mokata — Quickstart¶

A fresh user, from zero to a full pipeline run. mokata installs from PyPI with pip — no clone required — and one command wires the whole workflow into Claude Code. It's also a plain Python package you can run as a CLI anywhere. The full narrative lives in Getting started; the essentials are below.

1. Install¶

In Claude Code (recommended)¶

Install once, then let mokata setup claude wire the full experience (slash commands + Agent Skills + MCP tools + hooks + status line) into Claude Code. Runs on your existing Claude Code sign-in — no API key:

pip install mokata               # MCP server works out of the box on Python ≥ 3.10 (SDK is a default dep)
mokata setup claude              # --profile / --scope options; reverse with `mokata unsetup claude`
# restart Claude Code, then:
mokata mcp status                # expect: mokata-mcp: REGISTERED ✓ … connected ✓

Requires Python ≥ 3.10.

Homebrew works too — brew install JasGujral/mokata/mokata — then continue from mokata setup claude. Every route: Install mokata.

You now have the workflow commands — /brainstorm, /refine, /spec, /test, /develop, /review, /debug, /optimize, /bug — plus the SessionStart briefing and two blocking guards on Claude's own file writes, all automatic: the secret-guard (a secret-bearing write is blocked outright — never overridable) and the gate-guard (inside an active run, an implementation write that skips the spec or the failing test, or strays outside the spec's scope, is blocked — overridable, with a reason, on the ledger). Hooks are on by default; mokata setup claude --no-hooks opts out. Full guide: Use mokata without the plugin.

A typical run: /brainstorm → approve an approach → /spec (blocked until acceptance criteria map to tests) → /test → /develop (RED-before-GREEN) → /review. Working on code you already have? Start with /refine instead of /brainstorm — review → approve a scoped set → the same flow.

The CLI, with any AI tool¶

Harness-agnostic: use the mokata CLI and mokata-mcp from any shell- or MCP-capable assistant (Gemini, Codex), or in scripts and CI — same pip install, no clone:

pip install mokata
mokata init

This puts the mokata command on your PATH; run mokata --help to confirm. The CLI is the engine's mechanics (gates, queries, state) — it doesn't supply an LLM, so it's for scripting, inspection, and wiring into other harnesses rather than writing code on its own. See Integrate with other AI tools.

A pip CLI install is terminal-only. It does not put mokata inside Claude Code. To use mokata in Claude Code (Claude as the brain, gated workflow), run mokata setup claude (above). Why there are two ways: How mokata uses an LLM: harness vs CLI.

mokata init configures this repo (.mokata/); mokata setup claude wires your agent (.claude/, and it runs init for you). ⚠ Since 0.0.19 the non-interactive mokata init --yes does both — it wires the harness too. Side-by-side, plus the upgrade runbook: Which setup command do I need?.

⏳ Pending Claude plugin-directory approval. A one-click Claude Code plugin is planned, not yet available — mokata isn't registered on any Claude Code marketplace. The supported way to run mokata inside Claude Code today is the pip-first path: pip install mokata → mokata setup claude (see Getting started). (This notice auto-flips once the listing is approved — single source: scripts/directory_listing.py.)

Contributing (developers only). To work on mokata itself, clone the repo and install it editable — end users never need this: git clone https://github.com/JasGujral/mokata-oss.git && cd mokata-oss && pip install -e . (on Python ≥ 3.10 this also pulls the MCP SDK).

The rest of this quickstart shows the CLI path; inside Claude Code the slash commands above do the same thing.

2. Initialize a project (CLI)¶

mokata init                 # default profile: standard (lean, local: grep + SQLite)
# mokata init --profile full  # or: wire every graph + memory provider (degrade to floors)

Prefer to start small and grow? --mode is a graduated on-ramp — three named starting points, each an alias for a profile plus a printed 5-minute quickstart (mutually exclusive with --profile):

mokata init --mode seatbelt   # just the gates (+ the AST code graph they need) → profile standard
mokata init --mode memory     # the gates + typed project memory that persists → profile standard
mokata init --mode full       # everything the spine can wire → profile full

memory and full also offer the optional local embeddings model for semantic recall when run interactively; seatbelt never does. See Getting started.

This is a human-gated write: init shows exactly what it will create (.mokata/manifest.json + .mokata/constitution.md) and which tools it detected, then waits for your confirmation. Use --yes for non-interactive setup, --force to overwrite an existing config.

Verify the stack:

mokata validate     # the committed manifest parses + validates
mokata status       # profile + which capability each need resolves to right now
mokata bootstrap    # the compact SessionStart briefing (under a 2k-token budget)

3. Brainstorm before you spec (HARD-GATE)¶

mokata brainstorm

The brainstorm phase explores the problem with you — one question at a time, two or three real approaches with tradeoffs — and refuses to let a spec proceed until you explicitly approve one approach. The approved approach is persisted to .mokata/temp_local/state/ and becomes a constraint the completeness gate checks later. mokata brainstorm --status shows whether an approach has been approved.

4. Use any piece on its own¶

Every capability is a standalone command — no full-pipeline prerequisite:

mokata skills                  # browse the catalog (cheap; details on demand)
mokata skills test             # reveal one skill's prompt + gate
mokata run review              # run a skill standalone
mokata enter completeness_gate # enter the pipeline at a phase; only that phase's gates apply

5. Knowledge, memory, governance¶

mokata query callers myFunction   # structural query (graph if present, else grep floor)
mokata memory                     # active memory + self-healing proposals (read-only)
mokata rules                      # 4-tier rules and their line budgets
mokata audit                      # the append-only audit ledger
mokata gate status                # what the run-state gates enforce here (read-only)
mokata approve                    # writes waiting on you; `mokata approve <id>` mints the approval

Memory is on by default (standard/full). It heals by surfacing contradictions and stale facts as an old → new diff for you to approve, edit, or reject — never a silent rewrite. Every durable memory write is human-gated — and the gate is yours: the agent proposes a write and gets back a proposal id; you run mokata approve <id> in your own terminal to mint the approval, which is single-use and content-hashed (change an argument and the id no longer matches). A model cannot approve its own write: by default there is no approve tool or slash command for it to reach — and the in-chat MCP approve tool that can be opted into (default-OFF) still forces a human prompt on every call.

6. Choose an execution mode, then run end-to-end¶

mokata exec                    # default: sequential gated flow (lowest cost)
mokata exec --parallel         # parallel subagents (isolation + two-stage review)
mokata playbook                # drive the full v1 story through the real pipeline

mokata playbook runs the complete flow — brainstorm → completeness gate (blocked until ACs map to tests) → tests → RED-before-GREEN implement → review — with the knowledge and memory layers active, and prints PASS/FAIL per checkpoint. Parallel degrades to the sequential flow when no subagent harness is available — never a hard failure.

What you get¶

A committed, reviewable .mokata/ config (manifest + constitution).
A spec that cannot ship incomplete (every acceptance criterion mapped to a test).
A full audit trail of every gate decision and tool call.
Local-first by default — the minimal profile performs zero network egress.

Go deeper: The Complete Guide is a hands-on, feature-by-feature tour of every command, gate, and layer — with a downloadable PDF.