Solanasis Docs

claude-code-environment-setup

5 min read

Claude Code Environment Setup & Portability Guide

Date: 2026-03-24 Version: 1.0 Purpose: Document exactly what’s installed, how it works across directories, and how to recreate it on a new machine.

How Skills & Plugins Work (The Portability Model)

~/.claude/                        <-- USER LEVEL (follows you everywhere)
  ├── CLAUDE.md                   <-- Global instructions, loaded in every session
  ├── settings.json               <-- Plugins, marketplaces, permissions, preferences
  ├── skills/                     <-- Skills available in ALL projects
  │   ├── iso-27001/SKILL.md
  │   ├── soc-2/SKILL.md
  │   └── ...
  ├── agents/                     <-- Subagents (planner, reviewer, researcher)
  │   ├── planner.md
  │   ├── senior-reviewer.md
  │   └── research-agent.md
  └── plugins/
      ├── installed_plugins.json  <-- What's installed (metadata)
      ├── known_marketplaces.json <-- Marketplace registry
      ├── cache/                  <-- Downloaded plugin files (REGENERABLE)
      └── data/                   <-- Plugin persistent data

<any-project>/.claude/            <-- PROJECT LEVEL (only this repo)
  ├── settings.local.json         <-- Project-specific overrides
  └── skills/                     <-- Skills only for this project
      ├── blog/SKILL.md
      ├── seo/SKILL.md
      └── ...

Key Rules

WhatWhereAvailable InBacked Up By
Plugins (Sales, Ops, etc.)~/.claude/settings.json + plugins/cache/Every projectsettings.json (cache is regenerable)
Marketplaces~/.claude/settings.json (extraKnownMarketplaces)Every projectsettings.json
User skills (GRC, legal, custom)~/.claude/skills/Every projectNOT backed up — must do manually
Agents (planner, reviewer)~/.claude/agents/Every projectNOT backed up — must do manually
Project skills (blog, SEO).claude/skills/ in the repoOnly that repoGit (if committed)
Global instructions~/.claude/CLAUDE.mdEvery projectNOT backed up — must do manually

What “Follows You Everywhere” Means

When you cd ~/some-other-project && claude, all user-level items load automatically:

  • All 9 installed plugins (Sales, Operations, Engineering, Marketing, Legal, commit-commands, superpowers, frontend-design x2)
  • All 9 user-level skills (GRC frameworks, custom Solanasis skills)
  • All 3 agents (planner, senior-reviewer, research-agent)
  • Your global CLAUDE.md instructions

The project-level items (blog/SEO skills, project settings) only load when you’re in C:/_my/_solanasis/.

What’s Currently Installed (as of 2026-03-24)

Marketplaces (3)

MarketplaceSourceType
claude-plugins-officialanthropics/claude-plugins-officialDefault (auto)
claude-code-pluginsanthropics/claude-codeAdded manually
knowledge-work-pluginsanthropics/knowledge-work-pluginsAdded manually

Plugins (9 installed, all user-scope)

PluginMarketplaceVersionPurpose
salesknowledge-work-plugins1.2.0Account research, call prep, outreach drafting
operationsknowledge-work-plugins1.2.0Vendor mgmt, process optimization, compliance tracking
engineeringknowledge-work-plugins1.2.0Code review, incident response, system design
marketingknowledge-work-plugins1.2.0Content creation, campaign planning, brand voice
legalknowledge-work-plugins1.2.0Contract review, NDA triage, compliance
commit-commandsclaude-plugins-official79caa0d/commit, /commit-push-pr, /clean_gone
superpowersclaude-plugins-official5.0.5Brainstorming, TDD, code review subagents
frontend-designclaude-plugins-official79caa0dProduction-grade UI generation
frontend-designclaude-code-plugins1.0.0(duplicate from demo marketplace)

User-Level Skills (9 Solanasis + 5 pre-existing)

SkillSourceCategory
iso-27001Sushegaad/GRC (99% eval accuracy)Compliance
soc-2Sushegaad/GRCCompliance
hipaaSushegaad/GRCCompliance
gdprSushegaad/GRCCompliance
fedrampSushegaad/GRCCompliance
claude-legalevolsb/claude-legal-skillLegal (CUAD contract review)
security-assessment-reportCustom builtClient delivery
client-onboardingCustom builtClient delivery
dr-verificationCustom builtClient delivery
clarifyPre-existingPlanning
deep-planPre-existingPlanning
deep-plan-validatePre-existingPlanning
plan-reviewPre-existingPlanning
security-assessment-reportCustomClient delivery

Project-Level Skills (33, Solanasis workspace only)

SuiteSkillsSource
Blogblog, blog-write, blog-outline, blog-audit, blog-brief, blog-calendar, blog-cannibalization, blog-chart, blog-factcheck, blog-geo, blog-image, blog-persona, blog-repurpose, blog-rewrite, blog-schema, blog-seo-check, blog-strategy, blog-taxonomy, blog-analyzeAgriciDaniel/claude-blog
SEOseo, seo-audit, seo-competitor-pages, seo-content, seo-geo, seo-hreflang, seo-images, seo-local, seo-page, seo-plan, seo-programmatic, seo-schema, seo-sitemap, seo-technicalAgriciDaniel/claude-seo

Agents (3, user-level)

AgentPurposeModel
plannerMulti-step task planningOpus
senior-reviewerQA for deliverablesOpus
research-agentDeep researchOpus

Backup Strategy

Critical files (back up regularly)

These files have NO cloud sync and represent your IP:

~/.claude/CLAUDE.md                          # Global instructions
~/.claude/settings.json                      # Plugin/marketplace config
~/.claude/skills/                            # ALL user-level skills (entire directory)
~/.claude/agents/                            # ALL agent definitions

Backed up in this repo

A copy of user-level skills is maintained at:

solanasis-docs/backup/claude-skills/         # Mirror of ~/.claude/skills/
solanasis-docs/backup/claude-agents/         # Mirror of ~/.claude/agents/

Keep these in sync after any skill/agent changes.

Regenerable (don’t need to back up)

~/.claude/plugins/cache/                     # Re-downloaded on install
~/.claude/plugins/marketplaces/              # Re-cloned from settings.json
~/.claude/sessions/                          # Session transcripts
~/.claude/history.jsonl                      # Command history
~/.claude/file-history/                      # Pre-edit snapshots
~/.claude/backups/                           # Auto-backups

New Machine Setup

Quick method (5 min)

  1. Install Claude Code: npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
  2. Authenticate: claude login
  3. Run the reconstruction script: python solanasis-scripts/claude-code-setup.py
  4. Restart Claude Code

Manual method (15 min)

# 1. Install Claude Code
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
 
# 2. Authenticate
claude login
 
# 3. Copy critical files from backup
# Copy ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md from solanasis-docs or backup
# Copy ~/.claude/settings.json from backup
# Copy ~/.claude/skills/ from solanasis-docs/backup/claude-skills/
# Copy ~/.claude/agents/ from solanasis-docs/backup/claude-agents/
 
# 4. Add marketplaces
claude plugin marketplace add anthropics/claude-code
claude plugin marketplace add anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins
 
# 5. Install all plugins
claude plugin install sales@knowledge-work-plugins
claude plugin install operations@knowledge-work-plugins
claude plugin install engineering@knowledge-work-plugins
claude plugin install marketing@knowledge-work-plugins
claude plugin install legal@knowledge-work-plugins
claude plugin install commit-commands@claude-plugins-official
claude plugin install superpowers@claude-plugins-official
claude plugin install frontend-design@claude-plugins-official
claude plugin install frontend-design@claude-code-plugins
 
# 6. Verify
claude plugin list
claude plugin marketplace list

What the reconstruction script does

solanasis-scripts/claude-code-setup.py automates steps 3-5:

  • Detects whether this is a fresh install or an existing environment
  • Copies skills and agents from the backup directory
  • Adds marketplaces (idempotent — safe to run multiple times)
  • Installs all plugins (skips already-installed ones)
  • Validates the installation
  • Generates a status report

Context Budget Notes

With the current setup (9 plugins + 14 user skills + 33 project skills = 56 total), you may approach the context budget limit (~16,000 chars for skill descriptions).

If you see “excluded skills” warnings:

  1. Set blog/SEO sub-skills to manual-only (the main blog and seo orchestrators auto-trigger the others)
  2. Set compliance skills (fedramp, gdpr) to manual-only unless doing compliance work
  3. Add disable-model-invocation: true to SKILL.md frontmatter for manual-only skills

Current priority for auto-invoke (keep these enabled):

  • Sales: account-research, call-prep, draft-outreach
  • Operations: vendor-management, process-optimization, compliance-tracking, risk-assessment
  • Engineering: documentation, incident-response
  • Marketing: content-creation
  • Legal: contract-review
  • Security: security-assessment-report
  • Blog: blog (main orchestrator)
  • SEO: seo (main orchestrator)

Troubleshooting

Skills not loading after install:

  • Restart Claude Code (skills load at session start)
  • Check /context for excluded skills warnings

Plugin install fails:

  • Run claude plugin marketplace update to refresh marketplace cache
  • Check network connectivity to GitHub

Skills from wrong scope loading:

  • User skills override project skills with the same name
  • Use /skills to see what’s loaded and from where

Full reset (nuclear option):

rm -rf ~/.claude/plugins/cache/
# Then reinstall all plugins
  • The Ultimate Claude Code Skills Playbook — what to install and why
  • [This document] — how it’s installed and how to recreate it
  • solanasis-scripts/claude-code-setup.py — automated reconstruction script

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