Throughliner

A Claude Code plugin for people who build things without writing code. You say what you want, Claude builds it, and Throughliner keeps everything organized across sessions so context never drifts or gets lost.

What makes it different

Every project keeps a written record of why things are built a certain way (SPEC.md, QUEUE.md, LOG/). Claude reads this record before planning or building — even in a fresh session with no prior memory — ensuring your original intent is always preserved.

• Settled decisions stay settled: rejected ideas retain their reasoning so they don't resurface.
• Silent regressions are caught: historical context prevents unwanted changes.
• Seamless handoffs: easily pick up where you left off after a break, or hand the project to someone else.
• Checked writes: a small local server, connected when the plugin is installed, files captures and moves queue work with every field checked before anything lands.
• One task list across projects: name a markdown task list once per project, and Claude adds a checkbox line there for each step of yours that needs no walkthrough, with the project in brackets and a due date where there is one, and keeps it current; tick a line and the next planning session closes the item. The default line depends on no plugin; any markdown editor works, and a header at the top of your list can give the line a plugin's fields, such as Obsidian's Tasks plugin.
• Your own edits are noticed: change a draft, a project file or a post by hand and the next session that reads it sorts the change — a plain fix is accepted and noted, while an edit that reverses a decision or contradicts something is asked about, with every place it now disagrees with named.
• Recurring work on a cycle: ask for something you do repeatedly — a release, a posting rhythm, a review — to go on a cycle, and every session's opening says when a turn is due; a named step list runs when you say its name.

Installation

New to Claude Code?

1. Open a fresh chat at claude.ai.
2. Paste this link: https://github.com/FlintcraftTech/throughliner/raw/main/INSTALL.md
3. Ask Claude to read the guide and walk you through it step by step.

The guide verifies Python, the claude tool, and GitHub's gh tool before running the installation commands.

Already have Claude Code?

Run these two commands in your terminal:

claude plugin marketplace add FlintcraftTech/throughliner#stable
claude plugin install throughliner@flintcraft

Fully restart Claude Code to load the plugin. To update later, run claude plugin marketplace update flintcraft and then claude plugin update throughliner@flintcraft, and restart again.

Core workflow and slash commands

The plugin splits your project into a structured build queue managed by seven main commands:

• /setup — interviews you about your project, works out with you the smallest set of folders and documents your work actually uses before creating any of them, scaffolds text documents (SPEC.md, QUEUE.md, etc.), checks your machine for the command-line tools your project's work will need and records what it finds in TOOLS.md, and offers two styles for Claude's replies: Throughliner Brevity, which keeps them short, and Throughliner Code Notes, which adds a short note after each piece of work on why the code is the way it is.
• /plan — organizes the queue, captures new ideas, and resolves design questions. Its opening also reads the signs that a project has outgrown one queue and names moving a part out where one holds.
• /build — builds the cleared work from the top, several items in one run, walks you through any steps that are yours, and stays locked to the files that work names.
• /rescan — reviews past conversation history to capture unrecorded decisions or notes into the queue.
• /close — records session outcomes, commits changes to Git, and tees up next steps. Always run this before /clear.
• /catchup — summarizes feature statuses (shipped, ready, waiting) when returning after time away, and re-runs the return checks a fresh chat runs: a cycle due now, mail waiting, the plugin version changed under the chat, the date moved.
• /tasks — works your own tasks one at a time, most urgent first: every step of yours that any project in your vault keeps as a task line, read through the Obsidian Tasks note your Task list: line names. Run it in the project that keeps that note; a task you finish goes back to its project as a capture.

Project structure

Setup adds plain-text documentation and folders to your repository:

• SPEC.md / QUEUE.md — what you are building, and what to work on next.
• LOG/ and workshop/ — historical session records, research, and testing drafts. Each record carries its own one-line summary, and the index is generated from those at every close.
• MAP.md — a map of what the project's folders and human-used files are for, written for Claude to read first each session, so nothing sits in a folder it never opens.
• TOOLS.md — persistent memory of what Claude has learned about your machine.
• .throughliner/ — the plugin's working folder, kept out of git. It holds the register of everything the project has sent; projects send each other captures, added straight to the other project's queue on your yes.

Getting started

1. Open any project folder in Claude Code.
2. Run /setup to scaffold your project docs.
3. Run /plan to organize your first piece of work.
4. Run /build to start building!

Community and support

Throughliner has a Discord server. It is where new versions are announced and where you can say so if something breaks.

New to the plugin?

The how-to posts on the Discord walk you through the plugin one feature at a time, written for people who have never used a terminal. Start there before reading anything else.

Porting the plugin?

Running the method on a tool other than Claude Code is supported. The Discord is where porters compare notes and where port-facing news lands. The repository's porting/ folder holds the changelog written for ports and a paste-ready prompt for porting with Claude's help.

Companion skills

Separate skills built to run alongside Throughliner, each needing it installed and none part of it.

• Email processing — works through your Gmail inbox oldest first, one email at a time, with a short summary and one suggested action each, acted on only on your yes. Tested only with Gmail.

License

See LICENSE.