Quick Start

Set up CAF Initiator in your repo, then connect CAF Orchestrator.

1. Run CAF Initiator

CAF Initiator is published on npm as caf-initiator and needs Node.js 18 or newer. From your target repo's root:

# 1. Preview — detects the stack and lists what would be written
npx -p caf-initiator caf-init scaffold --dry-run

# 2. Generate the drafts (asks before each step)
npx -p caf-initiator caf-init scaffold

# 3. Optional: add the CAF skills
npx -p caf-initiator caf-init scaffold skills

# 4. In your AI runner (e.g. Claude Code), fill in the TODOs
/caf-complete-drafts

# 5. Check the result, then review the diff and commit
npx -p caf-initiator caf-init curate --check-drafts

Or install the caf-init binary globally first:

npm install -g caf-initiator
caf-init scaffold

scaffold will:

  1. Detect your project's stack (framework, package manager, repo mode) and tracker
  2. Write the knowledge-base drafts: CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, .caf/knowledge/
  3. Generate the five agents (caf-planner, caf-frontend, caf-backend, caf-validator, caf-reviewer) in .claude/agents/, and their companion slash commands (/caf-plan, /caf-run, /caf-review, /caf-fix-review)
  4. Draft the Definition of Done, the PIV workflow and the agent-handoff docs
  5. Generate /caf-complete-drafts, the command that fills in the remaining TODOs

Everything it writes is a deterministic draft. Review it before your team or agents rely on it.

2. Try the Planner

You can use the generated agents without any server. In Claude Code, ask for a spec:

/caf-plan Add an email field to the signup form

The Planner writes requirements.md and tasks.md under .caf/tasks/<ID>/ and stops. Review the spec, then let /caf-run take it through implementation, validation and review in the same session. See Spec-Driven Development for what the spec contains.

See CAF Initiator for the full command reference (scaffold, curate, docs, export).

3. Connect CAF Orchestrator

This step is optional. Set up CAF Orchestrator when you want tickets to run automatically once they become ready in Linear or GitHub Issues:

git clone https://github.com/coderiumid/caf-orchestrator.git
cd caf-orchestrator
pnpm install
cp .env.example .env                         # secrets and operational toggles
cp caf.config.example.yaml caf.config.yaml   # structural config
pnpm dev            # web server
pnpm dev:worker     # worker, separate process

The Orchestrator calls agents by filename, so keep the generated names (caf-frontend.md / caf-backend.md, including in a single-package repo). It runs caf-validator when the repo has that file and caf-qa otherwise.

See CAF Orchestrator for full setup, requirements, and the webhook configuration.