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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://smithers.sh/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

Claude Code extends through skills, MCP servers, and plugins. Smithers ships into all three. The fastest path: 
bunx smithers-orchestrator skills add --agent claude-code
bunx smithers-orchestrator mcp add --agent claude-code
That installs the Smithers skill set under ~/.claude/skills/ and registers the MCP server in ~/.claude.json. Restart Claude Code (or run /mcp) and it can list, run, watch, and approve workflows.

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Install the skill

The onboarding skill teaches Claude the Smithers mental model and ships the full docs bundle next to it: 
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/smithers
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/smithersai/smithers/main/skills/smithers/SKILL.md \
  -o ~/.claude/skills/smithers/SKILL.md
curl -fsSL https://smithers.sh/llms-full.txt \
  -o ~/.claude/skills/smithers/llms-full.txt
For project-scoped skills, write to .claude/skills/ in the repo instead, or run skills add --no-global to generate per-command skills there. Claude loads a skill when its description matches the request, so once it’s installed you just ask for the outcome — “orchestrate an agent to add rate limiting and keep iterating until the tests pass” — and Claude reaches for Smithers itself.

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Register the MCP server

mcp add writes the registration for you. To do it by hand, add a server with the Claude CLI: 
claude mcp add --transport stdio --scope user smithers \
  -- bunx smithers-orchestrator --mcp
Or commit a project-scoped .mcp.json so the whole team gets it: 
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "smithers": {
      "command": "bunx",
      "args": ["smithers-orchestrator", "--mcp"]
    }
  }
}
The server exposes the semantic tool surface — list_workflows, run_workflow, watch_run, list_pending_approvals, resolve_approval, explain_run, and more. See the MCP Server reference for every tool.

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Claude Code plugin

A plugin bundles the skill and MCP server behind a single install, namespaced as smithers:. The manifest lives at .claude-plugin/plugin.json: 
{
  "name": "smithers",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "description": "Durable control plane for long-running coding agents",
  "skills": ["skills/smithers"],
  "mcpServers": {
    "smithers": { "command": "bunx", "args": ["smithers-orchestrator", "--mcp"] }
  }
}
Install from a marketplace and reload without restarting: 
/plugin marketplace add smithersai/smithers
/plugin install smithers@smithers
/reload-plugins
See the worked examples: plugin (skill) and plugin (orchestrator).

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Standing instructions

Add a line to CLAUDE.md so Claude remembers Smithers is the tool for durable, multi-step work: 
## Orchestration
For multi-step, long-running, or human-in-the-loop agent work, use Smithers:
`bunx smithers-orchestrator starters` lists ready-made workflows.

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Smithers runs Claude Code too

In the other direction, Smithers spawns Claude Code as a worker inside a workflow via ClaudeCodeAgent, with native session hijack: 
import { ClaudeCodeAgent } from "smithers-orchestrator";

const claude = new ClaudeCodeAgent({ model: "claude-sonnet-4-20250514" });
See CLI Agents → Claude Code.