Installation

Prerequisites

Requirement	Needed for
Node.js ≥ 18.13	All CLIs
PowerShell (Windows PowerShell 5.1+ or pwsh on macOS/Linux)	Runtime assets of sdtk-spec, sdtk-ops, sdtk-code
Claude Code or Codex CLI	Executing skills; the SDTK CLIs themselves run without a runtime

No interpreter or extra runtime is needed. Every builder in the suite is pure Node.

Unified install (recommended)

npm install -g sdtk-kit

The umbrella package installs all six toolkit CLIs plus the unified sdtk command. Then initialize a project for your runtime:

Claude Code

sdtk init --runtime claude

Codex

sdtk init --runtime codex

sdtk init runs each toolkit's setup in a fixed order — spec → ops → code → design with runtime assets, then wiki → agent as plain init (those two install no skills; they're CLI-driven).

Init options

Flag	Meaning
--runtime <claude|codex>	Which runtime to install skills for (required)
--runtime-scope <project|user>	Override the default scope
--global	Shorthand for user scope
--project-path <path>	Initialize a different directory
--force	Overwrite existing runtime assets (use after updates)
--skip-runtime-assets	Init workspaces only, install no skills
--keep-going	Continue past a failing kit instead of stopping
--verbose	Detailed per-kit output

Where skills land

Runtime	Default scope	Location
Claude Code	project	.claude/skills/ in your repo
Claude Code (--global)	user	~/.claude/skills/
Codex	user	$CODEX_HOME/skills/ (default ~/.codex/skills/)
Codex (project)	project	Only via an explicit CODEX_HOME=<project>/.codex launch contract — see Codex integration

Standalone kits

Every toolkit is also its own npm package if you only want one:

npm install -g sdtk-spec-kit    # sdtk-spec
npm install -g sdtk-design-kit  # sdtk-design
npm install -g sdtk-code-kit    # sdtk-code
npm install -g sdtk-ops-kit     # sdtk-ops
npm install -g sdtk-wiki-kit    # sdtk-wiki
npm install -g sdtk-agent-kit   # sdtk-agent

Runtime-aware kits (spec, ops, code, design) expose their own runtime install|status|uninstall (design uses init/start flows). Wiki and agent need only init.

Tools outside the umbrella

SDTK-BRAIN is not one of the six and npm install -g sdtk-kit does not put sdtk-brain on your PATH. It is a standalone personal vault tool — install it separately:

npm install -g sdtk-brain-kit   # sdtk-brain (personal, cross-project vault)

SDTK-WIKI is the memory layer of one product (indexed inside that repo); SDTK-BRAIN is a personal second-brain vault in its own folder outside any repo. They share a viewer and nothing else.

Updating

sdtk update              # update all installed kits
sdtk update --check-only # just report what's outdated

After updating, refresh runtime assets in each project:

sdtk init --runtime claude --force   # or --runtime codex

Uninstalling

Remove runtime assets from projects first, then the packages:

sdtk-spec runtime uninstall
sdtk-ops runtime uninstall
sdtk-code runtime uninstall
npm uninstall -g sdtk-kit

Pro activation

The core suite is free and MIT-licensed. A one-time Pro license unlocks premium capabilities on a machine:

sdtk activate --license SDTK-XXXX-YYYY
sdtk-spec entitlement status

Pro capabilities today:

• sdtk-spec project ingest|audit|refresh — Project Intelligence Pro
• sdtk-wiki ask — an answer synthesized from your graph, or NOT IN SOURCES Pro. The command itself is free: without Pro it returns the ranked, cited passages verbatim.
• sdtk-code sleep authorize → sleep execute — Sleep Execute: after one attended authorization, a bounded doc-class agent session runs headless within hard ceilings (10 iterations / $10 / 24h TTL), using your own provider API key Pro

Pro commands fail closed without an entitlement — they exit with a clear message instead of degrading silently.

Where to go next

QuickstartFirst governed workflow on Claude Code or Codex.

Claude Code integrationSkills, slash commands, and session flow.

TroubleshootingPATH issues, PowerShell, permission errors, version drift.