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Installation

Install SwissArmyHammer and configure it for use with Claude Code.

Prerequisites

  • Rust 1.70+ - Required for building from source
  • Claude Code - For MCP integration (recommended)
  • Git - For issue management features

Install from Git

Currently the only supported installation method:

cargo install --git https://github.com/swissarmyhammer/swissarmyhammer swissarmyhammer-cli

Verify Installation

Check that everything is working:

sah --version
sah doctor

The doctor command checks your installation and configuration.

Claude Code Integration

Configure SwissArmyHammer as an MCP server for Claude Code:

# Add SwissArmyHammer as an MCP server
claude mcp add --scope user sah sah serve

# Verify the connection
claude mcp list

Once configured, SwissArmyHammer tools will be available in Claude Code automatically.

Directory Setup

SwissArmyHammer creates directories as needed, but you can set them up manually:

User Directory (Optional)

# Personal prompts and workflows
mkdir -p ~/.swissarmyhammer/prompts
mkdir -p ~/.swissarmyhammer/workflows

Project Directory (Optional)

# Project-specific prompts and workflows
mkdir -p .swissarmyhammer/prompts
mkdir -p .swissarmyhammer/workflows

Built-in prompts and workflows are embedded in the binary and available immediately.

Shell Completions (Optional)

Add shell completions for better CLI experience:

# Bash
sah completions bash > ~/.bash_completion.d/sah

# Zsh  
sah completions zsh > ~/.zfunc/_sah

# Fish
sah completions fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/sah.fish

Configuration (Optional)

SwissArmyHammer works with sensible defaults. Optionally create ~/.swissarmyhammer/sah.toml:

[general]
auto_reload = true

[logging]  
level = "info"

[mcp]
timeout_ms = 30000

Quick Test

Test your installation:

# List built-in prompts
sah prompt list

# Test a simple workflow
sah flow run hello-world

# Check everything is working
sah doctor

Common Issues

Command not found

If sah: command not found, ensure Cargo’s bin directory is in your PATH:

echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.cargo/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

Build failures

Update Rust and install dependencies:

rustup update stable
# On Ubuntu/Debian:
sudo apt-get install build-essential pkg-config libssl-dev

MCP connection issues

Verify Claude Code can find the binary:

which sah
claude mcp restart sah

Next Steps