Install Combo Stack — Full Global Setup

Step 1 — Install Caveman (global skill)

npx skills add JuliusBrussee/caveman

Verify:

npx skills list | grep caveman && echo "✅ Caveman installed" || echo "❌ Failed"

Caveman auto-activates via a SessionStart hook for every Claude Code session. No manual invocation needed. You can still call /caveman, /caveman lite, /caveman full, or /caveman-compress manually.

If npx skills is not available, use the Claude Code plugin marketplace:

claude plugin marketplace add JuliusBrussee/caveman
claude plugin install caveman@caveman

Step 2 — Install Graphify (Python package)

pip3 install graphifyy

Verify:

graphify --version 2>/dev/null && echo "✅ Graphify installed" || echo "❌ Failed"

Graphify is a project-level tool. The graphify claude install command (run per-project) wires the PreToolUse hook. The global install here just makes the graphify CLI available everywhere.

Step 3 — Create global ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md

Check if it exists:

cat ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md 2>/dev/null || echo "Creating..."

If it doesn't exist or is empty, create it with this lean template:

## Output Rules
- No greetings, sign-offs, or preamble
- No narrating what you're about to do — just do it
- Code blocks: always include language tag
- Errors: show exact message + fix only
- Never use filler phrases ("Great!", "Certainly!", "Of course!")

## Model Routing
- Default: sonnet (80% of tasks)
- Switch to opus only for: architecture decisions, complex multi-file refactors
- Use /model opus and /model sonnet to switch

## Session Hygiene
- Use /compact when context grows long mid-task
- Use /clear when switching to an unrelated task
- Use /update after adding new files to a project
- Use /graphify . after major structural refactors

If it already exists, do not overwrite — show the user the existing content and suggest they manually add any missing sections.

Step 4 — Set up global .gitignore_global

# Check if global gitignore is configured
git config --global core.excludesfile 2>/dev/null || echo "not set"

If not set:

touch ~/.gitignore_global
git config --global core.excludesfile ~/.gitignore_global
echo "✅ Global gitignore configured at ~/.gitignore_global"

Append stack entries (check for duplicates first):

cat ~/.gitignore_global 2>/dev/null | grep -q "graphify-out" \
  && echo "✅ graphify-out already in global gitignore" \
  || echo "graphify-out/" >> ~/.gitignore_global

cat ~/.gitignore_global 2>/dev/null | grep -q "CLAUDE.original" \
  && echo "✅ CLAUDE.original.md already in global gitignore" \
  || echo "CLAUDE.original.md" >> ~/.gitignore_global

cat ~/.gitignore_global 2>/dev/null | grep -q "settings.local.json" \
  && echo "✅ settings.local.json already in global gitignore" \
  || echo ".claude/settings.local.json" >> ~/.gitignore_global

Step 5 — Set up memory layer (optional, choose one)

Option A — Plain Markdown notes (recommended, zero dependencies):

mkdir -p ~/notes/{architecture,decisions,logs}
echo "✅ ~/notes/ created for cross-session memory"

Add to ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md:

## Memory
- Global notes: ~/notes/
- Per-project notes: ~/notes/<project-name>/
- Read logs/ before starting a session for recent context

Option B — Obsidian vault (skip if not using Obsidian):

# Install Obsidian from https://obsidian.md
# Then create vault structure:
mkdir -p ~/vault/{permanent,inbox,templates,logs}
echo "✅ ~/vault/ structure created"

Add to ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md:

## Memory
- Vault: ~/vault/CLAUDE.md — read for cross-session context
- Per-project: ~/vault/<project-name>/

Step 6 — Verify full installation

Run this verification block and report results to the user:

echo "=== Combo Stack Installation Verification ==="
echo ""

# Caveman
npx skills list 2>/dev/null | grep -q caveman \
  && echo "✅ Caveman          installed" \
  || echo "❌ Caveman          NOT found — re-run: npx skills add JuliusBrussee/caveman"

# Graphify
command -v graphify &>/dev/null \
  && echo "✅ Graphify CLI     installed ($(graphify --version 2>/dev/null || echo 'version unknown'))" \
  || echo "❌ Graphify CLI     NOT found — re-run: pip3 install graphifyy"

# Global CLAUDE.md
test -f ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md \
  && echo "✅ ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md    exists ($(wc -l < ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md) lines)" \
  || echo "❌ ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md    missing — check Step 3"

# Global gitignore
git config --global core.excludesfile &>/dev/null \
  && echo "✅ Global .gitignore      configured at $(git config --global core.excludesfile)" \
  || echo "❌ Global .gitignore      not set — check Step 4"

# Graphify hook (set per-project, so this may be empty on fresh install)
cat ~/.claude/settings.json 2>/dev/null | grep -q graphify \
  && echo "✅ Graphify hook    installed in ~/.claude/settings.json" \
  || echo "ℹ️  Graphify hook    not yet installed (run 'graphify claude install' in each project)"

echo ""
echo "=== Done ==="

Step 7 — Print next steps

✅ Global installation complete.

To set up a NEW project:
  cd /path/to/new-project
  /scaffold-new-project

To wire the stack into an EXISTING project:
  cd /path/to/existing-project
  /integrate-existing-project

Per-session commands (all automatic after setup):
  Caveman    → fires automatically via SessionStart hook
  Graphify   → fires automatically before every Glob/Grep

Manual commands you'll use regularly:
  /compact        → compress long context mid-session
  /clear          → fresh context for unrelated work
  /update         → re-index after adding new files
  /graphify .     → full re-index after major refactor
  /model opus     → switch to Opus for heavy architecture work
  /model sonnet   → switch back to Sonnet

Caveman modes:
  /caveman        → toggle on/off
  /caveman lite   → semi-compressed (grammar intact)
  /caveman full   → maximum terseness
  /caveman-compress → compress CLAUDE.md (~46% reduction)

Troubleshooting

npx skills command not found

# Ensure Claude Code is installed and on PATH
claude --version
# If Claude Code is missing, install from https://docs.claude.com

graphify not on PATH after pip install

# Check pip install location
pip3 show graphifyy | grep Location
# Add pip bin to PATH:
export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
# Add to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc permanently

Global CLAUDE.md not being read

# Confirm location
ls -la ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md
# Claude Code reads ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md automatically for all sessions
# If not working, check Claude Code version: claude --version

Graphify hook not firing

# Check settings.json for the hook
cat ~/.claude/settings.json | python3 -m json.tool | grep -A5 "preToolUse"
# If missing, run from inside any project:
graphify claude install

Caveman not activating automatically

# Check SessionStart hook
cat ~/.claude/settings.json | python3 -m json.tool | grep -A5 "sessionStart"
# Re-install caveman:
npx skills remove caveman 2>/dev/null
npx skills add JuliusBrussee/caveman

What Gets Installed Where