Installation

This page answers how to install On Track Method in a project, what the installation puts on your machine, and how to update it.

Requirements

• Node.js 22.20 or later and npx, for the npx skills installation.
• Git.
• Bash. Every bundled script is local Bash with no network calls.
• A coding agent that supports skills. The package is evaluated with Claude Code, Codex, and Kiro.

Install with npx skills

From the root of the project where you want to use the method, run:

npx skills add jotafurtado/on-track --skill '*'

The skills CLI lets you choose the agents and installs into the project by default.

Option	Effect
--global	Installs for your user instead of the project, so every project can use the skills.
--agent claude-code, --agent codex, --agent kiro-cli	Selects one of the evaluated agents explicitly.

Install the whole set with --skill '*'. Each script and template has one owner skill, and the other skills reach it through sibling paths such as ../ot-init/scripts/on-track-index.sh. A partial installation can leave a skill pointing at a resource that is not there.

This installation puts the skills in place only, not the command wrappers. Call a skill by name the way your harness does it: /ot-intent in Claude Code, $ot-intent or the /skills picker in Codex, or in any harness a plain request such as Use the ot-intent skill to <goal>.

Install from a checkout

To develop the package, or to keep links to a local checkout, clone the repository and run from its root:

./install.sh

The script links every skills/ot-* directory and every commands/ot-*.md wrapper into your harness directories. It is idempotent: running it again recreates the links.

Target	Default	Flag
Harness skills	~/.agents/skills	--agents-dir DIR
Claude Code skill mirror	~/.claude/skills	--claude-dir DIR
Command wrappers	~/.claude/commands	--commands-dir DIR

• The Claude Code mirror is updated only when the parent of the mirror directory exists (by default, when ~/.claude/ exists). Each mirror entry is a relative link to the entry in the harness skills directory.
• When you pass --claude-dir without --commands-dir, the wrappers go to a commands directory next to that skills directory.
• Any other argument stops the script with ERROR: unknown argument.

To also expose the skills to Kiro while keeping the default installation, run a second time with its directory:

./install.sh --agents-dir "$HOME/.kiro/skills"

That directory receives links to the same checkout, not an independent copy.

What gets installed

Eight skills, each with the procedure an agent follows and the resources it owns:

Skill	Owns
ot-init	scripts/on-track-init.sh, scripts/on-track-index.sh, assets/AGENTS-snippet.md
ot-intent	assets/intent.md, assets/ref.md
ot-spec	scripts/on-track-gate.sh, assets/spec.md, assets/tasks.md, assets/decisions.md
ot-implement	Its procedure only
ot-research	assets/research.md
ot-assess	assets/assessment.md
ot-handoff	assets/handoff.md
ot-doctor	scripts/on-track-doctor.sh

The checkout installation also links eight command wrappers, commands/ot-init.md through commands/ot-doctor.md. Each one tells the agent to run the skill of the same name. The ot-* names are the skill names, not aliases.

The checkout installer writes links to the configured harness directories. Run ot-init in a target project to create its on-track/ tree, managed block, and index (see Your first track).

Update

• With npx skills, run the same npx skills add command again to install the current version.
• With a checkout, pull the repository; the links already point at it. Run ./install.sh again when skills or commands were added or renamed.

After an update, the first skill that regenerates the index in a project warns when its managed block in AGENTS.md differs from the installed package, for example project v0.1.0, package v0.2.0. Then run ot-doctor in that project: it lists what is out of date (the block, new folders, files in an old layout), proposes the fixes, and applies them once you confirm.