Stop losing context. Start every session where you left off.
A curated toolkit that gives Claude Code persistent memory, cross-project search, structured planning, and session management - so you never repeat work across projects.
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bluzername/claude-code-power-stack/main/setup.sh | bashCheatsheet PDF (print it) | Workflow Guide (read it) |
ccs cheat(in your terminal)
Jump to: What's in the Stack | Quick Start | How It Works | Deep Dive | Team Mode | Quick Reference | FAQ
| Tool | What it solves | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| Ghost | "I already figured this out last week" | MCP server that auto-captures decisions, mistakes, and patterns per project |
| cc-conversation-search | "Where was I working on X?" | Cross-project semantic search via ccs CLI |
| Session naming | "Which session was the auth refactor?" | /rename-session command with structured naming convention |
| Planning-with-files | "I lost track halfway through" | File-based working memory for complex, multi-step tasks |
| Team Mode | "What did my teammate decide?" | Shared append-only log via git (ccs team) |
Without With Power Stack
--------- ----------------
"What did I decide last week?" Ghost auto-captured it
"Which session had the auth work?" ccs "auth" finds it in seconds
"Where was I in this feature?" task_plan.md says Phase 3, next: tests
"I need to re-research everything" findings.md has all your notes
"What did my teammate decide?" ccs team shows their log entries
Ghost and cc-conversation-search handle the between-sessions problem. Planning-with-files handles the within-session problem (long tasks that exhaust context).
flowchart LR
Start["cd project\nclaude"] --> Standup["/standup"]
Standup --> Name["/rename-session\napi-feat-auth"]
Name --> Plan{Complex\ntask?}
Plan -->|Yes| PlanFiles["/plan"]
Plan -->|No| Work
PlanFiles --> Work["Work"]
Work --> Ghost(["Ghost captures\ndecisions"])
Work --> Wrapup["/wrapup"]
Wrapup -.->|team mode| TeamLog["ccs team log d\nccs team sync"]
Wrapup --> Done["Close terminal"]
Done --> Later["Days later..."]
Later --> Search["ccs 'auth'\nccs go 1"]
Search --> Start
style Standup fill:#10b981,color:#fff,stroke:none
style Ghost fill:#8b5cf6,color:#fff,stroke:none
style Search fill:#0ea5e9,color:#fff,stroke:none
style PlanFiles fill:#f59e0b,color:#fff,stroke:none
style Wrapup fill:#ec4899,color:#fff,stroke:none
style TeamLog fill:#6366f1,color:#fff,stroke:none
- Claude Code installed and working
- Go 1.21+ (for Ghost)
- Ollama with the
nomic-embed-textmodel (required by Ghost for embeddings) - uv (for cc-conversation-search) - or pip
Don't have Go, Ollama, or uv? (click to expand)
# macOS (Homebrew)
brew install go
brew install uv
# Or skip Go entirely - install Ghost via Homebrew instead:
brew install wcatz/tap/ghost
# uv without Homebrew:
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
# Ollama (required - Ghost will crash without it)
# Download from https://ollama.com/ or:
brew install ollama
ollama serve & # Start the Ollama server
ollama pull nomic-embed-text # Download the embedding model Ghost needsImportant: Ghost requires Ollama running with the
nomic-embed-textmodel. Without it, Ghost's MCP server will start but immediately crash with "Connection closed". Make sureollama serveis running before starting Claude Code.
One-liner (clones to ~/.claude-power-stack and runs the installer):
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bluzername/claude-code-power-stack/main/setup.sh | bashOr clone manually:
git clone https://github.com/bluzername/claude-code-power-stack.git
cd claude-code-power-stack
./install.shThe install script will:
- Install Ghost and register it as an MCP server
- Install cc-conversation-search and build the initial index
- Copy the
/rename-sessioncommand to your Claude Code config - Copy the planning-with-files skill to your Claude Code config
- Update your CLAUDE.md with usage instructions
If you prefer to install components individually:
# Ghost
go install github.com/wcatz/ghost/cmd/ghost@latest
ghost mcp init
# cc-conversation-search
uv tool install cc-conversation-search
cc-conversation-search init
# Commands and skills (copy to your Claude Code config)
cp commands/rename-session.md ~/.claude/commands/
cp -r skills/planning-with-files ~/.claude/skills/
cp rules/session-naming.md ~/.claude/rules/common/./verify.shGhost crashes with "Connection closed" (most common issue)
Ghost requires Ollama running locally with the nomic-embed-text embedding model. Without it, Ghost's MCP server starts but immediately crashes.
Fix:
# Install Ollama if needed
brew install ollama # or download from https://ollama.com/
# Start the server
ollama serve &
# Pull the embedding model
ollama pull nomic-embed-text
# Restart Claude CodeTip: Add ollama serve to your login items or shell profile so it starts automatically.
Ghost not found after install
Go installs binaries to $(go env GOPATH)/bin. If that's not on your PATH:
# Quick fix - symlink to a PATH directory
ln -sf $(go env GOPATH)/bin/ghost /opt/homebrew/bin/ghost # macOS
ln -sf $(go env GOPATH)/bin/ghost /usr/local/bin/ghost # LinuxGhost MCP registered but not working (most common issue)
ghost mcp status may report "All checks passed" but Ghost still doesn't appear in claude mcp list and tools fail with "Connection closed". This happens when ghost mcp init writes to a different config scope than Claude Code reads from.
Fix:
# Remove any stale registrations
claude mcp remove ghost -s user 2>/dev/null
claude mcp remove ghost -s project 2>/dev/null
# Re-register at user scope (works across all projects)
claude mcp add ghost -s user -- $(which ghost) mcp
# Verify it shows up
claude mcp list 2>&1 | grep ghostThen restart Claude Code (quit and relaunch - not just a new session).
ghost mcp init fails or hangs
Use claude mcp add directly instead:
claude mcp add ghost -s user -- $(which ghost) mcpThen restart Claude Code.
ccs shows no results
The index might be empty or stale. Re-index all conversations:
ccs ixIf still empty, check that ~/.claude/projects/ contains .jsonl conversation files.
/plan or /rename-session not showing up
Restart Claude Code after install. If still missing, check the files exist:
ls ~/.claude/commands/rename-session.md
ls ~/.claude/skills/planning-with-files/SKILL.mdIf not, re-run ./install.sh from the repo directory.
Ghost MCP shows "not connected" in new session
Ghost needs a full Claude Code restart (not just a new session). Quit and relaunch Claude Code.
Verify with both commands - they check different things:
ghost mcp status # Checks ghost binary and config
claude mcp list | grep ghost # Checks Claude Code actually sees itBoth must pass. If ghost mcp status passes but claude mcp list doesn't show ghost, see the "registered but not working" troubleshooting entry above.
cd ~/my-project && claudeYou: "/standup"
Claude checks recent sessions, reads active planning files, loads Ghost context, and summarizes where you left off.
You: "Add rate limiting to the API" Claude: Want me to name this session?
api-feat-rate-limitingYou: "yes, and /plan"
Claude creates task_plan.md, findings.md, progress.md and works phase by phase.
Ghost silently captures decisions. Planning files log your progress.
You: "/wrapup"
Claude summarizes what was done, updates planning files, and offers to log key items for the team.
$ ccs "rate limiting"
[1] 2025-03-20 ~/my-project (198 msgs)
Add rate limiting to the API...
2 sessions found. Resume with: ccs go 1
$ ccs go 1Ghost loads your decisions, planning files show you're on Phase 3. No re-research needed.
{project}-{type}-{descriptor}
| Part | Values | Example |
|---|---|---|
| project | Short slug for your project | api, mobile, infra |
| type | feat, fix, debug, explore, review, plan, research, comms |
feat |
| descriptor | 2-3 hyphenated words | auth-flow |
| File | Purpose | When to update |
|---|---|---|
task_plan.md |
Phases, decisions, errors | After each phase |
findings.md |
Research notes and discoveries | After every 2 searches |
progress.md |
Session log | Throughout session |
These survive context compression, session restarts, and time away from the project. See the Workflow Guide for detailed examples.
Ghost - Persistent Memory (click to expand)
Ghost is an MCP server that gives Claude Code unlimited, categorized memory with importance scoring and time decay.
What it captures automatically:
- Decisions and their rationale
- Mistakes and how they were resolved
- Conventions and patterns specific to your project
- Technical context (architecture, dependencies, gotchas)
Key behaviors:
- Conventions never decay (they're always relevant)
- Gotchas fade after 30 days (they become stale)
- Memories are scored by importance (0.0 - 1.0)
- Full-text search across all memories
You don't need to do anything. Ghost operates through MCP tools that Claude calls automatically. It replaces the built-in MEMORY.md system (which has a 200-line cap) with unlimited SQLite-backed storage.
Useful commands:
ghost mcp status # Check integration health
ghost search "auth" # Search memories from terminalcc-conversation-search - Find Any Session (click to expand)
A CLI tool that indexes all your Claude Code conversations and lets you search across projects.
Usage (via ccs shortcut - installed to your PATH):
ccs "database migration" # Search by topic
ccs "auth" --since 2025-03-01 # Search with date filter
ccs "auth" -d 7 # Search last 7 days only
ccs ls # List recent sessions
ccs go <session-id> # Resume a found session
ccs ix # Full re-indexThe index updates automatically before each search (JIT indexing).
/rename-session - Session Naming (click to expand)
A Claude Code command that analyzes your current conversation and suggests a structured name.
Just say /rename-session at the start of any substantive work. Claude will suggest a name like api-feat-auth-flow based on what you're working on.
Why this matters: when you have 50+ sessions across 10 projects, api-feat-auth-flow is findable. explain this function is not.
/plan - Planning with Files (click to expand)
The most powerful tool in the stack for complex work. Based on Manus's approach of treating the filesystem as external memory.
When to use /plan: Task has 3+ steps, involves research then implementation, will be long (50+ tool calls), or spans multiple sessions.
When to skip /plan: Quick questions, single file edits, simple known fixes.
The three files (created in your project directory):
| File | What it stores | When to update |
|---|---|---|
task_plan.md |
Phases, decisions, errors | After each phase |
findings.md |
Research notes, discoveries | After every 2 searches |
progress.md |
Session log, test results | Throughout session |
The key discipline - the 2-action rule: After every 2 searches, file reads, or web lookups, immediately save findings to findings.md. Claude's context window is like RAM. Planning files are your disk.
Context recovery: When you come back after days or weeks, start Claude in the project directory. Ghost loads your decisions, planning files show exactly which phase you're on and what's next.
Starting your day?
--> /standup (summarizes yesterday, shows active plans, suggests next steps)
Starting a session?
--> Ghost auto-loads context (SessionStart hook)
--> Claude suggests /rename-session
Complex task (3+ steps)?
--> Say "/plan" to create planning files
--> Work phase by phase
Simple task or quick question?
--> Just do it. Ghost captures decisions silently.
Done for the day?
--> /wrapup (summarizes session, updates plans, logs for team)
Need to find old work?
--> ccs "<topic>" then ccs go 1
Coming back after days/weeks?
--> /standup for a quick summary
--> planning files = instant phase-by-phase recovery
| Action | Command |
|---|---|
| Morning standup | /standup |
| End-of-session wrapup | /wrapup |
| Name session | /rename-session |
| Start planning | /plan |
| Search all projects | ccs "query" |
| Search current project | ccs here "query" |
| List recent sessions | ccs ls (or ccs ls here) |
| Resume session | ccs go 1 |
| Stats dashboard | ccs stats |
| Health check | ccs doctor |
| Quick ref in terminal | ccs cheat |
| Update stack | ccs update |
| Re-index conversations | ccs ix |
| Team | |
| Init team mode | ccs team init |
| Log a decision | ccs team log d "chose RS256" |
| Log a blocker | ccs team log b "CI fails on ARM" |
| Team activity | ccs team |
| Search team log | ccs team search "auth" |
| Sync team log | ccs team sync |
| Team standup | /team-standup |
For teams of 2-8 people working on the same codebase with Claude Code. Git-first, no server needed.
How it works (click to expand)
Team mode adds a shared .team/log.jsonl file to your project. Each team member appends entries (decisions, findings, blockers) and the log travels with git. Append-only format means no merge conflicts.
Setup (once per project):
ccs team init
git add .team/ && git commit -m "init team mode"Daily workflow:
git pull # get teammates' entries
claude
> /team-standup # see what everyone did
# ... work ...
> /team-log # log a decision
# or from terminal:
ccs team log decision "Using express-jwt middleware"
ccs team log blocker "API rate limits hit in staging"
ccs team log done "Phase 2 complete"
ccs team sync # commit + push in one stepEntry types: decision, finding, blocker, done, handoff
What stays personal: Ghost memory, ccs search index, /standup, session history.
What's shared: .team/log.jsonl, planning files (if committed), .claude/CLAUDE.md project rules.
Your name is auto-detected from git config user.name.
claude-code-power-stack/
setup.sh # curl one-liner remote installer
install.sh # Full local setup (7 steps)
update.sh # Update all components to latest
verify.sh # Post-install verification
uninstall.sh # Clean removal
bin/
ccs # Search shortcut (numbered results)
completions/
_ccs # zsh tab-completion
ccs.bash # bash tab-completion
commands/
standup.md # /standup - personal morning standup
wrapup.md # /wrapup - end-of-session summary
team-standup.md # /team-standup - team standup from shared log
team-log.md # /team-log - log decisions for your team
rename-session.md # /rename-session command
skills/
planning-with-files/ # /plan skill (full Manus-style planning)
rules/
session-naming.md # Auto-suggest session naming
templates/
claude-md-snippet.md # CLAUDE.md additions
docs/
cheatsheet.md # One-page quick reference
workflow-guide.md # Detailed workflow guide
How do I update to the latest versions?
cd claude-code-power-stack && ./update.shThis pulls the latest repo, upgrades Ghost and cc-conversation-search, and re-copies commands/skills/rules. Restart Claude Code after updating.
Does Ghost replace CLAUDE.md / MEMORY.md? Ghost replaces the auto memory system (MEMORY.md). CLAUDE.md remains your project-level instructions file - Ghost doesn't touch it.
Do I need an Anthropic API key for Ghost? No. Ghost's MCP server works through Claude Code's existing connection. You only need an API key if you want Ghost's standalone features (CLI chat, memory consolidation).
How much disk space does this use? Ghost's SQLite database is typically <10MB. cc-conversation-search's index is proportional to your conversation history - typically 5-50MB.
Can I use this with Cursor / other MCP clients? Ghost works with any MCP client. cc-conversation-search is Claude Code-specific (it reads Claude Code's conversation files). The planning-with-files skill is Claude Code-specific.
What if I don't use Go?
Ghost is the only component requiring Go. You can install it via brew install wcatz/tap/ghost if you prefer not to use go install.
PRs welcome. If you find a workflow pattern that works well with this stack, open an issue or PR to add it to the guide.
MIT
- Ghost by wcatz
- cc-conversation-search by akatz-ai
- Planning-with-files based on Manus context engineering principles
- Maintained by @bluzername
