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Quickstart — VS Code

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Get a new project wired into Tapestry in about 5 minutes.

  • VS Code installed
  • The Claude Code extension installed in VS Code
  • tapestry-cli installed: pip install tapestry-cli (or run it from the tapestry monorepo via python -m tapestry_cli)

1. Open your project in VS Code.

2. In the Claude Code chat panel, register the marketplace + install both plugins:

/plugin marketplace add Lizo-RoadTown/tapestry
/plugin install tapestry-discipline@tapestry
/plugin install tapestry-patterns@tapestry

3. In the integrated terminal (or any terminal at your project root):

Terminal window
tapestry onboard my-project-name

This single command writes:

  • .env with LOOM_PROJECT_ID=my-project-name + shared OTel + API-key blocks
  • .mcp.json declaring the loom-memory MCP server
  • .project-intelligence/my-project-name/ with agent-profile.json, project-context.json, observatory-config.json
  • .claude/settings.json enabling both tapestry plugins

It also registers the project with the Project Registry if it’s reachable.

4. Reload VS Code: Cmd+Shift+PDeveloper: Reload Window.

Open the Claude Code chat panel and start a new session. You should see:

  • An auto-recall block at the top of the conversation showing past memories tagged for this project (empty on first session — that’s normal)
  • A [loom-discipline] Discipline check: PROBE files before asserting ... line at the top of every one of your messages

If neither appears, see Recover from common failures.

  • Install the Claude Code extension itself (do that from the VS Code marketplace)
  • Run the plugin installs (those happen inside Claude Code chat — step 2 above)
  • Reload VS Code (manual — step 4 above)
  • Write CLAUDE.md (recommended but project-specific; author it yourself)
  • Add scripts/architecture_snapshot.py wrappers (optional; the SessionStart hook silently skips the snapshot if they’re absent)

For the comprehensive walkthrough including those items, see Set up a new project.

  • Runtime emission strings: the discipline reminder you’ll see in your chat says [loom-discipline] — that’s the runtime label, distinct from the install name tapestry-discipline. Both are correct.
  • Re-running tapestry onboard: idempotent. It merges into existing files rather than overwriting. Safe to re-run if you want to ensure the configuration is current.
  • Other IDEs: per-IDE quickstart pages are coming. The underlying setup (run tapestry onboard, install the two plugins, reload) is the same across IDEs; what differs is how you reach the Claude Code chat panel + how you reload.