Installation and Prerequisites

Installation and Prerequisites

This page covers the tools, installation steps, and verification flow needed before running the migration utility.

What is Claude Code?

Claude Code is an AI-powered CLI that runs in your terminal. You interact with it by typing natural language or / commands in a chat-style interface. The migration utility is a plugin that adds migration-specific commands (like /scope-tables, /profile-tables, /generate-model) to Claude Code. When you type a / command, the agent reads your project files, runs tools, and writes results. Interactive workflows pause for review; batch commands summarize results and ask before opening a PR.

Platform Support

Local execution is supported on macOS and Linux. Windows is not supported for the current local workflow because the project setup depends on Unix-oriented tooling such as brew, direnv, bash hooks, and unixODBC-based FreeTDS registration.

Required Tools

Tool	Version	Purpose
Claude Code CLI	Latest	Agent runtime that executes all plugin commands
Python	3.11+	Runtime for CLI tools; installed automatically by the Homebrew formula
gh CLI	Latest	GitHub operations (PRs, branch management, worktree cleanup)
git	2.x+	Version control; worktree support required for batch commands

Required Tools (SQL Server)

Tool	Version	Purpose
FreeTDS	Latest	Open-source ODBC driver for SQL Server connectivity. Install: brew install freetds and ensure it is registered in unixODBC

Optional Tools

Tool	When needed	Purpose
direnv	Recommended for all projects	Auto-loads .envrc credentials when you enter the project directory; keeps secrets out of shell history

Connection Variables

/init-ad-migration scaffolds a .envrc with the non-secret variables for the selected technology. The repo then uses role-specific variables for runtime.source, runtime.target, and runtime.sandbox.

Use the dedicated reference pages for the full variable lists:

• SQL Server Connection Variables
• Oracle Connection Variables

Setting variables with direnv (recommended)

The /init-ad-migration command scaffolds a tracked .envrc template for shared non-secret variables and loads local secrets from .env. Fill in .envrc, put password values in .env, then run:

direnv allow

Setting variables manually

Export them in your shell before launching claude:

# SQL Server
export SOURCE_MSSQL_HOST=localhost
export SOURCE_MSSQL_PORT=1433
export SOURCE_MSSQL_DB=AdventureWorks2022
export SOURCE_MSSQL_USER=sa
export SOURCE_MSSQL_PASSWORD=<your-password>

# Oracle
export SOURCE_ORACLE_HOST=localhost
export SOURCE_ORACLE_PORT=1521
export SOURCE_ORACLE_SERVICE=FREEPDB1
export SOURCE_ORACLE_USER=sh
export SOURCE_ORACLE_PASSWORD=<your-password>

Add target and sandbox variables from the corresponding technology reference page before running ad-migration setup-target or ad-migration setup-sandbox.

Loading the Plugin

Install from the Vibedata marketplace:

/plugin marketplace add accelerate-data/vibedata-plugins-official
/plugin install ad-migration@vibedata-plugins-official

Alternatively, for local development, load the plugin directly:

claude --plugin-dir .

The ad-migration plugin provides all pipeline commands and skills in a single package.

Installing the ad-migration CLI

The ad-migration CLI is installed automatically when you run /init-ad-migration. To install manually or verify an existing installation:

brew tap accelerate-data/homebrew-tap
brew install ad-migration
ad-migration --version

Verifying Setup

Run the initialization command inside your Claude Code session:

/init-ad-migration

This installs the ad-migration CLI via Homebrew if not already present, then prompts for source technology selection, checks every prerequisite silently, and presents a status display grouped by source. See Project Init for full details on the status display format and what each check covers.

Next Step

Once verification passes, proceed to the Quickstart for a complete walkthrough.