GTMinds Playbook

The Ultimate Claude Code
Setup Guide

Plugins, MCPs, hooks, skills, and best practices to transform Claude Code from a chatbot into a production-grade AI engineering system.

8 sections · 15 min read

What's Inside

01The 7 Pain Points This Guide Solves
02Plugin Architecture: What to Install
03MCP Servers: Claude's Hands
04Hooks: Invisible Automation
05Skills: Your Shortcut Keys
06File Structure: Global vs Local
07How Everything Connects
08Setup Checklist

01The 7 Pain Points This Guide Solves

Every Claude Code user hits these walls. Here's what they are and how this setup eliminates them.

Pain: "Claude forgets everything between sessions"

Every new session starts from zero. You spend 15 minutes re-explaining your architecture, your design system, your decisions.

Solution: CLAUDE.md + claude-mem + progress.md

CLAUDE.md is loaded at every session start with your project context. claude-mem auto-captures decisions via vector search. progress.md tracks task status on disk. Survives compaction, crashes, and new sessions.

Pain: "I click Yes 50 times per session for permissions"

Every file edit, every bash command, every tool use. Claude asks for permission. It breaks flow.

Solution: bypassPermissions + Safety Hooks

Set defaultMode: "bypassPermissions" to auto-approve everything. Then add PreToolUse hooks that block truly dangerous operations: rm -rf, drop table, push --force main, editing .env files. Speed without risk.

Pain: "Claude generates ugly, generic dark-themed UIs"

You have a brand kit with specific colors and fonts. Claude ignores them and generates random Tailwind defaults.

Solution: Design Tokens in CLAUDE.md + frontend-design Plugin

Document your brand colors, fonts, and component patterns in CLAUDE.md. The frontend-design plugin adds design intelligence. Claude generates on-brand UI every time.

Pain: "Claude's quick fixes break other things"

You ask Claude to fix one file. It fixes the immediate issue but breaks three other files that depend on it.

Solution: CLAUDE.md Code Rules + LSP Plugins + /simplify

CLAUDE.md rule: "Understand the dependency chain before quick-fixing." LSP plugins give Claude real compiler feedback. /simplify reviews your changes for quality issues before you commit.

Pain: "Claude agrees with everything, even when I'm wrong"

LLMs are sycophantic by default. Claude says "great idea!" when it should say "that approach has three problems."

Solution: Anti-Sycophancy Rules in CLAUDE.md

Add explicit instructions: "Think critically and challenge assumptions. When you identify a flaw, say so clearly with reasoning. Ask follow-up questions BEFORE starting work."

Pain: "Either zero docs or Claude auto-generates docs after every tiny change"

Without rules, Claude either documents nothing, or creates README files you never asked for, eating context window.

Solution: Proportional Documentation Policy

Small changes: no docs. Medium changes: update relevant doc. Large changes: update docs + log decision with "why" in decisions.md. Rule: "Do NOT auto-generate documentation without asking first."

Pain: "Version mismatches break everything at the end"

You build for weeks. Then discover Next.js 15 broke a dependency. Massive refactor at the worst time.

Solution: Pre-Project Checklist + context7 Plugin

CLAUDE.md rule: "Check and pin exact versions of all dependencies upfront." The context7 plugin fetches live, current documentation, so Claude uses the actual API, not outdated training data.

02Plugin Architecture

Plugins add skills, hooks, MCPs, and behaviors to Claude Code. Install once, active everywhere.

Essential Plugins

294k
superpowers

14 auto-triggering skills: TDD, brainstorming, debugging, code review, planning, verification.

212k
context7

Fetches live library documentation. Claude uses current APIs, not training data.

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claude-mem

Persistent memory across sessions via vector DB. Auto-captures decisions and injects relevant context.

Workflow Plugins

security-guidance

Warns about XSS, SQL injection, command injection on every file edit

code-review

Multi-agent PR review with confidence scores

frontend-design

Production-grade UI generation with design intelligence

ralph-loop

Self-improving iterative loops: write, review, fix, review again (3-5 cycles)

feature-dev

End-to-end feature development: explore, architect, implement, review

hookify

Learns from your corrections and auto-generates hooks to prevent repeated mistakes

05Skills: Your Shortcut Keys

Type one command, trigger a complete multi-step workflow.

/commit

Analyzes your diff, writes a conventional commit message, creates the commit

/simplify

Spawns 3 parallel review agents checking reuse, quality, efficiency, auto-fixes issues

/loop 5m

Runs your task every N minutes (deploy checks, API polling, health monitors)

/schedule

Creates cron-scheduled remote agents that run autonomously

Auto-Triggered Skills (superpowers)

These activate automatically based on what you're doing:

brainstorming

Before any creative work: features, components, design

test-driven-development

Before writing implementation code

systematic-debugging

When encountering any bug or test failure

verification-before-completion

Before claiming work is done or creating commits/PRs

dispatching-parallel-agents

When facing 2+ independent tasks

07How Everything Connects

The complete data flow showing how plugins, MCPs, hooks, and skills work together.

Development Session Flow

SESSION START

├─ claude-mem → injects relevant context from past sessions

├─ superpowers → loads 14 development skills

├─ CLAUDE.md → loads project rules, design tokens

├─ progress.md → Claude reads where things left off

CLAUDE WRITES CODE

├─ LSP Plugin → real-time compiler feedback

├─ security-guidance → warns about vulnerabilities

├─ context7 → fetches live docs for libraries

├─ PreToolUse hook → blocks dangerous commands

TESTING & REVIEW

├─ /simplify → 3 agents review code quality

├─ playwright MCP → tests UI in headless browser

├─ superpowers:verification → checks work is complete

COMMIT & SHIP

├─ /commit → smart conventional commit

├─ github MCP → create PR

├─ code-review → multi-agent PR review

08Setup Checklist

Get your Claude Code setup to production-grade. Work through these at your own pace.

1. Foundation

  • Install superpowers plugin
  • Install context7 plugin
  • Install claude-mem plugin
  • Install LSP binary for your primary language
  • Create ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md with: critical thinking rules, design tokens, QA checklist
  • Add safety hooks: block destructive commands
  • Set defaultMode: "bypassPermissions" for speed
  • Add desktop notification hook

2. Workflow

  • Install database plugin (Supabase, Prisma, Firebase)
  • Connect cloud MCPs: Slack, Gmail, Notion, GitHub
  • Start using /commit after every piece of work
  • Start using /simplify before commits
  • Try feature-dev on your next non-trivial feature

3. Power User

  • Add playwright MCP for browser testing
  • Add apify MCP for web scraping
  • Add n8n-mcp for workflow automation
  • Try ralph-loop for critical code that needs self-review
  • Create your first custom skill

4. Automation

  • Set up /schedule for recurring tasks (daily summaries, PR checks)
  • Use hookify to auto-generate hooks from your correction patterns
  • Create progress.md + task_plan.md for your main project
  • Connect content/deployment workflows via n8n

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All 8 sections with code examples, configuration templates, and diagrams.

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