MAXSIM

Meta-prompting and project orchestration system for Claude Code.

The Problem

You start a Claude Code session. The first 20 minutes go well. Then it forgets your architecture decisions, repeats the same mistakes, and output quality drops. You open a fresh session and lose all context.

That is context rot. It gets worse the bigger your project grows.

What MAXSIM Does

MAXSIM breaks your work into phases, plans each one separately, and runs every task in a fresh agent with only the context it needs. Your decisions, requirements, and project state live on GitHub — Issues, Project Boards, and Milestones. GitHub is the single source of truth. Nothing gets lost between sessions.

It does not call any LLM API directly. MAXSIM orchestrates Claude Code agents through markdown prompts and workflow files. No API keys, no extra costs beyond your existing Claude Code usage. v6 is Claude Code only.

You install it with one command. It lands in your project's .claude/ directory and shows up as slash commands in Claude Code.

npx maxsimcli@latest

Quick Start

npx maxsimcli@latest

Then inside Claude Code:

/maxsim:go

Tip: /maxsim:go auto-detects project state and proposes the right action. Use it as your primary entry point.

Or use the explicit sequence:

/maxsim:init        # Set up the planning structure
/maxsim:plan 1      # Plan phase 1
/maxsim:execute 1   # Run phase 1

That is the core loop. Init, plan, execute, verify. Each phase is isolated, each task gets a fresh agent, every change gets an atomic commit.

What You Get

MAXSIM ships 13 slash commands, 4 agents, 14 skills, and 18 workflows. Here is what that means in practice.

Spec-driven development. All work flows through GitHub — phase Issues, sub-issue tasks, Project Board columns, and structured comments. The GitHub Project Board is the single source of truth. Agents read from it and update it as they work.

4 generic agents with clear roles. Executor builds things. Planner creates plans. Researcher investigates the codebase. Verifier checks the results. Each one does one job.

3 model profiles. Pick quality, balanced, or budget to control which Claude model tier each agent uses. You can override individual agents too.

GitHub Issues as the source of truth. Phases become tracking issues. Plans become sub-issues. A 5-column project board (Backlog, To Do, In Progress, In Review, Done) tracks execution progress.

Parallel execution with git worktrees. Independent plans run concurrently in separate worktrees. MAXSIM groups them into dependency-ordered waves and runs each wave in parallel.

Review gates you can toggle. Three gates (spec review, code review, simplify review) can be turned on or off. Each supports a retry limit before it escalates.

Drift detection. MAXSIM compares your codebase against the spec and flags divergence before it snowballs.

Installation

You need Node.js 22+ and Claude Code. Git is required for parallel execution. GitHub CLI (gh) is required for all GitHub operations. MaxsimCLI uses GitHub as the single source of truth.

npx maxsimcli@latest

Run this from your project root. Everything goes into .claude/.

CLI Flags

Flag	Alias	What it does
`--uninstall`		Remove all MAXSIM files from `.claude/`
`--quiet`	`-q`	Suppress output
`--help`	`-h`	Show usage
`--version`	`-v`	Print version

What Lands in Your Project

The installer copies these files into .claude/:

13 slash commands (/maxsim:init, /maxsim:plan, etc.)
4 agent definitions (executor, planner, researcher, verifier)
14 skills (TDD, debugging, code review, and more)
18 workflow files
5 reference documents, 2 rules files
5 hooks (statusline, update checker, sounds, capture-learnings)
1 tool binary (maxsim-tools.cjs)
CLAUDE.md in your project root

Directory Layout

.claude/
├── commands/maxsim/          # 13 slash commands
├── maxsim/
│   ├── bin/maxsim-tools.cjs  # Tool binary
│   ├── workflows/            # 18 workflows
│   ├── templates/            # Planning document templates
│   ├── references/           # 5 reference docs
│   └── hooks/                # 5 hook scripts (.cjs)
├── agents/                   # 4 agents
├── skills/                   # 14 skill directories
├── rules/                    # 2 rules files
├── settings.json
└── CLAUDE.md                 # Not here — see note below
# CLAUDE.md is generated in the project root, not inside .claude/

Upgrading

Run npx maxsimcli@latest again. The installer overwrites MAXSIM-managed files. Custom skills you have added to .claude/skills/ and your own agents are not touched.

Uninstall

npx maxsimcli --uninstall

Removes MAXSIM files from .claude/. Your own skills, agents, and Claude Code config stay untouched.

Commands

Command	What it does
`/maxsim:init`	Initialize MaxsimCLI in current project with GitHub integration
`/maxsim:plan <phase>`	Plan a specific phase with discussion, research, and task breakdown
`/maxsim:execute <phase>`	Execute all plans in a phase with parallel agents and auto-verification
`/maxsim:go`	Auto-detect project state and execute the right action
`/maxsim:quick <description>`	Quick task — create a GitHub Issue and execute in simplified flow
`/maxsim:progress`	Show project status from GitHub Project Board with next-action recommendation
`/maxsim:debug`	Systematic debugging with reproduce-hypothesize-isolate-verify-fix cycle
`/maxsim:debug-loop [symptom]`	Autonomous bug hunting with hypothesis testing
`/maxsim:fix-loop [error-command]`	Autonomous error repair until zero errors remain
`/maxsim:improve [metric-command]`	Autonomous optimization loop against any metric
`/maxsim:security [scope]`	Security audit — STRIDE + OWASP + red-team (read-only)
`/maxsim:settings`	View and modify MaxsimCLI configuration
`/maxsim:help`	Show available MaxsimCLI commands and usage

Core Workflow

MAXSIM organizes development into phases. Each phase moves through five stages.

1. Initialize (/maxsim:init)

Run once per project. Creates a local .claude/maxsim/config.json for CLI settings and connects to GitHub — creating Issues labels, a Project Board, and optionally a Milestone for tracking.

2. Plan (/maxsim:plan <phase>)

Three steps happen in sequence. A researcher agent inspects the codebase. You discuss scope and acceptance criteria. A planner agent creates a phase tracking issue and sub-issues on GitHub with structured plan content.

3. Execute (/maxsim:execute <phase>)

An executor agent picks up each plan, makes the code changes, commits atomically, and runs verification before moving on. Independent plans can run in parallel across multiple agents.

4. Verify

A verifier agent checks that every plan has a summary, expected artifacts exist, requirements have evidence, and the project passes health checks. Gaps get surfaced before the phase closes.

5. Complete

The phase is marked done and progress updates. The next phase becomes active.

Want to plan and execute in one go? Use /maxsim:go. Got a quick fix that does not fit a phase? Use /maxsim:quick <description>.

Phase Lifecycle

Phases move through the GitHub Project Board columns:

Backlog → To Do → In Progress → In Review → Done

Column	Meaning
`Backlog`	Phase identified, not yet scheduled
`To Do`	Phase planned and ready to start
`In Progress`	Execution underway
`In Review`	Verification gate active
`Done`	All plans executed, verified, and closed

Phase numbers are flexible. Integer (01, 02), letter suffixes for parallel tracks (02A, 02B), and decimal inserts (02.1) all work.

Agents

4 agents, each with one job:

Agent	Role	What it does
Executor	Builds things	Reads plans, makes code changes, commits atomically, handles deviations
Planner	Creates plans	Turns research into structured plan comments on GitHub Issues with tasks, waves, and dependencies
Researcher	Investigates	Explores the codebase, gathers technical context, can use Brave Search
Verifier	Checks results	Validates plan structure, artifacts, requirement evidence, commit integrity

Each agent is a markdown file at .claude/agents/{name}.md with YAML frontmatter for tools, model tier, and preloaded skills.

Model Profiles

Set execution.model_profile in .claude/maxsim/config.json to control which Claude model each agent uses:

Profile	Planner	Executor	Researcher	Verifier
quality	opus	opus	sonnet	opus
balanced	opus	sonnet	sonnet	sonnet
budget	sonnet	sonnet	haiku	sonnet

opus maps to inherit, meaning it uses your Claude Code session model. sonnet and haiku are passed directly to subagent invocations.

Per-Agent Overrides

The model profile applies uniformly to all agents of each type. To change which models are used, set execution.model_profile in .claude/maxsim/config.json to quality, balanced, or budget.

GitHub Integration

MAXSIM tracks phase and plan progress through GitHub Issues. Execution progress lives in GitHub. A local .claude/maxsim/config.json holds CLI settings. GitHub CLI (gh) and a GitHub-hosted repository are required for this feature.

Setup

Configured during /maxsim:init:

Creates a "MAXSIM Task Board" project with 5 columns (Backlog, To Do, In Progress, In Review, Done)
Creates 6 labels in 2 namespaces (type:phase, type:task, type:bug, type:quick, maxsim:auto, maxsim:user)
Optionally creates a GitHub Milestone

How It Works

Each phase gets a tracking issue. Each plan becomes a sub-issue linked to its phase. Plan content goes into structured comments. Completion data (commit SHA, files changed) gets posted to task issues. Progress is computed from open vs closed sub-issue counts.

The CLI binary maintains an internal cache that maps phase numbers to GitHub issue numbers. This is an implementation detail of the binary and is not a user-facing file; it is rebuilt automatically from GitHub when needed.

Tool Commands

The github subcommands are dispatched through the maxsim-tools.cjs binary. The CLI dispatcher for these commands is not yet fully implemented; the binary is currently a stub. The following subcommands are planned:

Subcommand	Status	What it does
`github setup`	planned	Create board, labels, milestone
`github create-phase`	planned	Create a phase tracking issue
`github create-task` / `batch-create-tasks`	planned	Create task sub-issues
`github move-issue`	planned	Move issue between board columns
`github status`	planned	Show progress and board overview
`github sync-check`	planned	Verify local cache matches GitHub
`github all-progress`	planned	Show progress for all phases

Configuration

Project config lives in .claude/maxsim/config.json, created during /maxsim:init.

Full Reference

Setting	Type	Default	What it does
`version`	`string`	`"6.0.0"`	Config schema version
`execution.model_profile`	`'quality' \| 'balanced' \| 'budget'`	`'balanced'`	Model tier for all agents
`execution.parallelism.max_agents_per_wave`	`number`	`3`	Cap on concurrent agents per wave
`execution.parallelism.max_retries`	`number`	`3`	Max retries per failed plan
`execution.parallelism.competition_strategy`	`'none' \| 'quick' \| 'standard' \| 'deep'`	`'standard'`	Parallel competition strategy
`execution.verification.strict_mode`	`boolean`	`true`	Enforce all verification gates
`execution.verification.require_code_review`	`boolean`	`true`	Code review gate
`execution.verification.auto_resolve_conflicts`	`boolean`	`true`	Auto-resolve merge conflicts
`worktrees.basePath`	`string`	`'.maxsim-worktrees/'`	Worktree base directory
`worktrees.auto_cleanup`	`boolean`	`true`	Remove worktrees after completion
`worktrees.branch_prefix`	`string`	`'maxsim/'`	Branch prefix for worktree branches
`automation.auto_commit_on_success`	`boolean`	`true`	Auto-commit on successful plan execution
`automation.conventional_commits`	`boolean`	`true`	Enforce conventional commit format
`automation.co_author`	`string`	`'Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>'`	Co-author trailer added to commits
`github.projectName`	`string`	`''`	GitHub Project Board name
`github.auto_push`	`boolean`	`true`	Auto-push branches after execution
`hooks.enabled`	`boolean`	`true`	Enable all MAXSIM hooks

Config Example

{
  "version": "6.0.0",
  "execution": {
    "model_profile": "balanced",
    "parallelism": {
      "max_agents_per_wave": 3,
      "max_retries": 3,
      "competition_strategy": "standard"
    },
    "verification": {
      "strict_mode": true,
      "require_code_review": true,
      "auto_resolve_conflicts": true
    }
  },
  "worktrees": {
    "basePath": ".maxsim-worktrees/",
    "auto_cleanup": true,
    "branch_prefix": "maxsim/"
  },
  "automation": {
    "auto_commit_on_success": true,
    "conventional_commits": true,
    "co_author": "Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>"
  },
  "github": {
    "projectName": "MAXSIM Task Board",
    "auto_push": true
  },
  "hooks": {
    "enabled": true
  }
}

Environment Variables

Variable	Purpose
`BRAVE_API_KEY`	Brave Search API key (or put it in `~/.maxsim/brave_api_key`)
`MAXSIM_DEBUG`	Verbose debug logging to stderr
`MAXSIM_SOUND=0`	Turn off notification sounds
`CI=true`	Suppress sounds in CI
`CLAUDE_CODE_EXPERIMENTAL_AGENT_TEAMS=1`	Enable Agent Teams for parallel execution

Skills

Skills are reusable prompt modules that agents load on demand. Each skill is an index.md file with YAML frontmatter and a markdown body.

Built-in Skills (14)

Skill	Category	What it does
`tdd`	Task	Test-driven development, Red-Green-Refactor cycle with atomic commits
`systematic-debugging`	Methodology	Root-cause analysis: reproduce, hypothesize, isolate, verify, fix
`verification`	Methodology	Evidence-based verification with quality gates and anti-rationalization enforcement
`maxsim-simplify`	Task	Reviews changed code for reuse opportunities and unnecessary complexity
`code-review`	Task	Checks security, interfaces, error handling, test coverage
`project-memory`	Task	GitHub-native persistence for learnings, decisions, and patterns
`using-maxsim`	Task	Routes work through MaxsimCLI commands based on project state
`brainstorming`	Task	Explores multiple approaches with structured comparison before committing
`roadmap-writing`	Task	Creates phased roadmaps with dependency graphs and GitHub Milestone structure
`maxsim-batch`	Task	Decomposes tasks for parallel worktree execution
`commit-conventions`	Convention	Conventional commit format and version trigger rules
`github-operations`	Reference	Unified GitHub interaction: artifacts, comments, CLI, issue lifecycle
`handoff-contract`	Protocol	Agent-to-agent handoff protocol
`research`	Methodology	Systematic investigation using parallel agents and source hierarchy

Skill Types

Protocol skills load automatically (handoff-contract). Methodology skills guide how agents think. Task skills are user-invocable workflows like TDD or code review. Reference skills provide static information.

Managing Skills

Built-in skills update when you upgrade MAXSIM. Custom skills you place in .claude/skills/ are preserved.

Parallel Execution

MAXSIM can run multiple plans at the same time using git worktrees. Each plan gets its own isolated working directory.

Plans within a phase are grouped into waves. Wave 1 runs first, wave 2 starts after wave 1 finishes. Plans in the same wave run in parallel if they do not touch the same files.

Each parallel plan gets a worktree at .maxsim-worktrees/{planId}/ on its own branch. Worktrees are cleaned up automatically after completion.

When It Activates

execution.parallelism.max_agents_per_wave caps concurrent agents per wave (default 3). CLAUDE_CODE_EXPERIMENTAL_AGENT_TEAMS=1 is set automatically in settings.json during installation.

Before running in parallel, MAXSIM checks that plans do not modify the same files. If there is a conflict, it falls back to sequential mode.

Hooks

MAXSIM installs 5 Claude Code hooks:

Hook	Event	What it does
`maxsim-statusline`	`statusLine`	Shows model tier, phase number, board column, and milestone progress
`maxsim-check-update`	`SessionStart`	Checks npm for new MAXSIM versions in the background
`maxsim-notification-sound`	`Notification`	Plays a sound when Claude asks you a question
`maxsim-stop-sound`	`Stop`	Plays a sound when Claude finishes
`maxsim-capture-learnings`	`Stop`	Appends a dated learning entry to `.claude/agent-memory/` from the last 5 commits

Statusline

[update] model | P{N} {BoardColumn} | milestone: pct% | dirname

Sounds are suppressed when MAXSIM_SOUND=0, CI=true, or SSH_CONNECTION is set. On Windows sounds play as .wav via PowerShell, on macOS as .aiff via afplay, on Linux it falls back to a terminal bell.

Architecture

Monorepo

npm workspaces monorepo with two packages:

maxsim/
├── packages/
│   ├── cli/          # maxsimcli, the published npm package
│   └── website/      # maxsimcli.dev, project website (private)
├── templates/        # Markdown assets copied into dist during build
└── package.json      # Workspace root

Only packages/cli gets published to npm as maxsimcli.

Build

npm run build        # tsdown (CJS) then copy-assets into dist/
npm test             # Vitest unit tests
npm run e2e          # Vitest e2e tests
npm run lint         # Biome

tsdown compiles TypeScript to CJS. copy-assets bundles templates, workflows, agents, skills, hooks, and references into dist/assets/. semantic-release handles versioning and npm publish on push to main.

Contributing

Conventional commits. See CONTRIBUTING.md.

fix: triggers a patch release
feat: triggers a minor release
feat!: or BREAKING CHANGE: triggers a major release

License

MIT

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 1,085 Commits
.github		.github
.husky		.husky
assets		assets
docs		docs
packages		packages
scripts		scripts
templates		templates
.gitignore		.gitignore
.releaserc.json		.releaserc.json
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md		CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
CONTRIBUTING.md		CONTRIBUTING.md
INTERNALS.md		INTERNALS.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
PROJECT.md		PROJECT.md
README.md		README.md
SECURITY.md		SECURITY.md
biome.json		biome.json
package-lock.json		package-lock.json
package.json		package.json
skills-lock.json		skills-lock.json
tsconfig.base.json		tsconfig.base.json
tsconfig.json		tsconfig.json

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MAXSIM

The Problem

What MAXSIM Does

Quick Start

What You Get

Installation

CLI Flags

What Lands in Your Project

Directory Layout

Upgrading

Uninstall

Commands

Core Workflow

Phase Lifecycle

Agents

Model Profiles

Per-Agent Overrides

GitHub Integration

Setup

How It Works

Tool Commands

Configuration

Full Reference

Config Example

Environment Variables

Skills

Built-in Skills (14)

Skill Types

Managing Skills

Parallel Execution

When It Activates

Hooks

Statusline

Architecture

Monorepo

Build

Contributing

License

About

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