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Quickstart

Five minutes. One PR. Whatever agent you already use.
Research Preview — Genie is experimental. Things will break, APIs will change, and we want your feedback. Honest feedback, not polite feedback. Tell us on Discord.
1

Install Genie

Run the bootstrap script (see the full Installation guide for alternatives). It installs the CLI, sets up plugins, and configures git hooks.
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/automagik-dev/genie/main/install.sh | bash
Verify the install:
genie doctor
Expected output:
✓ genie CLI found
✓ Agent detected
✓ tmux available
✓ Plugin symlink active
✓ Git hooks configured
2

Choose Your Agent (or don't — we don't care)

Genie orchestrates agents. It is not an agent. Use whatever you like — we have opinions about orchestration, not about your vendor choices.
AgentSetupNotes
Claude CodeInstalled by defaultDeepest integration — native plugin, hooks, teams
Codexgenie setup --codexOpenAI’s agent. Full transcript + team support
Open Clawgenie setup --open-clawOpen-source. Community-maintained adapter
Custom (BYOA)genie setup --customAny CLI agent with stdout/stderr. Seriously, anything.
Claude Code works out of the box. For others, run the setup command and Genie configures the adapter.
You’re never locked in. Switch agents mid-project, mix them on the same team, or write your own adapter. See the adapter docs if you’re the kind of person who builds their own tools.
3

Paste Into Your Agent

Open your agent in your project directory and paste:
You are now a Genie-powered agent. Run `genie` to initialize,
then use /wizard for guided onboarding.
Genie detects a fresh project and scaffolds everything:
$ genie
🔍 Scanning project...

⚠ No AGENTS.md found — this looks like a fresh project.

Scaffolding your agent workspace...
  Creating AGENTS.md...        ✓
  Creating SOUL.md...          ✓
  Creating .genie/wishes/...   ✓
  Creating .genie/state/...    ✓
  Configuring git hooks...     ✓

✨ Project scaffolded successfully!

Your agent workspace is ready:
  AGENTS.md    → agent directory and roles
  SOUL.md      → agent identity and principles
  .genie/      → wishes, state, mailbox, chat

Next: run /wizard for guided onboarding.
4

Brainstorm Your First Idea

Got something you want to build? Tell the brainstorm skill about it:
/brainstorm Add a dark mode toggle to the settings page
It’ll walk you through the thinking you’d do anyway — but faster:
  • Scope — what’s in, what’s out
  • Constraints — dependencies, breaking changes
  • Design — approach, tradeoffs
  • Readiness — is this crisp enough to actually build?
5

Create a Wish

When the brainstorm crystallizes, turn it into something agents can execute:
/wish
This produces a WISH.md — the contract between you and your agents:
  • Summary and scope (so nobody wanders off)
  • Acceptance criteria (checkboxes — unambiguous “done”)
  • Execution groups (parallelizable work units)
  • Validation commands (proof it works)
6

Execute and Ship

Let the agents do the work:
/work
When they’re done, validate:
/review
SHIP → PR created. FIX-FIRST → fix loop runs automatically. You don’t babysit either way.

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What just happened?

You typed four slash commands and got a pull request. Your agent did the actual work. Here’s what it looked like: 
$ /brainstorm Add a dark mode toggle to the settings page

🧠 Brainstorming "dark-mode-toggle"...

Exploring scope...
  ✓ Dark mode CSS variables
  ✓ Toggle component in settings
  ✓ Persistent preference via localStorage

Identifying constraints...
  ✓ Must avoid FOUC on page load
  ✓ Existing component tests must pass

Design crystallized → ready for /wish
  Draft: .genie/brainstorms/dark-mode-toggle/DESIGN.md
StepSkillOutput
Explore/brainstormDesign document
Plan/wishWISH.md with criteria
Build/workCode changes across execution groups (tracked as PG tasks)
Validate/reviewSHIP or FIX-FIRST verdict
ShipPR createdReady for you to merge (agents don’t push to production — that’s your job)
Under the hood, Genie tracks all work in an embedded PostgreSQL database — tasks, boards, audit events, and session history. You can query everything with genie events summary --today or genie task list --by-column for a kanban view.

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Next steps

Core Concepts

Understand wishes, agents, teams, and skills in depth.

Skills Reference

Browse all 14 built-in skills.

Hacks & Tips

Community patterns, cost tips, and power-user techniques.

Stuck? Ask on Discord

Real humans. Real answers. Usually within minutes, not days.