycle | Target | Personas | Rubric | Ship Gate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gameplay-matrix | Live game build | 5 gameplay personas (Tourist / Casual / Senior / Purist / Speedrunner — adapt per domain) | Fun / Fair / Readable / Persona-respect / Return | All personas ≥ threshold |
| Art-craft-review | Demo sink (demo.html) | 4 craft personas (Retro Gamer / Designer / Artist / Art Director) | Cohesion / Era / Hierarchy / Craft / Ship | Unanimous Ship |
| Pipeline-contract-audit | Contract harness | Dimension-specific (seed-literate, content-stopword, etc.) | TDD RED before any fix | All RED tests earn GREEN |
Features touching multiple surfaces run cycles sequentially — pipeline first (lock determinism), then gameplay (runtime behavior), then art (visual craft). Never combine rosters across cycles.
Relationship to claude-sdlc-wizard
You should install both. SDLC runs in parallel with GDLC on every feature:
- SDLC — does the code work? Is it tested? (TDD, self-review, CI shepherd)
- GDLC — is the game good? Is it fair? (playtests, triangulation, ratchet)
SDLC without GDLC = clean code that produces boring games. GDLC without SDLC = fun games built with sloppy code.
Contributing
File feedback using /gdlc-feedback from a Claude Code session. It creates a structured GitHub issue on BaseInfinity/claude-gdlc-wizard with stock labels (bug / enhancement / question) and a [<type>] title prefix.
XDLC Ecosystem
| Wizard | Domain | npm | Repo |
|---|---|---|---|
| SDLC | Software engineering | agentic-sdlc-wizard | claude-sdlc-wizard |
| GDLC (this repo) | Game development | claude-gdlc-wizard | claude-gdlc-wizard |
| RDLC | Research | claude-rdlc-wizard | claude-rdlc-wizard |
| Codex SDLC | Codex CLI | codex-sdlc-wizard | codex-sdlc-wizard |
| OpenCode SDLC | OpenCode | opencode-sdlc-wizard | opencode-sdlc-wizard |
License
MIT.
AI Setup Lanes
Three recommended setups in AI_SETUP_LANES.md:
| Lane | Planner | Driver | Reviewer | When |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A — GDLC Premium | Opus 4.6 max | Opus 4.6 max | GPT-5.5 xhigh | Persona design, playtests, gameplay matrix, architecture |
| B — GDLC Saver | Opus 4.6 max | Sonnet (latest) | GPT-5.5 xhigh | Routine impl, test maintenance, docs |
| C — GDLC Lite | You | Haiku 4.5 | None | Build scripts, asset pipeline, config, grunt work |