Claude Code Team Starter Template

Safe, team-friendly starter repo for running real work with Claude Code.

Claude Code starter template for teams that want shared MCP setup, project slash commands, subagents, hooks, and a maintainable CLAUDE.md.

This repository gives you a practical baseline for:

• shared project settings in .claude/settings.json
• reusable project slash commands in .claude/commands/
• specialized subagents in .claude/agents/
• reusable team skills in .claude/skills/
• deterministic safety hooks in .claude/hooks/
• MCP examples in .mcp.json and mcp/
• a starter CLAUDE.md for team conventions

Keywords people usually search for:

• Claude Code starter
• Claude Code template
• Claude Code MCP setup
• Claude Code subagents
• Claude Code slash commands
• Claude Code hooks

This repo is designed for teams that want a public, understandable starting point instead of a private collection of prompts and ad hoc local settings.

What This Is

This is not a Claude Code clone.

It is a clean starter template built around Claude Code's official extension points:

• project settings
• slash commands
• subagents
• hooks
• MCP configuration
• project memory in CLAUDE.md

If you are searching for a reusable Claude Code template with MCP examples, shared commands, subagents, and safer defaults for team workflows, this is that baseline.

Official docs:

• https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/overview
• https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/settings
• https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/slash-commands
• https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/sub-agents
• https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/hooks
• https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/mcp

Good Fit

This starter is a good fit if you want to standardize Claude Code usage across:

• solo consulting work
• small engineering teams
• internal platform teams
• client delivery teams
• release engineering and delivery workflows
• security-sensitive services and internal tools
• MCP-heavy repositories with shared tooling

Why Teams Use This

Teams usually adopt this starter when they want:

• one shared Claude Code setup instead of per-developer local drift
• a repeatable MCP baseline for GitHub, Postgres, docs, and internal tools
• reusable slash commands for review, planning, release, and incident work
• subagents that encode common engineering roles
• safer defaults for shells, secrets, and project files

Visual Assets

• README screenshot: assets/readme-preview.png
• GitHub social preview image: assets/social-preview.png
• workflow overview: assets/workflow-overview.png
• variant composition preview: assets/variant-composition.png
• onboarding path preview: assets/onboarding-path.png
• install demo screenshot: assets/install-demo.png
• first-run demo screenshot: assets/first-run-demo.png
• terminal demo GIF: assets/terminal-demo.gif
• regenerate all assets with npm run render-assets

Quick Start

1. Install Claude Code.

npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

2. Copy the template into your project.

cp -R .claude /path/to/your-project/
cp CLAUDE.md /path/to/your-project/
cp .mcp.json /path/to/your-project/

Or install it with the helper script:

node scripts/install.mjs /path/to/your-project

For more install patterns and first-run checks:

• docs/install.md
• docs/bundle-selector.md
• docs/examples-gallery.md
• examples/README.md

Install Demo

3. Open your project and start Claude Code.

cd /path/to/your-project
claude

4. Check that the starter is loaded.

• Run /help to see the project commands
• Run /check-setup to audit the starter setup
• Run /agents to see the project subagents
• Run /mcp to inspect MCP connections
• Open .claude/settings.json and adjust permissions for your stack

First-Run Demo

Terminal Walkthrough

Fast Onboarding

For a new teammate, keep the first session small:

1. Install the base starter only.
2. Start from mcp/examples/team-onboarding.json.
3. Run /check-setup, /agents, and /mcp.
4. Try /review on a harmless diff before adding variants or broader MCP access.

Use the full walkthrough here:

• docs/onboarding.md

Capability Matrix

This starter is opinionated about what is included, what is optional, and what is outside the repo's scope.

• docs/capabilities.md
• docs/bundles.md
• docs/bundle-selector.md
• docs/examples-gallery.md
• docs/config-layers.md
• docs/hook-recipes.md

Use these before deciding whether a change belongs in CLAUDE.md, .claude/settings.json, .claude/settings.local.json, or .mcp.json.

Bundle Presets

If your team shape is obvious, start from a named bundle instead of choosing every variant by hand.

Example:

node scripts/install.mjs /path/to/your-project --bundle platform-api

Quick references:

• bundle guide: docs/bundles.md
• bundle selector: docs/bundle-selector.md
• examples gallery: docs/examples-gallery.md
• available bundles: npm run list-bundles
• bundle descriptions: npm run describe-bundles

Stack-aware bundle examples:

node scripts/install.mjs /path/to/your-project --bundle node-service
node scripts/install.mjs /path/to/your-project --bundle python-service
node scripts/install.mjs /path/to/your-project --bundle go-service
node scripts/install.mjs /path/to/your-project --bundle data-python
node scripts/install.mjs /path/to/your-project --bundle admin-console

Describe one bundle before installing it:

node scripts/install.mjs --describe-bundles --bundle product-web

Variant Packs

This starter also includes overlay variants for common working styles:

• backend
• consulting
• data
• frontend
• release-engineering
• security
• support-triage

Apply a variant during install:

node scripts/install.mjs /path/to/your-project --variant backend

You can also combine overlays:

node scripts/install.mjs /path/to/your-project --variant frontend --variant consulting

See docs/variants.md for details.

Quick references:

• variant map: variants/README.md
• bundle guide: docs/bundles.md
• bundle selector: docs/bundle-selector.md
• install flags: npm run install-help
• available bundles: npm run list-bundles
• bundle descriptions: npm run describe-bundles
• available variants: npm run list-variants

Included Commands

• /spec [feature-or-change] Creates an implementation plan before coding.
• /review [focus] Reviews the current working tree and reports findings first.
• /review-security [scope] Reviews the current working tree with a security-first lens.
• /check-setup [optional-focus] Audits starter files, gitignore safety, and MCP environment gaps.
• /fix-test [test-command] Runs the smallest relevant test command and fixes failures.
• /incident [symptom] Triage flow for bugs, production issues, and flaky behavior.
• /ship [scope-or-version] Builds a release checklist, rollout notes, and risk summary.
• /pr-ready [scope] Prepares a merge-ready summary with tests, risks, and follow-up notes.
• /summarize-diff [scope] Turns the current working tree into a compact changelog-style summary.

Included Subagents

• code-reviewer
• test-runner
• debugger
• release-manager
• docs-writer
• security-reviewer

These are project-level agents, so your team can share a common workflow without depending on private home-directory config.

Included Skills

• release-checklist
• frontend-change-checklist
• internal-tooling-checklist
• node-change-checklist
• python-change-checklist
• go-change-checklist

These are small reusable skill examples. Use them as patterns for stack-specific or team-specific guidance.

Safety Defaults

This starter ships with conservative defaults:

• denies reading obvious secret files via permissions.deny
• blocks edits to sensitive files via a PreToolUse hook
• asks for confirmation on risky shell commands via a PreToolUse hook
• disables bypass-permissions mode in shared project config
• disables Co-Authored-By Claude by default

You should still review and tailor the rules for your environment.

If you need stronger repo-specific automation without enabling it by default, start from docs/hook-recipes.md.

MCP

The root .mcp.json is intentionally minimal and safe to commit.

• add your shared MCP servers there
• keep secrets in environment variables
• use ${VAR} or ${VAR:-default} expansion
• keep private credentials out of version control

See mcp/README.md for examples.

Ready-to-adapt MCP profiles:

• mcp/examples/product-web.json
• mcp/examples/github-postgres.json
• mcp/examples/issue-triage.json
• mcp/examples/release-delivery.json
• mcp/examples/security-review.json
• mcp/examples/team-onboarding.json

Suggested Use

For a small team, this repo is enough to standardize:

• planning before large changes
• review before merge
• test-fixing workflow
• release preparation
• safer shell/file behavior
• common MCP integrations

For a consultancy or internal platform team, this can become the base for:

• language-specific starter kits
• vertical packs for web/backend/data teams
• customer-specific MCP bundles
• team onboarding docs and agent policies

Repository Layout

.
├── .claude/
│   ├── agents/
│   ├── commands/
│   ├── docs/
│   ├── hooks/
│   ├── skills/
│   └── settings.json
├── .mcp.json
├── CLAUDE.md
├── CONTRIBUTING.md
├── SECURITY.md
├── docs/
├── examples/
└── mcp/

Customization Guide

Start here:

• docs/capabilities.md
• docs/bundles.md
• docs/bundle-selector.md
• docs/examples-gallery.md
• docs/config-layers.md
• docs/install.md
• docs/onboarding.md
• docs/commands.md
• docs/agents.md
• docs/customize.md
• docs/public-launch-checklist.md
• docs/adoption-playbook.md
• docs/publish.md
• docs/roadmap.md
• docs/use-cases.md
• docs/variants.md
• examples/README.md
• variants/README.md
• CHANGELOG.md
• CONTRIBUTING.md

Legal Note

This repository is an independent starter template for Claude Code workflows.

It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Anthropic.