What is Claude Code?
Claude Code is an AI coding assistant made by Anthropic. It runs in your terminal and can read your codebase, write code, run commands, and work through tasks — all from a text-based interface. BrainGrid connects to Claude Code to give it structured instructions. Instead of describing what to build from scratch, you point Claude Code at a BrainGrid requirement and it implements the tasks automatically.Prerequisites
Before you begin, make sure you have the following set up:- A BrainGrid account — create a free account at braingrid.ai
- The GitHub CLI — installed and authenticated
- The BrainGrid CLI — installed and authenticated
- Claude Code — installed from Anthropic
Check out and initialize your project
Before Claude Code can build anything, you need to connect your code to BrainGrid. This tells BrainGrid which project you’re working on and lets Claude Code find your requirements and tasks.Connect your repository to BrainGrid
Your GitHub repository needs to be linked to a BrainGrid project. This is how BrainGrid knows which codebase your requirements belong to.If you haven’t done this yet, follow the Create a Project guide. You’ll also need the GitHub App installed so BrainGrid can access your repository.
Clone your repository
Cloning downloads a copy of your code to your computer. Open your terminal — on Mac, press Command + Space, type Terminal, and press Enter. On Windows, press the Windows key, type PowerShell, and click Windows PowerShell. Then run:Replace
owner/repo with your actual repository — for example, my-company/my-app.Navigate into the folder
Move into the folder you just downloaded:Replace
repo with the name of your repository folder.Initialize BrainGrid
This tells BrainGrid which project this folder belongs to:You’ll be prompted to select your project. Once complete, a
.braingrid/project.json file is created in your folder.This command will fail if your repository isn’t connected to a BrainGrid project yet. Make sure you completed the first step.
Install the integration
This adds BrainGrid commands to Claude Code so they can work together. Run this from your project folder:Verify the integration
Make sure everything was set up correctly:What gets installed
The setup command installs four components into your project:Slash commands
Located in.claude/commands/, these give you quick access to BrainGrid features:
| Command | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
/specify | Create a requirement from a rough idea | /specify Add user auth with OAuth2 |
/save-requirement | Save a Claude Code plan as a requirement | /save-requirement |
/build | Build a requirement — implements all tasks | /build REQ-123 |
BrainGrid CLI skill
Located in.claude/skills/braingrid-cli/, this gives Claude Code context about your project and the BrainGrid workflow so it knows how to use the commands effectively.
Status line
Located in.claude/statusline.sh, this displays your current progress at the top of Claude Code:
Example: BrainGrid: PROJ-3 > REQ-128 [2/5]
- Project: Your current BrainGrid project
- Requirement: The requirement you’re working on (detected from your branch name)
- Progress: How many tasks are completed (2 of 5 in this example)
CLAUDE.md content
Adds BrainGrid workflow documentation to your project’sCLAUDE.md file, giving Claude Code background context about your commands and workflow.
Build a requirement
Once everything is set up, tell Claude Code which requirement to build:Claude Code
REQ-123 with your actual requirement ID. Claude Code creates a feature branch, reads the requirement’s tasks, and implements them one by one. The status line at the top updates as each task is completed.
You can also add specific instructions:
Claude Code
Learn more
CLI command reference
Explore all available CLI commands
Create a requirement
Learn how to create requirements in BrainGrid
BrainGrid console
Manage projects in the browser