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Tares

What do I need installed and signed in before I can start a Claude Code crew?

Tares needs Claude Code signed in on a plan that allows background sessions, gh signed in with write access to your repos, and git, jq and curl installed. The crew’s stations use your Claude Code login, so you need no separate model API key. A second-model CLI, the Codex CLI, is optional and only matters if you want every commit checked.

How it works

The software factory for Claude Code runs a crew of Claude Code sessions in the background on your machine: an orchestrator, a reviewer and builders, plus a releaser if you ask for one. Each requirement maps to something the crew does.

  • Claude Code, signed in, on a plan that allows background sessions. Every station is a Claude Code session, and it runs on your own Claude Code login. Tares does not ask for a model API key.
  • gh, signed in with write access to the repos the crew works in. Builders push branches and open pull requests with your gh login, so that login needs write access.
  • git, jq and curl. The crew’s sessions rely on these tools on your machine.
  • Optional: the Codex CLI. On the first tares factory crew up, Tares asks whether a second model checks every commit. Install the Codex CLI if you want to answer yes.

Tares itself holds the plan, the tickets, the reviews and your answers. It can run next to the crew on your machine, or you can use Tares Cloud. Either way, the crew runs on your machine. Tares also needs its own access to your GitHub repos, because it reads the pull request, CI and merge state of every ticket itself. That access is separate from your gh login.

The full walkthrough is on the Get started page.

Set it up

  1. Check that Claude Code is signed in on a plan that allows background sessions.
  2. Sign in to GitHub with gh using an account that can write to the crew’s repos. Check that git, jq and curl are installed.
  3. Optional: install the Codex CLI if you want a second model to check every commit.
  4. Install the CLI. The tares package includes the Tares plugin the crew uses, so you install nothing extra in Claude Code.
  5. Point the CLI at Tares. For a local Tares, start it with tares up, then in a second terminal start the MCP endpoint every crew session shares with tares mcp --transport streamable-http. Leave both running. For Tares Cloud, run tares login and pick your workspace in the browser. There is no MCP endpoint to start.
  6. Give Tares access to GitHub. On a local Tares, add a GitHub token or App under Settings > GitHub. On Tares Cloud, choose Connect GitHub in your workspace settings and pick the repos.
  7. Bring up the crew with tares factory crew up. The first run offers to open Claude Code in ~/factory so you can trust the folder once. It then asks how far the crew may go: whether it merges on its own after review and green CI or waits for your yes, whether it releases, whether a second model checks every commit, how many builders run at once, and anything you always allow.
gh auth login
uv tool install tares     # or: brew install glassflow/tap/tares
tares up                  # console on http://127.0.0.1:8787

In a second terminal, for a local Tares:

tares mcp --transport streamable-http     # http://127.0.0.1:8788/mcp

If your Tares has auth on, start the MCP endpoint with TARES_AUTH_TOKEN set to your token. Stations reach Tares only through this endpoint, so tares factory crew up and tares factory spec stop and tell you when it does not answer.

On Tares Cloud, run this instead of the two local commands:

tares login

Then, in a third terminal:

tares factory crew up

If you also installed the Tares plugin from the marketplace (tares@tares) at a different version than the one your tares package ships, Claude Code loads the marketplace one and the stations run without their factory skills. Update it to match, or remove it with claude plugin uninstall tares@tares.

At any point, run tares factory doctor. It checks everything the crew needs and tells you when the two plugin versions differ.

What you get

  • A crew that starts on your existing Claude Code login, with no extra model key to create or pay for.
  • Builders that push and open pull requests as you, with the write access you already granted through gh.
  • Tares reading pull request, CI and merge state for every ticket, so the record of the plan, reviews and your answers stays on Tares even when sessions restart.
  • An optional second-model check on every commit, if you installed the Codex CLI and said yes at the first crew up.
  • One command, tares factory doctor, that reports what is missing before you spend time debugging a station.

Once the crew is up, tares factory spec "what you want to build" plans your first project and hands it to the orchestrator.

When something else fits

  • If a project is small, work on it in your own Claude Code session with tares factory session. You still need Claude Code signed in, but you do not bring up a crew.
  • If you do not want a second model checking commits, skip the Codex CLI and answer no when crew up asks.

Still stuck? Get help

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Quickstart