Getting Started

What you’ll need

Requirement	Notes
Node.js	18 or higher — download
tmux	Terminal multiplexer — brew install tmux on macOS, apt install tmux on Linux

Step 1: Install the CLI

curl -fsSL https://getcliq.io/cliq/install | bash -s -- --key cliqhub-early-2026

Verify it worked:

cliq --version

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Step 2: Run the setup wizard

cliq setup

The wizard walks you through everything cliq needs. Each step shows the current value as a default — press Enter to accept it, or type a new value. Here’s what to expect:

Prerequisites check — Confirms Node.js and tmux are installed. If either is missing, setup stops and tells you how to fix it.

Import offer — If you have a settings.json from another machine, you can import it here. First-timers: just say no.

Default agent — Pick your agent (cursor, claude-code, gemini, or codex) and provide its API key. If the key is already in your shell environment (e.g. ANTHROPIC_API_KEY), setup detects and imports it automatically.

Instance ID prefix — An optional prefix for pipeline instance names. Useful if multiple people share a machine. Most users leave this blank.

CliqHub registry — The URL of the team registry. The default (https://cliqhub.io) is correct for almost everyone.

Integrations — Optional connections to GitHub, Bitbucket, Jira, Slack, Google, and Microsoft. These unlock features like automatic PRs, issue tracking, and notifications. Skip them for now — you can configure them later.

Builder — Optional API key for the AI team builder (cliq builder). Skip for now.

Diagnostics — A summary of what’s configured. Green checkmarks mean you’re good to go.

Setup creates ~/.cliqrc/ with your settings and an empty team registry. You can re-run cliq setup at any time to change anything.

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Step 3: Install your first team

Teams are ready-made agent configurations — roles, workflows, and gates bundled together — hosted on CliqHub. Install the hello-world team:

cliq team install hub://@cliq/hello-world

This downloads the team from the registry into ~/.cliqrc/teams/@cliq/hello-world/.

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Step 4: Create a project and run it

Create a fresh directory, initialize it, assemble the team, give it a task, and run:

mkdir hello && cd hello
cliq init
cliq assemble @cliq/hello-world
cliq req -m "Write a short article about why teamwork matters"
cliq run

Here’s what just happened:

1. cliq init created the .cliq/ directory where all orchestration artifacts live.
2. cliq assemble deployed the hello-world team’s workflow and roles into your project.
3. cliq req resolved your requirement into a task specification and built the prompts, channels, and scaffolding each agent needs.
4. cliq run launched three agents in a tmux session:
   • Planner — reads the requirement, produces a structured outline, hands off to the writer.
   • Writer — reads the outline, produces output.md, hands off to the reviewer.
   • Reviewer (a gate) — checks that the output exists and meets quality criteria. Passes, routes back for revision, or escalates.

The pipeline takes about a minute. When it finishes, you’ll see a completion summary.

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Step 5: See the results

cliq status

This shows which phases completed, what the gate decided, and the overall outcome. For more detail:

cliq status -v

Read the output the team produced:

cat output.md

Everything is on disk, fully inspectable — the outline, handoff notes between agents, signals, logs. No hidden state, no dashboards. If you want to understand what happened, read the files. The Hello World deep dive walks through every artifact.

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Troubleshooting

Check your environment:

cliq doctor

This verifies Node.js, tmux, your agent binary, and any tools required by the assembled team.

Common issues:

Problem	Fix
cliq setup fails at prerequisites	Install the missing dependency (Node.js or tmux) and re-run
Agent phase says “no API key”	Export the key in your shell (export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=...) and re-run setup, or paste it when prompted
cliq run says “agent not found”	Make sure the agent binary is on your PATH — run cliq doctor to check
Need to start over	cliq setup --reset wipes ~/.cliqrc/ and re-runs the wizard

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What’s next

• Hello World deep dive — Inspect every file the pipeline created: roles, channels, signals, logs.
• Try a real team — cliq team install hub://@cliq/feature-dev-js adds an architect, developer, tester, and reviewer with TDD, git branching, and automated PRs.
• Build your own — Describe what you want in plain English and cliq builder generates a complete team. See Building with Builder.
• Browse teams — CliqHub is the public registry where the community publishes and discovers teams.
• Full reference — CLI Reference, Settings, Agent Overview.