crew setup, crew init and crew doctor reference

crew setup installs the default tools from upstream after one list and one yes, crew init writes a project’s root .claude/ folder for the /firstmate skill, and crew doctor checks Node, Claude Code, your crew’s folders and links, and each default tool. crew init and crew doctor never ask anything; crew setup needs a terminal unless you pass --yes.

crew setup

crew setup [--yes] [--with-hooks]

Flag	Default	What it does
--yes	off	Install without asking; also skips the Lavish telemetry question
--with-hooks	off	Also install the gh-axi and lavish-axi commands and their SessionStart hooks

It prints every tool with the command it runs and where it lands, asks Install the N items above? (default yes), then installs what is missing. Anything already installed is skipped and never updated.

The tools

Tool	Command	Lands in	Counted as installed when
lavish skill	npx skills add kunchenguid/lavish-axi --skill lavish -g	~/.claude/skills/lavish	that folder exists
gh-axi skill	npx skills add kunchenguid/gh-axi --skill gh-axi -g	~/.claude/skills/gh-axi	that folder exists
quota-axi skill	npx skills add kunchenguid/quota-axi --skill quota-axi -g	~/.claude/skills/quota-axi	that folder exists
treehouse	irm https://kunchenguid.github.io/treehouse/install.ps1 | iex in PowerShell on Windows; curl -fsSL https://kunchenguid.github.io/treehouse/install.sh | sh elsewhere	the treehouse command on your PATH	treehouse is on PATH
playwright-cli	npm install -g @playwright/cli@latest, then playwright-cli install --skills run from your home folder	the playwright-cli command and its skill in ~/.claude/skills	playwright-cli is on PATH
playwright MCP	adds playwright (npx -y @playwright/mcp@latest) to each ship’s mcp.json that has none	each such ship’s mcp.json	every ship has it, or there are no ships
gh-axi and lavish-axi commands (--with-hooks)	npm install -g gh-axi lavish-axi	global npm packages	both are on PATH
gh-axi session hook (--with-hooks)	gh-axi setup hooks	a SessionStart hook in ~/.claude/settings.json	the hooks in that file mention gh-axi
lavish-axi session hook (--with-hooks)	lavish-axi setup hooks	a SessionStart hook in ~/.claude/settings.json	the hooks in that file mention lavish-axi

Skills land in ~/.claude/skills, which every member links. The --with-hooks items are the only ones that write to ~/.claude/settings.json, and they do it through the upstream tools’ own commands.

After the installs

• In a terminal and without --yes, it asks once: Let lavish-axi send its usage telemetry? (No sets LAVISH_AXI_TELEMETRY=0 for every launch). The answer is saved as lavishTelemetry.
• It runs gh auth status and only reports it. It never runs gh auth login; sign in to GitHub yourself.
• A step that fails prints [!] <tool>: <command> did not finish. Run it yourself to see why. and the exit code is 1.

Without a terminal

$ crew setup

crew setup installs these from upstream. Anything already installed is skipped and never updated.

  lavish skill
      runs: npx skills add kunchenguid/lavish-axi --skill lavish -g
      lands in: ~/.claude/skills/lavish
  gh-axi skill
      runs: npx skills add kunchenguid/gh-axi --skill gh-axi -g
      lands in: ~/.claude/skills/gh-axi
  quota-axi skill
      runs: npx skills add kunchenguid/quota-axi --skill quota-axi -g
      lands in: ~/.claude/skills/quota-axi
  treehouse
      runs: irm https://kunchenguid.github.io/treehouse/install.ps1 | iex
      lands in: the treehouse command on your PATH (its installer picks the folder)
  playwright-cli
      runs: npm install -g @playwright/cli@latest, then playwright-cli install --skills
      lands in: the playwright-cli command (global npm), its skill installed from your home folder into ~/.claude/skills
  playwright MCP
      runs: adds playwright (npx -y @playwright/mcp@latest) to each ship's mcp.json that has none
      lands in: E:\demo-crew-inventory\crew-home\ships\home\mcp.json
  gh sign-in
      checked with gh auth status after the installs, only reported; crewrota never runs gh auth login
  Lavish telemetry
      asked after the installs (a no turns it off for every launch)

crewrota: crew setup asks once before it installs anything, and that needs a terminal. Run it in a terminal, or pass --yes to install without asking.

[exit code 1]

The list prints first, so a script or an agent can show it to you before anyone passes --yes. When everything is installed it prints Everything is installed already. Nothing to do. and needs no answer.

crew init

Write a project’s root .claude/ folder into the current folder.

crew init

No flags or arguments; anything extra fails with Usage: crew init.

$ crew init

[OK] created .claude\CLAUDE.md
[OK] created .claude\crewrota.json
[OK] created .claude\memories\README.md
[OK] created .claude\skills\README.md
[OK] created .claude\tasks\INDEX.md
The project's .claude/ folder is ready in E:\demo-crew-inventory\proj\site

[exit code 0]

File	What it is
.claude/crewrota.json	{ "version": 1, "routing": [] }: marks the project root for /firstmate, and holds its routing rules
.claude/CLAUDE.md	A short project guide to fill in; skipped when the project already has a root CLAUDE.md
.claude/memories/README.md	The index of the project’s memories
.claude/skills/README.md	Where project skills go
.claude/tasks/INDEX.md	The index of task folders

• It never overwrites a file: one that exists prints [i] left alone <file> (already there), and a root CLAUDE.md gives [i] left alone .claude\CLAUDE.md (the project has a CLAUDE.md).
• Run again with every file in place, it prints Nothing to create: <folder> already has every file.
• crewrota’s own commands do not read these files; the /firstmate skill does. See firstmate.

crew doctor

Check the setup.

crew doctor [--logins]

Flag	Default	What it does
--logins	off	Also run claude auth status in each member’s folder

$ crew doctor

ok    Node 22.21.1
ok    claude 2.1.310 (Claude Code) (fake)
ok    crewrota home E:\demo-crew-pages1\crew-home
ok    config E:\demo-crew-pages1\appdata\crewrota\config.json
ok    main: folder E:\demo-crew-pages1\crew-home\members\main
ok    main: linked to ship home
ok    side: folder E:\demo-crew-pages1\crew-home\members\side
ok    side: linked to ship home
FAIL  team: folder E:\demo-crew-pages1\crew-home\members\team is missing
      fix: Log it in again with: crew login team (or drop it with: crew drop team)
ok    --dangerously-skip-permissions: off
miss  lavish skill: missing
      fix: npx skills add kunchenguid/lavish-axi --skill lavish -g (or: crew setup)
miss  gh-axi skill: missing
      fix: npx skills add kunchenguid/gh-axi --skill gh-axi -g (or: crew setup)
miss  quota-axi skill: missing
      fix: npx skills add kunchenguid/quota-axi --skill quota-axi -g (or: crew setup)
miss  treehouse: missing
      fix: irm https://kunchenguid.github.io/treehouse/install.ps1 | iex (or: crew setup)
miss  playwright-cli: missing
      fix: npm install -g @playwright/cli@latest, then playwright-cli install --skills (or: crew setup)
miss  playwright MCP: missing
      fix: crew setup (adds playwright (npx -y @playwright/mcp@latest) to each ship's mcp.json that has none)
miss  gh-axi and lavish-axi commands (opt-in): missing
      fix: npm install -g gh-axi lavish-axi (or: crew setup --with-hooks)
miss  gh-axi session hook (opt-in): missing
      fix: gh-axi setup hooks (or: crew setup --with-hooks)
miss  lavish-axi session hook (opt-in): missing
      fix: lavish-axi setup hooks (or: crew setup --with-hooks)
miss  gh sign-in: gh is not signed in
      fix: gh auth login (run it yourself; crewrota never runs it)
ok    Lavish telemetry: not asked yet

[exit code 1]

Each line starts with ok, miss (an optional tool, never a failure) or FAIL, and a line that is not ok has a fix: line under it.

The checks

Check	ok when	Fix it points to
Node	the major version is 22 or newer	Install Node.js 22 or newer from nodejs.org
claude	claude --version runs (on Windows also through cmd.exe for an npm shim)	Install Claude Code: the PowerShell installer or winget on Windows, the shell installer or Homebrew on macOS, the shell installer on Linux
crewrota home	the folder can be read, or does not exist yet	Check its permissions
config	config.json parses, or does not exist yet	Fix the JSON, or rename the file
each member’s folder	it exists	crew login <member>, or crew drop <member>
each member’s ship link	projects and the other ship folders point at the ship	crew run <member>, which repairs links before every launch
each member’s skills, agents, commands	linked to ~/.claude, or linked at the next launch	crew run <member>; move a real folder that is in the way first
permissions	always ok; shows on, off or not asked yet
VS Code	found, checked only when you have shortcuts	Install VS Code; on macOS also its code command
logins (--logins)	claude auth status exits with 0 in the member’s folder	crew login <member>
each default tool, gh sign-in, Lavish telemetry	installed; reported as miss, never a failure	the crew setup line for it, or gh auth login

Exit code

0 unless a check that is not optional fails; missing tools never fail it. In the example above, the missing member folder is the one FAIL, so it exits with 1.

Related

• Install crewrota
• Fix a problem with crew doctor
• Exit codes and terminal needs