Installation

Every install method and flag, and why Claude Code and Copilot each need their own copy.

Why two skill directories

Claude Code and Copilot do not share a skills directory:

Host	Discovers skills in
Claude Code	.claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.md
GitHub Copilot	.github/skills/<name>/SKILL.md (Copilot’s other mode uses .github/agents/*.agent.md — shipflow standardizes on the portable SKILL.md layout)

The same portable SKILL.md file runs in both — but it has to physically exist in both locations. Project-scope install therefore writes to both by default; that’s the one thing every install method below has in common.

npx (recommended)

Cross-platform, no clone, always the latest published version:

npx shipflow-skills init                 # project scope: both .claude/skills and .github/skills,
                                          # plus .mcp.json + .vscode/mcp.json seeded
npx shipflow-skills init ./path/to/repo  # explicit target dir (default: current directory)
npx shipflow-skills init --global        # personal scope: ~/.claude/skills (Claude Code only)
npx shipflow-skills init --claude-only   # project scope, skip the Copilot (.github/skills) copy
npx shipflow-skills init --no-mcp        # skip seeding .mcp.json / .vscode/mcp.json

The npm package is shipflow-skills (the bare name shipflow was already taken) — the installed command is shipflow, since the bin field is independent of the package name.

MCP config is central to how shipflow reads work items, so init seeds it by default rather than requiring a second flag. --no-mcp opts out. --global always skips it — there’s no target repo at personal scope to put .mcp.json in.

Bash installer (alternative)

Needs Git Bash or WSL on Windows. Run with your target repo as the working directory:

/path/to/shipflow/install.sh                # both host dirs + MCP config, same defaults as npx
/path/to/shipflow/install.sh --global       # ~/.claude/skills (Claude Code only)
/path/to/shipflow/install.sh --claude-only  # skip the Copilot copy
/path/to/shipflow/install.sh --no-mcp       # skip MCP seeding

Both installers are kept behavior-identical on purpose — if you change a flag in one, change it in the other (scripts/validate.py runs both for real and checks the resulting tree matches).

What gets installed

Skills — 8 SKILL.md files, both host directories

shipflow (orchestrator), product-context, feature-context, feature-plan, feature-implement, feature-tests, feature-verify, feature-pr.

shipflow.config.md — seeded from the pristine example

Only created if it doesn’t already exist — re-running init never overwrites your edits.

templates/ — the four render targets the skills fill in

context.md, plan.md, pr-body.md, product.md.

.mcp.json + .vscode/mcp.json — MCP server placeholders

Claude Code reads .mcp.json (key mcpServers); Copilot reads .vscode/mcp.json (key servers) — different file and different top-level key. See Connecting MCP servers.

After installing

1. Add .shipflow/ to .gitignore — it’s shipflow’s per-work-item scratch space, not meant to be committed.
2. Edit shipflow.config.md — see Configuration.
3. Fill in the MCP server(s) you need — see Connecting MCP servers.
4. Run /shipflow AB#1234 in Claude Code or Copilot chat.