git:20260904.ee0eb1b to git:20260922.147dd82

- description: "Install Chewbacca by talking, not by answering a terminal wizard. Use when the user wants to set up this kit, run setup.sh, finish a half-finished install, or add one tool that was skipped. Also use when they ask what the installer is about to change on their machine."

- requires: [chewbacca]

- # Setting up Chewbacca

-

- `setup.sh` takes every answer as a flag. You ask the questions here, in

- conversation, then run it once. The terminal is where you run commands, not

- where the user fills in a form.

-

- Never tell them to run `setup.sh` themselves and answer prompts. There are no

- prompts.

-

- ## 0. Check the machine before asking anything

-

- Assume nothing is installed. This kit is aimed at people whose Mac has Claude

- on it and not much else, and macOS ships only bash, curl, and stubs at

- `/usr/bin/git` and `/usr/bin/python3` that do nothing until the Command Line

- Tools are installed.

-

- ```bash

- ./bin/bootstrap.sh --check

- ```

-

- Read the result back in plain words. If anything is missing, run it for real:

-

- ```bash

- ./bin/bootstrap.sh

- ```

-

- It installs the Command Line Tools, Homebrew, gh, node, jq, uv, and the claude

- CLI. Three things it cannot do alone, and you should not pretend otherwise:

-

- - **The Command Line Tools dialog.** A window opens with an Install button.

- Tell them to click it and say you will wait. Re-run bootstrap after.

- - **The Homebrew password prompt.** Homebrew writes outside their account, so

- it asks for their login password. Say that plainly before it appears, or a

- password prompt out of nowhere reads like something has gone wrong.

- - **`gh auth login`.** It opens a browser and needs their GitHub account. If

- they do not have one, that is a real fork in the road: say so, because two

- repos get created and pushed.

- Do not start the questions until bootstrap says Ready. Answers collected

- against a machine that then fails prerequisites are answers you have to ask

- for twice.

- ## 1. Look before you ask

- Most of what the old version of this skill asked for is sitting on the machine

- already. Read it instead of asking.

- ```bash

- ls /Applications

- defaults read com.apple.dock persistent-apps 2>/dev/null | grep -o '"file-label" = [^;]*'

- id -F # their real name, from the Mac's own account record

- Their first name comes from `id -F`. Do not ask for it. Say which name you are

- using and let them correct it.

-

- Then read the app list against the table below and **tell them what you found**

- rather than asking them to inventory their own life from memory. "I see you have

- Notion and Spotify" is a better opening than "do you use a task manager".

-

- | What is installed | What it means | Setup needed |

- | ------------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------- | --------------------- |

- | Calendar, Contacts, Messages, Mail, Notes, Reminders | Already works through `mac` | A permission click |

- | Notion | Can be connected | They sign in, once |

- | Todoist, Linear, Slack, Gmail, Spotify, Google Drive | Can be connected | They sign in, once |

- | Anything else | Nothing to do | None |

-

- Apple's apps are the important row. They need no account, no key, and no

- signup, and they cover most of what someone actually wants. Lead with those.

-

- ## 2. Ask about their life, never about their credentials

-

- The old version of this skill asked nine questions, six of which were API keys

- by name: Anthropic, GitHub, Todoist, Composio URL, Composio key. That asks a

- person to know what Composio is in order to answer, and being asked for a token

- you have never heard of does not read as optional. It reads as a thing you are

- failing to have.

-

- **The rule: never say the name of a service they have not said first.**

-

- Ask two or three open questions, in their words:

-

- - "What do you use to keep track of what you need to do?" Not "do you use

- Todoist."

- - "Where do you write things down?" Not "do you have Notion."

- - "What do you want help with most?" This one decides more than any credential.

-

- Then map their answer yourself:

-

- | They say | You wire | You say |

- | --------------------------------- | --------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------- |

- | "Apple Notes", "Reminders", "the calendar" | Nothing. It already works | "That already works, I can read it right now" |

- | "Notion", "Todoist", "Linear", "Slack" | The connector for that one | What signing in gets them, then the link |

- | "Paper", "my head", "nothing" | Nothing | Offer their second brain as the answer |

- | "I don't know" | Nothing | Move on. Ask again in a week when it matters |

-

- Never present a service they did not name. If they say Notion, set up Notion and

- say nothing about the other forty things that were possible.

-

- ## 3. Explain anything you cannot make simple

-

- Some things genuinely cannot be made effortless. Those get an explanation before

- they happen, not an apology after.

-

- Three of them, and the phrasing matters because each one looks like a failure to

- someone who was not warned:

-

- - **A window opens asking to install developer tools.** Say: "Apple is going to

- ask to install some tools. Click Install. It is a big download so it takes a

- few minutes, and I will wait." Otherwise a stalled progress bar reads as a

- crash.

- - **A password prompt appears.** Say it before it appears: "This will ask for

- your Mac password. That is Homebrew, which installs software outside your

- account, so macOS makes it ask. It is your normal login password and it does

- not go anywhere." A password box out of nowhere is the scariest moment in the

- whole install.

- - **macOS asks whether Claude can see your screen and control your Mac.** Say

- what each grant actually allows and why it is needed for the thing they asked

- for. Do it one toggle at a time, in the moment, not as a checklist at the end.

-

- If they ask what something is, answer in one sentence with no jargon, then move

- on. Do not teach them what an MCP server is. They do not need to know and the

- kit works either way.

-

- ## 4. Ask the two consequential ones separately

-

- These change how Claude behaves on the whole machine. Both default to off. Ask

- each as its own question and take a plain no for an answer.

-

- **Permission prompts.** `--bypass-permissions` stops Claude asking before it

- runs a shell command or writes a file. It applies to every project, and it is

- written to three separate files, so undoing it is not one edit. Ask with a

- concrete example rather than in the abstract: "Right now I will ask before I

- send a text or change a file. Want me to stop asking?" Leave it off unless they

- say yes. Do not sell it.

-

- **Session opener.** Offer it, do not warn about it. Claude can open every reply

- with a line they choose, injected on every prompt so it holds across the whole

- session and every session after. Two ship with the kit: `prayer`, a prayer to

- Jesus Christ specific to the work in front of them, and `gratitude`, one

- concrete sentence about something worth being grateful for. Ask which, if

- either, and take none for an answer.

- It is off by default because it is a surprising thing to inherit from a coding

- tool, not because it is an afterthought. Say it can be added any time:

- ```bash

- ./setup.sh --only settings --session-opener prayer

- If they want their own line instead, that is one string in `OPENERS` in

- setup.sh, and you can write it with them.

- ## 5. Confirm before you run anything

- Say what changes in their words first, and put the command underneath for

- anyone who wants it. Not the reverse.

- - what Claude will be able to do afterwards that it cannot do now

- - where their second brain lives, as a path they could open in Finder

- - whether Claude will ask permission before acting

- - that `chewbacca uninstall` reverses all of it

- Mention a repo, a credential, or a config file only if one is actually involved.

- On the personal profile none of them are, and listing them anyway invents

- complexity that is not there.

- `--dry-run` prints this without touching anything. Use it when they hesitate.

- ## 6. Run it

- Most installs are one line, because the profile carries the defaults and the

- name came from the Mac:

- ```bash

- ./setup.sh --profile personal --name Jane

- ```

- Add `--profile student` if they are in school, or `--profile developer` if they

- write code and have a GitHub account. Anything else they mentioned gets wired

- after this run, one service at a time, as its own small step they can watch.

- When a key is genuinely involved, write the answers to a file instead, so the

- value never lands in shell history:

- ```bash

- cat > setup.answers.json <<'JSON'

- {

- "name": "Jane",

- "repo_dir": "~/dev",

- "github_user": "janedoe",

- "anthropic_key": "sk-ant-...",

- "bypass_permissions": false,

- "session_opener": "none"

- }

- JSON

- ./setup.sh --answers setup.answers.json

- ```

- Delete the answers file afterwards if it held a key, and say that you did.

- ## 7. Read the output back to them

- Run `./doctor.sh` and translate it. A warning is not a failure. Name what is

- missing, what it costs them, and the one command that fixes it.

- Re-running is safe. One section at a time:

- ```bash

- ./setup.sh --only tools # a tool arrived after the first run, like uv

- ./setup.sh --only plugins # the claude CLI was missing at the time

- ./setup.sh --only mcp

- ```

- Sections: `prereq repos settings editor desktop mcp rules plugins tools plynn verify`

- ## 8. Hand off what a script cannot do

- Screen Recording, Accessibility, and any consent screen need a real click. The

- [agent-setup](../agent-setup) skill covers those. Switch to it once the

- install is done rather than leaving a checklist behind.

- ## What to never do here

- - Do not turn on `--bypass-permissions` because it makes your own job easier.

- - Do not enable the session opener without being asked.

- - Do not read a key out of their environment, keychain, or `gh auth token` and

- pass it in. If they did not give it to you, it does not get written.

- - **Do not name a service they have not named.** Composio, Todoist, Notion, an

- Anthropic API key: every one of those is a question that assumes knowledge,

- and being asked for a token you have never heard of does not read as optional.

- - Do not explain what a hook, an MCP server, a skill, or a subagent is unless

- they ask. The kit works either way, and the words cost them attention they

- should be spending on what it can do.

- - Do not hand them a checklist at the end. Anything a script cannot do, walk

- them through in the moment, one step at a time.

- - Do not paste a key into a chat message you then echo back.