What do I need installed and signed in before a crew can work in a documentation website?

Before a Tares crew can work in a documentation website, you need Claude Code signed in, gh signed in with write access, git, jq and curl. Claude Code must be on a plan that allows background sessions. The Codex CLI is optional and adds a second model that checks every commit.

How it works

The crew is a set of Claude Code sessions (an orchestrator, a reviewer and builders) that run in the background on your machine. Each requirement maps to a part of that work:

• Claude Code, signed in, on a plan that allows background sessions. The stations use your Claude Code login. There is no separate model API key to create or paste.
• 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 the repo that holds your documentation website must be one your login can write to.
• git, jq and curl. These are the tools the crew expects on the machine.
• Codex CLI (optional). Install it if you want a second model to check every commit. During the first tares factory crew up, the crew asks whether a second model checks every commit.

Tares keeps the plan, the tickets, the reviews and your answers. It also needs its own access to the repo, because it reads the pull request, CI and merge state of every ticket itself. On Tares Cloud you choose Connect GitHub in your workspace settings and pick the repos. On a local Tares you add a GitHub token or App under Settings > GitHub.

The tares package includes the Tares plugin the crew uses, so there is nothing to install in Claude Code for it.

Set it up

1. Sign in to Claude Code on a plan that allows background sessions. Install git, jq and curl if they are missing.

2. Sign in to GitHub with gh, using an account that has write access to your documentation repo:

   gh auth login

3. Install the CLI:

   uv tool install tares     # or: brew install glassflow/tap/tares

4. If you run Tares locally, start it. The console is at http://127.0.0.1:8787.

   tares up

5. Still on a local Tares, open a second terminal and start the MCP endpoint every crew session shares. Stations reach Tares only through this endpoint, so crew up and spec stop and tell you when it does not answer. Leave both commands running and use a third terminal for the next steps.

   tares mcp --transport streamable-http

6. If you use Tares Cloud instead, sign in and pick your workspace in the browser. There is no MCP endpoint to start.

   tares login

7. Give Tares access to GitHub, as described above, so it can read pull requests, CI and merge state for your documentation repo.

8. Bring up the crew. The first run 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, and how many builders run at once.

   tares factory crew up

9. Check everything the crew needs. For each problem, the command prints the fix:

   tares factory doctor

10. Plan the work from the documentation repo, or from a folder that holds its repos:

    tares factory spec "what you want to build"

The full walkthrough is on Get started.

What you get

• A crew that works in your documentation website the way a small team does: builders open pull requests, a reviewer holds each one to a fixed bar, and nothing merges until it passes and CI is green.
• One login to manage. The stations follow your Claude Code login and your gh login, and you create no model API key.
• A clear check at any time. tares factory doctor prints a line for each thing the crew needs. It shows which key the stations use, each station’s Claude Code version, and any missing language server for the repo’s languages. It offers installs only when you say yes.
• A record that survives restarts. Tares holds the plan, tickets, reviews and your answers, so a crew that restarts carries on where it stopped.
• A second opinion on every commit, if you installed the Codex CLI and said yes to it in the crew settings.

When something else fits

• If you do not have a Claude Code plan that allows background sessions, the crew cannot run, because every station is a Claude Code session.
• If you only want to work on one small change, tares factory session opens a Claude Code session bound to a project and needs no crew.

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