⛓️ Chainer

A Claude Code plugin that lets you describe what you want to build, then suggests and runs the right plugins—end to end.

⚠️ Early Development: Chainer is in active development. Expect rough edges, breaking changes, and incomplete features. Some documented features are designed but not yet implemented.

What is Chainer?

Chainer lets you combine multiple Claude Code plugins into automated workflows called "chains". Just describe your goal in natural language—Chainer figures out which plugins to run and in what order.

Features

• Natural Language: Just describe what you want to build
• Chain Plugins: Combine any Claude Code plugins in sequence
• Smart Questions: Interactive clarifying questions from any plugin
• Config-Driven: Define chains in YAML - no code required
• Built-in Chains: Get started immediately with pre-configured workflows
• Dependency Detection: Automatically checks for missing plugins before execution
• Plugin Discovery: Discover plugins and chains through natural language suggestions

Quick Start

Installation

1. Add the Marketplace

In Claude Code, run:

/plugin marketplace add danielraffel/worktree-manager

2. Install the Plugin

/plugin install chainer@generous-corp-marketplace

Or use the interactive installer:

1. Type /plugin
2. Navigate to "generous-corp-marketplace"
3. Select "chainer"
4. Click "Install for you (user scope)"

3. Restart Claude Code

Quit and reopen Claude Code to load the plugin.

4. Verify Installation

/plugin list
# Should show chainer

/chainer:list
# Test a command

Basic Usage

# Discover plugins and chains with natural language
/chainer:suggest "plan and implement a login feature"

# List available chains
/chainer:list

# Check plugin dependencies for a chain
/chainer:check-deps plan-and-implement

# Run a chain
/chainer:run plan-and-implement \
  --prompt="Build OAuth authentication" \
  --feature_name="oauth"

# Check running chains
/chainer:status

Built-in Chains

plan-and-implement

Complete feature development workflow:

1. Plan with feature-dev:feature-dev
2. Implement with ralph-loop loop

/chainer:run plan-and-implement \
  --prompt="Build user dashboard" \
  --feature_name="dashboard"

plan-only

Just planning, no implementation:

/chainer:run plan-only \
  --prompt="Design payment system" \
  --feature_name="payments"

implement-only

Implement from an existing spec:

/chainer:run implement-only \
  --spec_file="audit/oauth.md"

worktree-plan-implement

Full workflow with worktree creation (requires worktree-manager):

1. Create isolated worktree
2. Plan with feature-dev
3. Implement with ralph-loop

/chainer:run worktree-plan-implement \
  --feature_name="oauth" \
  --prompt="Build OAuth2 authentication"

Plugin Discovery & Dependency Management

Smart Suggestions

Not sure which plugin to use? Ask Chainer in natural language:

/chainer:suggest "review my code for security issues"

Output:

Suggestions for: "review my code for security issues"

Matched plugins:
  • security-guidance - Security best practices and guidance
    Install: /plugin install security-guidance@claude-plugins-official
    Matched keywords: "security"

  • code-review - Code review and quality analysis
    Install: /plugin install code-review@claude-plugins-official
    Matched keywords: "review"

Chainer matches your description against 85+ keywords across all official plugins and recommends:

• Relevant chains (if multiple plugins match)
• Individual plugins with installation commands
• Runnable examples you can copy-paste

Dependency Detection

Chainer automatically checks for missing plugins before running a chain:

/chainer:run plan-and-implement --prompt "test"

If plugins are missing:

❌ Cannot run 'plan-and-implement' - missing required plugin(s)

Missing plugins:
  • ralph-loop - Autonomous implementation loops
    Install: /plugin install ralph-loop@claude-plugins-official
    Docs: https://awesomeclaude.ai/ralph-loop

Dependency status for 'plan-and-implement':
  ✅ feature-dev
  ❌ ralph-loop

To skip this check: /chainer:run plan-and-implement --skip-deps-check ...

Check dependencies manually:

# Check specific chain
/chainer:check-deps plan-and-implement

# Check all built-in chains
/chainer:check-deps

This prevents frustrating errors mid-execution and shows exactly how to fix missing dependencies.

Creating Custom Chains

Configuration File

Create or edit ~/.claude/chainer.local.md:

---
chains:
  my-workflow:
    enabled: true
    description: "Custom development workflow"
    inputs:
      task: { required: true, description: "What to build" }
    steps:
      - name: plan
        type: skill
        skill: feature-dev:feature-dev
        args: "{{task}}"
      - name: test
        type: script
        script: npm test
      - name: build
        type: script
        script: npm run build

defaults:
  spec_directory: audit
  max_iterations: 50
---

# Your notes here

Step Types

Type	Description	Example
skill	Invoke Claude Code skill	feature-dev:feature-dev
script	Run bash commands	npm test && npm run build
mcp	Call MCP server tool	Coming in v0.2
prompt	Ask user mid-chain	Coming in v0.2
wait	Wait for file/condition	Coming in v0.2

Variable Substitution

Use {{variable}} syntax to reference:

• Inputs: {{prompt}}, {{feature_name}}
• Step outputs: {{spec_file}} (from previous steps)
• Special vars: {{cwd}}, {{home}}, {{env.API_KEY}}

Visual Settings Editor

Open settings.html in your browser for a visual interface:

• Drag-and-drop step reordering
• Enable/disable chains with checkboxes
• Add/remove inputs and steps
• Import/export chains
• Download configuration file

open ~/.claude/plugins/chainer/settings.html

Integration with Other Plugins

With Worktree Manager

Create a worktree and run a chain:

# Two commands
/worktree-manager:start oauth
/chainer:run plan-and-implement --cwd="~/worktrees/oauth" --prompt="OAuth"

# Or use the combined chain (coming in Phase 3)
/chainer:run worktree-plan-implement --feature_name="oauth" --prompt="OAuth"

With Feature Dev

Chainer uses feature-dev for planning by default:

/chainer:run plan-only --prompt="Design API" --feature_name="api"

With Ralph Wiggum

Chainer uses ralph-loop for implementation loops:

/chainer:run implement-only --spec_file="audit/api.md"

Advanced Usage

Working Directory

Run a chain in a specific directory:

/chainer:run plan-and-implement \
  --cwd="~/worktrees/oauth" \
  --prompt="OAuth" \
  --feature_name="oauth"

Environment Variables

Reference environment variables in chains:

steps:
  - name: deploy
    type: script
    script: |
      export API_KEY={{env.API_KEY}}
      ./deploy.sh

Configuration Locations

Chainer looks for configuration in this order:

1. .claude/chainer.local.md (project-specific)
2. ~/.claude/chainer.local.md (global)
3. Plugin defaults

Community Chains

Share and discover chains in community-chains/:

community-chains/
├── development/
│   ├── plan-and-implement.yaml
│   ├── tdd-feature.yaml
│   └── design-and-build.yaml
├── content/
│   ├── research-to-deck.yaml
│   └── video-to-doc.yaml
└── marketing/
    └── landing-page.yaml

Import from URL:

# In settings.html
Import → From URL → https://raw.githubusercontent.com/user/repo/main/chain.yaml

Examples

Full Feature Development

/chainer:run plan-and-implement \
  --prompt="Add user authentication with OAuth" \
  --feature_name="auth"

This will:

1. Plan the feature with feature-dev
2. Save spec to audit/auth.md
3. Implement with ralph-loop loop
4. Iterate until complete

Quick Implementation

Already have a spec? Skip planning:

/chainer:run implement-only --spec_file="audit/auth.md"

Planning Only

Just want to plan without implementing?

/chainer:run plan-only \
  --prompt="Design payment system" \
  --feature_name="payments"

Troubleshooting

Chain not found

❌ Chain 'my-chain' not found

Fix: Check chain name with /chainer:list or enable it in config

Missing plugin

Chainer now detects this automatically before execution:

❌ Cannot run 'plan-only' - missing required plugin(s)

Missing plugins:
  • feature-dev - Feature planning with architecture focus
    Install: /plugin install feature-dev@claude-plugins-official

Fix: Run the exact /plugin install command shown

To see all dependencies: /chainer:check-deps plan-only

Missing required input

❌ Missing required input: prompt

Fix: Provide all required inputs: --prompt="value"

Development

Chainer is part of a two-plugin system:

• Worktree Manager: Pure git worktree operations
• Chainer: Universal plugin orchestration

See FEATURE-PLAN-CHAINER-SPLIT.md for architecture details.

Roadmap

• v0.1 ✅: Config-driven chains, visual editor, built-in workflows
• v0.2 (Current) ✅: Dependency detection, plugin suggestions, tmux integration, status tracking
• v0.3 (Planned): Inline pipe syntax, import/export, community chains
• v1.0 (Future): Production ready, comprehensive docs, marketplace integration

Contributing

Contributions welcome! See community-chains/ for examples of shareable chains.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details

Credits

Built by Daniel Raffel for the Claude Code community.

Links

• Website
• GitHub
• Worktree Manager
• Feature Plan