You know the basics. Chat, CLAUDE.md, maybe a prompt or two. But there are deeper chambers -- commands, hooks, agents, skills, plugins, MCP servers, workflows -- and most who wield Claude Code never find them.
This is the dungeon that teaches you how.
A quest per feature. Each one builds a real artifact on your machine. The artifacts connect -- the spell you forge in Level 3 gets a tripwire in Level 6, and everything binds together into a plugin in Level 9. Past the workshop the chambers get sharper: a hook that decides instead of reacting, a tool that did not exist until you wired it in, and a script that commands several agents at once. You start at the threshold learning to talk to Claude Code. You end writing programs whose workers think.
The medium is the message: you learn about plugins by using one.
You'll need three things. The install script checks for all of them and offers to fetch what's missing.
git clone https://github.com/kylesnowschwartz/claude-code-hero.git
cd claude-code-hero
bash scripts/install.sh| Dependency | Purpose | Install source |
|---|---|---|
| Ruby | Runs the game engine | Homebrew / apt |
| jq | Parses JSON in hook scripts | Homebrew / apt |
| Claude Code | The CLI you're here to master | Official installer |
macOS and Linux. Windows users: WSL.
claude --plugin-dir . --agent dungeon-masterA guide will meet you at the entrance.
| Quest | Chamber | What You Learn |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | The Threshold | Basic Claude Code interaction |
| 1 | The Map Room | The .claude/ directory |
| 2 | The Tome of First Instructions | CLAUDE.md |
| 3 | The Goblin Lair of Commands | Slash commands |
| 4 | The Warden's Keys | Settings and permissions |
| 5 | The Enchanted Inscription | Rules |
| 6 | The Tripwire Cavern | Hooks |
| 7 | The Skill Quest of Doom | Skills |
| 8 | The Summoner's Circle | Agents |
| 9 | The Artificer's Workshop | Plugins, and publishing one to a marketplace |
| 10 | The Hall of Watchers | Advanced hooks -- deciding, not just reacting |
| 11 | The Oracle Well | MCP servers |
| 12 | The Warband | Dynamic workflows |
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
/claude-code-hero:verify |
Test whether your current quest is complete |
/claude-code-hero:progress |
Unroll the quest log |
/claude-code-hero:music |
Toggle dungeon music on or off |
/claude-code-hero:solve <N> |
Create minimum artifacts to pass levels 0 through N (QA tool) |
/claude-code-hero:restart |
Wipe all artifacts and return to the entrance |
Plugin commands carry the plugin's name, so the prefix is not optional -- but you never have to type any of it. Ask the dungeon master instead: "check my work" runs the same verification, and "where am I?" unrolls the same quest log.
Your journey saves to .claude/claude-code-hero.json. The dungeon master verifies your work programmatically and advances you when you pass.
Already have a CLAUDE.md or existing hooks? Every artifact is named hero-*, so nothing of yours is overwritten and /claude-code-hero:restart removes only what the dungeon created. Most quests write inside .claude/; the later ones reach outside it, since that is where the real thing lives -- Level 9 builds a plugin directory and Level 11 writes .mcp.json at the project root.
Left mid-quest? Walk back in anytime and resume your quest: claude --plugin-dir . --agent dungeon-master