Quickstart

Five minutes from clone to a working agent kitchen.

The brigade command name is canonical. solo-mise is a deprecated alias, and the workspace config directory is .brigade (older .solo-mise installs are still read).

1. Install

pipx install brigade-cli

To track main instead:

pipx install git+https://github.com/escoffier-labs/brigade

If you do not have pipx:

python3 -m pip install --user pipx
python3 -m pipx ensurepath

First install

The fastest path is to run brigade init with no flags and answer the prompts:

$ brigade init --target ~/agent-kitchen

Which harnesses do you use? (type numbers separated by space/comma to toggle, enter to confirm)
  [x] 1. Claude Code
  [ ] 2. Codex
  [ ] 3. OpenClaw
  [ ] 4. Hermes (experimental)

Depth? (type a number, enter for default)
  * 1. repo       (handoff flow + publish guard)
    2. workspace  (full home: MEMORY.md, TOOLS.md, USER.md, ...)

Add-ons? (type numbers separated by space/comma to toggle, enter to confirm)
  [ ] 1. publisher  (content-guard policies for blog/social/docs)

Defaults are the claude harness, repo depth, and no includes. Enter ships the install.

CI / scripted install

Pass flags directly to skip the prompt:

# Claude Code + Codex + OpenClaw, full workspace
brigade init --target ~/agent-kitchen \
  --depth workspace \
  --harnesses claude,codex,openclaw

# Codex-only project, minimal install
brigade init --target ./my-project --depth repo --harnesses codex

# Generic layout, no harness-specific files
brigade init --target ./my-project --harnesses none

Verifying

After install, brigade doctor --target <path> reports the apparent harness shape and checks every configured inbox and adapter:

brigade doctor: target /home/you/agent-kitchen
  harnesses: claude, codex, openclaw (owner=openclaw, depth=workspace)
  [ok]   bootstrap: AGENTS.md   /home/you/agent-kitchen/AGENTS.md
  [ok]   handoff: claude inbox  /home/you/agent-kitchen/.claude/memory-handoffs
  [ok]   handoff: codex inbox   /home/you/agent-kitchen/.codex/memory-handoffs
  [ok]   openclaw: config        /home/you/.openclaw/openclaw.json
  ...

A [fail] line means the install is incomplete; [warn] is informational; [todo] means the check needs your attention (for example, Hermes is experimental).

Reconfiguring

To change which harnesses are installed on an existing target:

# Add a harness
brigade reconfigure --target . --harnesses claude,codex

# Drop one (without removing its files)
brigade reconfigure --target . --harnesses claude

# Drop one and remove its files
brigade reconfigure --target . --harnesses claude --prune

The handoff flow

The starter handoff template lives at <inbox>/TEMPLATE.md. Copy it to a new dated file (for example, 2026-05-16-1430-fixed-X.md), fill it in, and the ingester promotes safe card handoffs into memory/cards/, appends targeted updates to the right file, and kicks ambiguous material to the review inbox.

See the Solo Cookbook for the longer-form guidance on what makes a good handoff and when to use which routing.

Next steps