Installation & Updates Guide

June 20, 2026 · View on GitHub

Initial Setup (New Device)

One-command installation from npm registry:

sudo npm install -g devforge-ai
devforge-ai install

Then restart Claude Code and you're ready to use /sdlc-plan, /sdlc-build, etc.

To update later:

sudo npm install -g devforge-ai@latest
devforge-ai install

Option B: Install from Source (For Development)

If you want to develop agents, skills, or commands locally:

Step 1: Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/saitarrun/devforge-ai.git
cd devforge-ai

Step 2: Install Node Dependencies

npm install

Step 3: Install the Plugin to Claude Code

npm run install-local

Alternative (using Make):

make install-local

Step 4: Verify Installation

make validate

Or manually check:

ls ~/.claude/agents/devforge-ai

Step 5: Restart Claude Code

Quit Claude Code completely and reopen it. The plugin commands will now be available:

  • /sdlc-plan — Phase 1: Plan (grill-me interview + scope.json + PRD + issues)
  • /sdlc-build — Phase 2: Build (ux-designer + fullstack-engineer slices + qa-engineer)
  • /sdlc-verify — Phase 3: Verify (security-engineer + performance-engineer)
  • /sdlc-ship — Phase 4: Ship (devops-engineer CI/CD + cloud infra)
  • /sdlc-operate — Phase 5: Operate (sre-engineer + data-engineer)

Updating After New Commits

If You Installed Globally (NPM)

When new commits are pushed to npm, simply:

sudo npm install -g devforge-ai@latest
devforge-ai install

Then restart Claude Code.

If You Installed from Source

When new commits are pushed to GitHub, update your local copy:

Step 1: Pull Latest Changes

cd ~/path/to/devforge-ai
git pull origin main

Step 2: Install Updated Dependencies (if any changed)

npm install

Step 3: Reinstall the Plugin

npm run install-local

Or:

make install-local

Step 4: Validate Updates

make validate

Step 5: Restart Claude Code

Quit and reopen Claude Code for changes to take effect.

Quick Update Script (Source Install Only)

For convenience, create an alias in your shell:

# Add to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc
alias update-devforge-ai='cd ~/path/to/devforge-ai && git pull origin main && npm install && npm run install-local && make validate'

Then simply run:

update-devforge-ai

What Gets Installed

The npm run install-local command:

  1. Copies the plugin to ~/.claude/agents/devforge-ai/ and ~/.claude/commands/devforge-ai/
  2. Registers the plugin with Claude Code
  3. Makes all /sdlc-* commands available
  4. Wires up agents and skills for execution

Uninstall

If You Installed Globally

sudo npm uninstall -g devforge-ai

This removes the global CLI and plugin files.

If You Installed from Source

cd ~/path/to/devforge-ai
npm run uninstall-local

Or:

make uninstall

This removes the plugin from ~/.claude/agents/ and ~/.claude/commands/ but keeps your local repository files.

Troubleshooting

Plugin not showing up after install

  1. Clear Claude Code cache:

    rm -rf ~/.claude/cache

  2. Verify installation:

    ls ~/.claude/agents/devforge-ai/

  3. Check validation:

    make validate

  4. Restart Claude Code completely (not just reload)

Commands not available

  • Check that make validate passes with no errors
  • Verify agent frontmatter has: name, description, tools, model
  • Check skill frontmatter has: name, description, version
  • Run npm run install-local again
  • Restart Claude Code

"Plugin not found" error

Run:

npm run install-local
make validate

Then restart Claude Code.

For active development, symlink instead of copying:

npm run install-local -- --symlink

This way, changes to agents and skills are immediately available without reinstalling.

Version Tracking

To see which version you have installed:

cat package.json | grep '"version"'

To see the latest version on GitHub:

git log -1 --pretty=format:"%H %s"

Status: Ready for single-device and multi-device deployments
Update Frequency: Run git pull && npm run install-local whenever changes are pushed to GitHub