Tutorial
The walkthrough now lives in one place: Get started. It runs the whole path end to end — install, link a library, put reusable capabilities in it, keep a project small, lock and trust, and bootstrap another machine — with real captured command output at each step.
This page is the map. Seven steps, in the order you do them, each saying what you are about to change and linking to the section that teaches it.
Step 1: Set up this machine#
Install the binary, let init find the CLIs you already have, and register the bridge once so live delivery can reach them. This is the only step that touches machine-wide state. Later steps cannot deliver anything until the bridge is registered. → Install and set up this machine
Step 2: Link your reusable library#
Point AgentStack at a folder you own and want to reuse across projects. Linking records the folder's path. It copies no files, and any folder can be a library. → Link a library repo
Step 3: Put reusable skills and servers in it#
Author a skill or a server definition once, in the library, with secrets held as ${REF} placeholders rather than values. Everything downstream selects it by name, so this is the only place its details are written down. → Put reusable capabilities in it
Step 4: Select names in a project#
A project's manifest names what it needs and nothing more — no copied commands, no duplicated tokens. The repo carries two files: the manifest and the lock. → Keep each project small
Step 5: Pin and review it#
lock --write pins exact commits and content digests; trust . then shows you what those pinned bytes will run and asks for your consent. The order matters — locking after trusting invalidates the grant you just made. → Lock, review, done
Step 6: Start your agent normally#
Launch your coding CLI the way you always do. On an MCP-capable tool the capabilities arrive live, with no file written into the project, which is why there is often nothing on disk to inspect. → What the agent sees
Step 7: Bootstrap another machine#
On a second machine, one command syncs the library, connects the installed CLIs, and verifies the checkout against its lockfile, because the lock pins exactly what the first machine reviewed. → Set up another machine
Deeper on one topic#
- Add an MCP server — one reusable definition, secrets by reference.
- Add a skill — author it once, select it by name.
- Name a toolset — the command form of a toolset, and how a default is chosen.
- Trust a project — why the lock comes first, and what the review actually shows.
- Undo AgentStack changes — the timeline, and taking a managed write back.
- Team setup — the same library across people and CI.
Next: Get started · Central library · FAQ · Full reference
Source of truth: docs/tutorial.md — this page is generated from it.