Coding FriendCoding Friendalpha

Installation

Install the Coding Friend CLI and Claude Code plugin to get started.

Prerequisites

Install the CLI

npm i -g coding-friend-cli

This gives you the cf command globally. Verify with:

cf --version

Install the Plugin

# Interactive — asks which scope to use
cf install

# Or install directly at a specific scope:
cf install --user       # All projects (default)
cf install --project    # This project only (shared via git)
cf install --local      # This machine only (gitignored)

Read more about cf install here.

Initialize Your Workspace and Configure Coding Friend

# In each project, run the following first
cf init

This will guide you through the configuration of Coding Friend, including setting up permissions so skills and hooks can run without repeated prompts. Read more about cf init here.

If you skip permissions during cf init, or want to manage them separately:

# Interactive — browse categories and pick rules
cf permission

# Or apply all recommended permissions at once
cf permission --all

Read more about cf permission and permissions.

Scan your project

# Enter claude code then run
/cf-scan

This will scan your project and extract the knowledge into the memory system. Read more about /cf-scan for more details.

Auto-Update

Auto-update is automatically enabled when you run cf install. This ensures the Coding Friend plugin stays up to date without manual intervention.

If auto-update could not be enabled during installation (e.g., due to file permission issues), you can enable it manually:

  1. Run /plugin in Claude Code
  2. Go to Marketplace
  3. Select coding-friend-marketplace
  4. Enable auto-update

Restart Claude Code

Restart Claude Code to load the plugin. You should see the Coding Friend statusline at the bottom.

Verify Your Setup

After restarting, run the status command to verify everything is configured correctly:

cf status

This shows a compact dashboard with your plugin version, CLI version, memory tier, and config — all in one place. If anything is missing or misconfigured, the output will help you identify what to fix.

Enable AI Memory (Optional)

Coding Friend includes a memory system that lets the AI store and recall project knowledge across sessions — codebase facts, conventions, debug episodes, and more.

Basic memory (Tier 3) works automatically after cf init — skills like /cf-remember and /cf-ask save knowledge to docs/memory/ as markdown files.

For better search, you can upgrade to a higher tier:

# Tier 2 — Start a lightweight daemon with fuzzy search
cf memory start-daemon

# Tier 1 — Initialize SQLite with hybrid search (keyword + semantic)
cf memory init

Check current status anytime with cf memory status. Read more about cf memory.

Next Steps

Next
Quick Start