Get started

Two steps: start the dev-playbook server, then point Claude Code at it. A few commands, and a few minutes while Docker does the work.

1. Run the server with Docker

Download the Compose file and start it:

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/arockiaraj1994/dev-playbook/main/docker-compose.yml
docker compose up -d

That is the whole server. The Compose file builds and runs dev-playbook for you - nothing else to download. When it finishes, it is running at http://localhost:8420, with a dashboard at http://localhost:8420/dashboard/.

Stop it any time with docker compose down.

2. Connect Claude Code

Install the plugin and run the setup command:

/plugin marketplace add arockiaraj1994/dev-playbook
/plugin install dev-playbook@dev-playbook
/dev-playbook-init

/dev-playbook-init connects Claude Code to the server you just started, sets up your standards for this repo - it offers to create them if the repo has none - and turns on the guardrails. Restart Claude Code once when it asks.

That is it. From now on, whenever you code in that repo, the agent reads your guardrails and the workflow before it writes, and checks the definition of done before it calls the work finished.

Using another editor?

Any MCP client - Cursor, Windsurf, Zed and others - can connect to the same server over SSE at http://localhost:8420/sse. Add it in your editor’s MCP settings.