"Build on solid ground, not a house of cards."
CAT transforms chaotic AI coding sessions into predictable, reliable delivery. Your team gets consistent results, trackable progress, and code that passes review the first time.
| Benefit | Impact |
|---|---|
| Predictable Progress | Track completion across versions, tasks, and milestones |
| Consistent Quality | Every developer follows the same structured workflow |
| Reduced Rework | Built-in verification catches issues before code review |
| Team Alignment | Shared preferences and quality gates across projects |
For Engineering Leaders: AI tools promise 10x productivity, but deliver unpredictable results. One developer gets magic, another gets chaos. Progress is invisible until something breaks.
For Teams: AI assistants forget context, ignore conventions, and make inconsistent decisions. Every session starts from scratch. Code quality varies wildly.
CAT solves this. You define your standards once. CAT enforces them consistently across every developer, every task, every session. Work progresses when you approve it. Nothing changes while you're away.
See how CAT transforms chaotic AI coding into structured, reliable progress.
[A] Quick Start · [B] How It Works · [C] Commands
# Add the plugin marketplace
/plugin marketplace add cowwoc/cat
# Install CAT
/plugin install cat@cowwoc-claude-code-cat
# Verify you're ready
/cat:help/cat:initCAT will ask about your project and your preferences:
Your answers shape how CAT makes decisions throughout your project.
# Add structure (versions and tasks)
/cat:add
# See your project status
/cat:status/cat:workCAT spawns a subagent in an isolated worktree, executes the task, and presents you with results at a checkpoint:
CAT organizes work into three levels:
- Major versions are your milestones (v1: "Core Features", v2: "Polish & Performance")
- Minor versions group related work (v1.0: "Authentication", v1.1: "User Profiles")
- Tasks are individual units of work sized to fit in a single session
During /cat:init, you configure preferences that apply consistently across your team:
| Preference | What It Controls |
|---|---|
| Trust | How much autonomy CAT has to make decisions |
| Verify | What verification runs before presenting changes |
| Curiosity | Whether CAT notes optimization opportunities beyond the task |
| Patience | When CAT acts on discovered opportunities |
For Teams: These preferences become your team's coding standards. Every developer, every project, every session follows the same rules.
Each task follows this path:
- Planning → PLAN.md defines the task objectives
- Approach Selection → At forks in the road, you choose the path
- Execution → Subagent works in isolation (no risk to your main branch)
- Verification → Build, test, lint—all must pass
- Review → Optional stakeholder council weighs in
- Checkpoint → You approve or request changes
- Completion → Merged to main, progress saved
CAT includes safeguards that protect your codebase and ensure consistent delivery:
| Feature | Business Value |
|---|---|
| Token-Aware Tasks | Tasks sized to complete successfully, reducing failed sessions |
| Isolated Worktrees | Each task runs separately — no risk to your main branch |
| Automatic State Tracking | Resume instantly after interruptions — no lost progress |
| Learn from Mistakes | CAT analyzes failures and prevents the same issues recurring |
| Quality Gates | Multi-perspective reviews catch bugs before they reach production |
| Command | What It Does |
|---|---|
/cat:init |
Initialize project structure |
/cat:status |
View project status and progress |
/cat:work [scope] |
Execute tasks (see below) |
/cat:help |
Quick reference for all commands |
/cat:work scope options:
| Scope | Example | What Happens |
|---|---|---|
| (none) | /cat:work |
Work through ALL incomplete tasks |
| major | /cat:work 0 |
Complete all tasks in v0.x |
| minor | /cat:work 0.5 |
Complete all tasks in v0.5 |
| task | /cat:work 0.5-auth |
Complete single task only |
When trust >= medium, CAT auto-continues to the next task within scope.
| Command | What It Does |
|---|---|
/cat:add [description] |
Add a task or version. With description, creates task directly |
/cat:research |
Research before committing to an approach |
| Command | What It Does |
|---|---|
/cat:cleanup |
Clear abandoned worktrees and orphaned branches |
/cat:config |
Change your preferences |
/cat:learn |
Analyze and learn from mistakes |
/cat:remove |
Remove a task or version |
Your CAT settings live in .claude/cat/cat-config.json:
{
"trust": "medium",
"verify": "changed",
"curiosity": "low",
"patience": "high",
"terminalWidth": 120
}| Option | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
trust |
string | medium |
Autonomy level (controls review and approval behavior) |
verify |
string | changed |
What verification runs before checkpoints |
curiosity |
string | low |
Whether CAT notices opportunities beyond the task |
patience |
string | high |
When CAT acts on discovered opportunities |
terminalWidth |
number | 120 |
Display width in characters for output formatting |
autoRemoveWorktrees |
boolean | true |
Auto-cleanup worktrees on task completion |
trust — How much trust you place in CAT to make decisions:
low— CAT presents options frequently; you guide most decisionsmedium— CAT presents options for meaningful trade-offs; handles routine choiceshigh— CAT decides autonomously; only presents HIGH risk or architectural choices
verify — What verification CAT runs before presenting changes:
none— No verification; fastest iterationchanged— Verify modified file/module only; balanced confidenceall— Verify entire project; highest confidence before checkpoint
curiosity — Whether CAT notices optimization opportunities while working:
low— Stays focused; only completes the assigned taskmedium— Notes obvious issues in touched files; documents but doesn't acthigh— Actively explores for improvements; documents opportunities found
patience — When CAT acts on opportunities discovered during work:
low— Acts immediately on high-priority discoveries (benefit/cost > 3)medium— Defers most discoveries; acts on critical issues onlyhigh— Defers all discoveries to backlog; maximum focus on current task
terminalWidth — Display width in characters for output formatting:
120— Desktop/Laptop (Recommended). Optimized for wide monitors50— Mobile. Optimized for phones and narrow screens40-200— Custom. Any value in this range is valid
When verify is changed or all, CAT runs multi-perspective stakeholder reviews before merge:
| Stakeholder | Focus |
|---|---|
| requirements | Verifies task satisfies its claimed requirements from PLAN.md |
| architect | System design, module boundaries, API design, dependencies |
| security | Vulnerabilities, injection, auth, input validation |
| quality | Code duplication, complexity, maintainability, obvious bugs |
| tester | Test coverage, missing tests, edge cases |
| performance | Algorithm complexity, memory usage, blocking operations |
| ux | Usability, accessibility, interaction design |
| sales | Customer value, competitive positioning, demo-readiness |
| marketing | Positioning, messaging, go-to-market readiness |
Skills are specialized abilities CAT can invoke. Most run automatically, but some you can call directly:
git-commit · git-squash · git-rebase · git-amend · git-merge-linear
spawn-subagent · monitor-subagents · collect-results · merge-subagent · parallel-execute
stakeholder-review · learn-from-mistakes · run-retrospective · decompose-task
After /cat:init, your project gains a planning structure:
your-project/
└── .claude/cat/
├── PROJECT.md # Project overview
├── ROADMAP.md # The big picture
├── cat-config.json # Your preferences
└── v1/ # Major version 1
├── STATE.md # Chapter progress
├── PLAN.md # Chapter objectives
└── v1.0/ # Minor version
├── STATE.md # Section progress
└── setup-auth/ # Individual task
├── STATE.md
└── PLAN.md
Start small — Begin with one major version and a few tasks. Expand as you find your rhythm.
Check status — Run /cat:status often. It shows where you are and
suggests next steps.
Scout unfamiliar territory — Use /cat:research before tackling complex
features in unknown domains.
Clear the fog — Run /clear between tasks to start fresh with full context.
Trust the process — CAT tracks state automatically. If a session ends
mid-task, just run /cat:work to continue where you left off.
CAT is opinionated by design. It does a few things well rather than everything poorly.
Contributions are welcome when they:
- Solve real problems encountered during structured project execution
- Align with the existing structured workflow
- Maintain the focused nature of the tool
Open an issue to discuss before investing significant effort.
CAT Source-Available Commercial License — see LICENSE.md
Free for solo developers. See pricing for team and enterprise options.
Now go build something amazing.
