Claude Code Starter Kit

Production-extracted architecture for Claude Code — stop losing context, stop repeating yourself, start shipping.

Quick Start · Architecture · Skills · Examples · Contributing

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The Problem

Claude Code is powerful, but without structure it:

• Forgets your project rules every session
• Skips verification and ships broken code
• Wastes context window on things it already knows
• Gives inconsistent results across sessions

This starter kit fixes all of that.

What This Is

A 3-layer configuration architecture extracted from months of daily production use with Claude Code. Every rule exists because Claude got it wrong — not because it seemed like a good idea.

┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│           CLAUDE.md                 │  ← Constitution: runs every turn
│   Rules, verification, planning     │
├─────────────────────────────────────┤
│           Skills/                   │  ← Specialists: activated on demand
│   Debugging, code review, ADRs...  │
├─────────────────────────────────────┤
│           Memory/                   │  ← Persistence: survives sessions
│   Decisions, patterns, commands     │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘

Who Is This For

• Solo developers using Claude Code who want consistent, reliable results
• Teams standardizing how Claude Code behaves across projects
• Power users who've hit the limits of ad-hoc prompting and want structure
• Anyone migrating from Cursor/Copilot who wants to replicate their rules in Claude Code

Not for: building Claude API applications (use the SDK for that). This is for configuring the Claude Code CLI itself.

Quick Start

git clone https://github.com/martingarramon/claude-code-starter-kit.git
cd claude-code-starter-kit
chmod +x setup.sh && ./setup.sh

That's it. The setup script creates the directory structure and copies templates. Non-destructive — won't overwrite existing files.

Architecture

Layer 1: CLAUDE.md — The Constitution

The CLAUDE.md file runs on every Claude Code interaction. It contains:

• Verification rules — "Run before claiming done. State the method first."
• Planning rules — "3+ files = plan mode. No guessing."
• Code quality rules — "No placeholders. Prefer editing existing files."
• Communication rules — "One step at a time. Lead with problems."
• Environment config — Shell, OS, paths, tools
• Context hygiene — When to compact, what to load

Layer 2: Skills — Specialist Workflows

Twelve battle-tested workflows that activate on demand:

Skill	What it does	When to use
debugging	Systematic root-cause analysis	Anything breaks or behaves unexpectedly
code-review	5-step structured review	Before merging or after major changes
architecture-decision	ADR process with max 3 options	Technical choices with tradeoffs
research	Multi-source decomposition	Complex questions needing investigation
context-management	Context window hygiene	Long sessions approaching limits
tool-integration	MCP server workflow	Building or connecting external tools
proposal-writing	Client-first structure	Scoping work for clients
testing	AI-driven TDD strategy	Starting features, ensuring reliability
deployment	CI/CD pipeline design	Setting up automated workflows
migration	AI tool transition guide	Switching from Cursor/Copilot
performance	Profiling and optimization	Slow code, bottlenecks
security-audit	Proactive vulnerability scanning	Before deployments, periodic reviews

Layer 3: Memory — Persistent State

The memory/MEMORY.md file persists across sessions:

• Key decisions with rationale
• Patterns learned from mistakes
• Frequently used commands
• Project status

Supporting Infrastructure

• Hooks — Shell scripts that run at session start, after tool use, on errors
• Examples — Stack-specific CLAUDE.md templates, MCP server reference
• Permissions — .claude/settings.json with safe defaults (deny rm -rf, deny force push)

Examples

Stack Templates

Ready-to-use CLAUDE.md configurations for specific tech stacks:

Template	Stack
python-api.md	FastAPI + SQLAlchemy + PostgreSQL
saas-webapp.md	Next.js 14 + Prisma + PostgreSQL
nodejs-typescript-api.md	Express/NestJS + TypeScript + PostgreSQL
react-frontend.md	React + Vite + TypeScript
go-microservice.md	Go + Gin + Redis
data-science.md	Python + Jupyter + Pandas + scikit-learn
serverless.md	AWS Lambda + SAM + Python/Node.js

Hook Examples

Hook	Type	Purpose
session-start.sh	Session Start	Git status, last commit, memory reminder
post-tool-use.sh	PostToolUse	Error logging, last 50 entries
pre-tool-use-security.sh	PreToolUse	Block dangerous commands before execution
notification-slack.sh	Notification	Alert team on deployments or errors
session-stop-cleanup.sh	Stop	Cleanup temp files, generate session summary
post-tool-use-autocorrect.sh	PostToolUse	Auto-lint/format after file creation
subagent-performance.sh	SubagentStop	Log sub-agent duration and outcomes

MCP Server

A working reference implementation (140 lines, Python) for building your own MCP tools. Includes a 5-minute setup guide.

Design Principles

1. Rules from mistakes, not pre-optimization — Every rule exists because Claude got it wrong
2. Progressive context loading — Load what you need, when you need it
3. Skills over prompts — Structured workflows beat ad-hoc instructions
4. Verification before completion — Always run it, never assume it works
5. Memory is cheap, context is expensive — Persist decisions, load on demand

Comparison

Feature	This Kit	Bare Claude Code	.cursorrules	Ad-hoc Prompts
Persistent rules	CLAUDE.md constitution	None	Rules file	Copy-paste each time
Specialist workflows	12 battle-tested skills	Manual each time	Community rules	Reinvent every session
Cross-session memory	MEMORY.md system	None	None	None
Verification protocol	Built-in rules	Hope for the best	Varies	None
Hook automation	7 hook examples (all API types)	Manual setup	N/A	N/A
Stack templates	7 ready-to-use	Start from scratch	Some available	N/A
MCP server reference	Working example	Docs only	N/A	N/A

Roadmap

• More stack templates — 7 templates covering Node.js, React, Go, Python, serverless
• More hook examples — 7 hooks covering all Claude Code API types
• Additional skills — 12 skills including testing, deployment, migration, performance, security
• Community skill directory (share and discover skills)
• Self-learning patterns (auto-improve CLAUDE.md from outcomes)
• MCP ecosystem browser (discover community MCP servers)
• Team collaboration guide

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines. We welcome:

• New skills and stack templates
• Hook examples for different workflows
• Bug reports and improvements
• Documentation fixes

License

MIT — see LICENSE.

Built By

Martin Garramon at Yuli Creative — AI automation consulting for dev teams and SaaS founders.

Need a custom Claude Code setup for your team? Get in touch.