Quickstart

Install pair-cli, install the Knowledge Base into your project and run your first skill, in five minutes.

By the end of this page your project has a .pair/ folder your AI assistant reads, and you have run /pair-next once. Everything else is a link.

Prerequisites

Node.js 18 or higher, with npm or pnpm
A terminal on macOS, Linux, or Windows through WSL2 or Git Bash
An AI coding assistant that reads Agent Skills (supported tools)

Install pair-cli

npm install -g @foomakers/pair-cli
# or
pnpm add -g @foomakers/pair-cli

pair-cli --version

Expected output: pair-cli vX.Y.Z. Air-gapped? Download pair-cli-manual-vX.Y.Z.zip from GitHub Releases, extract it and run ./pair-cli from the folder.

Install the Knowledge Base

From your project root:

pair-cli install

This writes .pair/knowledge/ (guidelines, how-to guides, templates), .pair/adoption/ (empty files for your decisions), the skills under .claude/skills/ and the bridge files (AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md) that point every assistant at .pair/.

Does the repository already have an AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.md? Install refuses rather than overwrite them. Keep yours with pair-cli install --skip-registries agents, or follow Adopt pair in an existing repository.

Run your first skill

Open the project in your assistant and run:

/pair-next

It sees the empty adoption files and walks you through the PRD and the bootstrap, asking which PM tool you use on the way (filesystem needs no account). From then on, /pair-next suggests the next step every session. Bootstrap in a hurry: guided or quick.

With the Claude Code plugin (optional)

Claude Code users can let a skill run the three steps above:

/plugin marketplace add foomakers/pair
/plugin install pair@pair
/pair-assistant

/pair-assistant installs pair-cli, runs the install, asks keep-or-overwrite for existing files, then hands over to /pair-next. pair-cli stays the default path; the plugin is a convenience. Details: Claude Code plugin and /pair-assistant.

Keep it current

pair-cli update refreshes the Knowledge Base and skills and never touches .pair/adoption/. Which of the three update commands you need, and when: Update the Knowledge Base.

Next: Bootstrap: guided or quick, then Solo, team or organization. The flow you will follow from here is the Process Lifecycle.