THE FIRST HOUR

One pass: install → home → project → board → your first closed work.
Every step says what you'll see.

Needs Python ≥ 3.12; the last step needs Claude Code (tide's own machinery works without it). The commands are spelled out so you feel the cycle by hand — in real work an agent walks them and you speak in words.

Already installed? tide quickstart prints this route in your terminal. Русская версия — quickstart.ru.

1 · INSTALL

git clone https://github.com/tide-tools/tide && cd tide
./install.sh

You'll see ✓ tide <version> and the next gesture. If PATH didn't pick it up, the script prints one line for your shell profile — the only thing here you ever "configure".

2 · A HOME

The control-home is one folder you lead every project from:

mkdir ~/tide-home && cd ~/tide-home
tide init --git

You'll see what was created — canon, roster, plugins, README, git, and Claude hooks and skills landing on their own, so an agent opened here knows how to hand off a thread from day one. A fresh home gets the core only; removable parts live in tide plugins. Then it tells you the next gesture.

3 · TELL THE SHELL WHERE IT IS

export TIDE_HOME=~/tide-home    # put this in your shell profile

Skip it and the next step still creates a project — but never writes it into the roster, and it never shows up on the board. Not an error; one skipped line in the middle of a successful run: · roster no control-home — set $TIDE_HOME.

4 · A PROJECT

Any folder with code, old or new:

mkdir -p ~/code/myapp && cd ~/code/myapp
tide adopt --goal "a small web app — trying tide"

You'll see the adoption steps, then which terminal will open your sessions and how to change it, then the next gesture. The project is born speaking: its README and canon carry your goal, not template filler, and it is already in the home's roster.

5 · THE BOARD

tide board --open               # http://127.0.0.1:8765

You'll see the home's stream, myapp's stream, a HEALTH line on each. The page re-reads .tide/ every 30 seconds, so everything you do next shows up without a restart. For your phone and as a service — docs/board.md.

6 · YOUR FIRST WORK

A work is an agreement card: the agent proposes steps, you say yes, the agent checks items only with proof, and you close it. The verbs work out of the box; switching the removable part on adds the agent's skill and a board tab:

tide plugins on work            # once per home

cd ~/code/myapp
tide work add "the app says hello — check that it starts"
tide work propose 01 "start the app and see it answer"   # the agent proposes
tide work agree 01 --word "yes"                          # your word
tide work take 01 --by "first session"
tide work check 01 1 --proof "started it — it answers"   # no proof, no check
tide work close 01 --word "accepted"                     # done is yours alone

You'll see a short answer after each gesture — what happened and the next one — and on the board a card that went open → taken → review → done. tide work show 01 prints the journal: every gesture a line, with your words in it.

7 · A SESSION

cd ~/tide-home
tide menu

You'll see a project picker, then the thread, then the session inside it — each list offers 0) + new as its first row. A terminal opens with Claude already in context: its role, the project's canon, the live thread, the roster. From here you speak in words ("add a work: …", "hand off the thread") and the agent walks the verbs from step 6 itself.

WHEN YOU'RE STUCK

tide quickstart                 # this route, in your terminal
tide quickstart --open          # this page, in your browser
tide help                       # every command
tide doctor                     # is anything actually broken?
tide report "what happened"     # the pain goes to the author