Getting started

context-kit is a plugin marketplace that three hosts install from directly — the same plugins, from a single Markdown source, with no manual copying of skill folders.

Host	Register the marketplace	Install a plugin
GitHub Copilot CLI	copilot plugin marketplace add mbeacom/context-kit	copilot plugin install <name>@context-kit
APM	apm marketplace add mbeacom/context-kit	apm install <name>@context-kit
Claude Code	/plugin marketplace add mbeacom/context-kit	/plugin install <name>@context-kit

Installing code-search or verify automatically pulls in the retrieval-core spine. runtime-evidence and context-handoff depend on verify, so either pulls verify and then retrieval-core transitively. memory depends on context-handoff, so it pulls the complete continuity and verification chain.

Install the plugins

Pick the host you use. Install one entry plugin for the journey you need rather than the entire catalog. code-search is a good first choice and brings the retrieval spine with it.

GitHub CopilotAPMClaude Code

copilot plugin marketplace add mbeacom/context-kit
copilot plugin install code-search@context-kit

See the GitHub Copilot guide for host configuration and the lifecycle guide for verification, updates, and uninstall.

apm marketplace add mbeacom/context-kit
apm install code-search@context-kit

APM adds a project lockfile, dependency resolution, target deployment, and audit/policy checks. See the APM guide.

/plugin marketplace add mbeacom/context-kit
/plugin install code-search@context-kit

Run /reload-plugins, then inspect /plugin → Installed or claude plugin list --json.

Choose an entry plugin:

Journey	Install	Also needed at runtime
Search code, data, or docs	code-search	rg; optional search CLIs
Search a corpus semantically	local-rag	uv, Ollama, embedding model
Narrow an Obsidian vault, then rerank	obsidian + local-rag	Obsidian CLI or rg/fd
Verify repository claims	verify	—
Verify, then observe runtime behavior	runtime-evidence	Python 3, POSIX, reviewed allowlist
Verify, then hand off	context-handoff	Python 3
Recall durable project memory	memory	Python 3; MemPalace optional
Plan, then delegate execution	plan-execute	A host with the required workflow/subagent support
Choose where context belongs	context-steering	—
Author portable plugins	plugin-forge	validation toolchain for maintainers

See Plugins for every component and dependency, or start from a complete cookbook journey.

Requirements

The skills degrade gracefully and tell you what's missing. Default storage is local, but a configured model endpoint, provider, or user-allowlisted command may access a network or other external state. Allowlisting does not prove a command has no side effects.

• code-search

  ---

  Needs rg (ripgrep); everything else is optional. Run bash plugins/code-search/scripts/check-tools.sh from a clone to see what's installed and the brew install … line for the rest.

• local-rag

  ---

  Needs uv and a running ollama with an embedding model (ollama pull nomic-embed-text). GitHub Copilot and APM users bootstrap the rag CLI once (below); Claude Code auto-bootstraps it.

• obsidian

  ---

  Optional: the official obsidian CLI (with Obsidian running) for graph-accurate queries; otherwise it falls back to rg/fd. Set your vault with CONTEXT_KIT_OBSIDIAN_VAULT.

• runtime and handoff tools

  ---

  runtime-evidence and context-handoff require Python 3. Both use only the standard library. The runtime runner requires POSIX and refuses Windows before execution; the handoff validator is cross-platform. Runtime evidence also requires a user-owned exact-ID JSON allowlist; handoffs default to .context-kit/handoff.md.

• memory

  ---

  Needs Python 3 for local reviewed records. Optional provider recall uses a separately installed MemPalace CLI (uv tool install mempalace). Automatic capture is disabled by default and requires an explicit project scope.

Check your toolbox

Run the bundled checker from a clone of the repository to see which optional CLIs are present and the exact brew install … command for the gaps:

bash plugins/code-search/scripts/check-tools.sh

Complete first-run setup

Verify installation with the host-specific checks in Troubleshooting and lifecycle. GitHub Copilot and APM do not run Claude hooks, so local-rag needs one manual bootstrap from a clone:

export CONTEXT_KIT_DATA="$HOME/.local/share/context-kit"
bash plugins/local-rag/scripts/bootstrap.sh
export PATH="$PWD/plugins/local-rag/bin:$PATH"
ollama pull nomic-embed-text
rag list

Use CONTEXT_KIT_* variables in portable profiles. The GitHub Copilot guide contains the canonical cross-host variable table, and each plugin page documents its own defaults and Claude fallback.

Before configuring a remote Ollama host, runtime allowlist, memory provider, or Claude lifecycle hooks, read Security and trust boundaries.

Run a first journey

Once a plugin is installed, ask your agent naturally — the routing agent loads the right skill for the task:

• "Use the retrieval strategy to find where retry backoff is handled."
• "Use code-search to find structural React useEffect cleanup issues."
• "Use local-rag to query my notes for billing open questions."
• "Use the Obsidian RAG bridge to search notes linked to Project X."
• "Analyze the change impact of renaming this event field."
• "Collect runtime evidence for this unable-to-check health endpoint claim."
• "Write a handoff before I continue this task in another session."
• "Recall why this project changed its retry policy, then verify the source."

The key habit is retrieve, then pin: use search to find candidates, open the primary file, and cite exact lines before relying on the answer. The cookbook walks through that flow plus graph/rerank, verify/observe, verify/handoff, recall/verify, and plan/execute.

Next steps

• Architecture — the modality model and how the plugins compose.
• Cookbook — task-oriented multi-plugin journeys.
• Security — trust boundaries, retained data, hooks, providers, and command execution.
• Troubleshooting — first-run checks, refusal modes, updates, uninstall, and data locations.
• Plugins — a page for each plugin in the catalog.
• Contributing — validate, lint, and test the marketplace.