Introduction

MeowKit is an AI agent toolkit for Claude Code that gives your coding assistant enforced discipline — hard gates, TDD, security scanning, and human approval — so it ships production-quality code instead of untested prototypes.

See what's new

Changelog — latest features, improvements, and fixes.

What problem does MeowKit solve?

AI coding tools are powerful but undirected. Without structure, they skip tests, ignore security, and ship untested code. A single "implement this feature" prompt can produce code that compiles but has no tests, no review, and secrets hardcoded in source.

MeowKit fixes this by installing a .claude/ directory that Claude Code reads automatically. It contains specialist agents, domain skills, lifecycle hooks, security rules, and a memory system that together enforce a structured development workflow.

How it works

When you start a Claude Code session in a MeowKit project, the toolkit automatically:

1. Routes your task to the right agent based on complexity (orchestrator)
2. Creates a plan before any code is written (planner, Gate 1)
3. Writes tests — failing tests first if --tdd / MEOWKIT_TDD=1 is set (strict TDD mode); otherwise tests are recommended but not gated (tester invoked on-request)
4. Implements with discipline — builds until tests pass (developer)
5. Reviews across 5 dimensions — architecture, types, tests, security, performance (reviewer, Gate 2)
6. Ships safely — conventional commits, PR, CI verification, rollback docs (shipper)
7. Learns from the session — captures patterns and lessons for next time (analyst)

No step can be skipped. Two hard gates (plan approval + review approval) require explicit human sign-off.

How it differs from raw Claude Code

Concern	Raw Claude Code	With MeowKit
Planning	Starts coding immediately	Creates and gets approval for a plan first
Testing	Tests optional, often skipped	TDD opt-in via --tdd — strict failing-test-first when enabled, recommended otherwise
Security	Relies on model knowledge	4-layer defense + security agent + post-write hooks
Review	Ask "review this" and hope	3 parallel adversarial reviewers + triage step
Shipping	"git add -A && git push"	Conventional commits, PR, CI verification, rollback docs
Memory	Forgets everything between sessions	Persists lessons, patterns, and costs
Model selection	Same model for everything	Domain-adaptive routing — fintech forces COMPLEX tier
Architecture decisions	Ask and hope for the best	Party Mode: 2-4 agents deliberate, forced synthesis
Parallel work	Single-threaded	Worktree-isolated parallel agents, max 3, with integration gate

Architecture at a glance

.claude/
├── agents/          Specialist agents for each phase
├── skills/          Domain skills with mk: namespace (step-file decomposition)
├── hooks/           Lifecycle hooks (security scan, TDD gate)
├── rules/           Enforcement rules (security, injection, TDD, parallel execution)
├── scripts/         Python validators (stdlib only)
├── memory/          Cross-session persistence
└── settings.json    Hook registrations + permissions

CLAUDE.md            Entry point — Claude reads this at session start
docs/
└── project-context.md   Agent "constitution" — loaded by ALL agents at session start

Next steps

• How It Works — the philosophy behind enforced discipline
• Installation — get MeowKit running in 2 minutes
• Quick Start — your first task with MeowKit in 5 minutes