npx / npm CLI (any MCP agent)

No install required — npx runs devcoach on demand. For Claude Code and Claude Desktop, one command registers the MCP server, wires up automatic lesson delivery (the Stop and UserPromptSubmit hooks), and installs the coaching skill into ~/.claude/skills/devcoach/:

npx -y devcoach install

Restart your agent afterward. Prefer a global binary? npm install -g devcoach, then run devcoach install (and drop the npx -y prefix everywhere). After upgrading devcoach, re-run devcoach install to refresh the skill — devcoach stats reminds you when it's out of date.

Canary builds: every change merged into the develop branch is published to npm under the next tag — npx -y devcoach@next (or npm install -g devcoach@next) runs the unreleased version, documented at ultimaphoenix.github.io/dev-coach/next. latest stays the last release.

Manual MCP config (Claude Code)

If devcoach install isn't available, register it yourself.

Option A — via the claude mcp CLI (recommended):

claude mcp add devcoach npx -- -y devcoach mcp

# all projects (user scope):
claude mcp add --scope user devcoach npx -- -y devcoach mcp

Option B — edit ~/.claude.json directly:

{ "mcpServers": { "devcoach": { "type": "stdio", "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "devcoach", "mcp"] } } }

Then add the hooks to ~/.claude/settings.json for automatic lesson delivery (skip this if you used the plugin — it already provides them). stop-hook decides after each turn whether a lesson is due; prompt-hook primes the model up front when one is:

{
  "hooks": {
    "Stop": [
      { "hooks": [{ "type": "command", "command": "npx -y devcoach stop-hook", "timeout": 60 }] }
    ],
    "UserPromptSubmit": [
      { "hooks": [{ "type": "command", "command": "npx -y devcoach prompt-hook", "timeout": 30 }] }
    ]
  }
}

If devcoach is installed globally, prefer its absolute path over npx -y devcoach (no npx cache or network needed at hook time) — devcoach install picks the best command automatically, and repairs older two-entry layouts. Run devcoach doctor to verify the wiring.

Using another agent (Cursor, Windsurf, …)? See Other MCP agents.

→ Next: Coaching in your agent.

Manual MCP config (Claude Code)​

Manual MCP config (Claude Code)