Installation

Cadre installs at user scope. The OpenAI Codex, Claude Code, and native Zed Agent integrations are stable. Zed Agent support is stable as of Cadre 3.9.1. The published package and executable are named cadre-ai.

Requirements

• Node.js 18 or newer
• Git
• OpenAI Codex, Claude Code, or Zed

Install The CLI And Client Integration

npm install -g cadre-ai
cadre-ai doctor
cadre-ai install

With no target, installation auto-detects available clients. Select a client explicitly when needed:

cadre-ai install --target codex
cadre-ai install --target claude
cadre-ai install --target zed
cadre-ai install --target all

The installer supports user scope only. It:

1. Packages the installed skills, generated Zed adapters, worker definitions, manifests, MCP runtime, and immutable templates into a shared local payload.
2. Registers and installs cadre@cadre for Codex/Claude, or links global cadre-* skills and configures Zed's custom Cadre MCP server.
3. Verifies each selected integration through the native state available from that client.
4. Adds narrow Cadre-only MCP approval settings unless --prompt-mcp-tools is supplied.

The generated marketplace lives at ~/.cadre/marketplaces/cadre. Replacing an existing owned marketplace retains its prior payload as a timestamped backup. Zed skill links live under ~/.agents/skills/cadre-*, and its MCP entry lives in ~/.config/zed/settings.json.

Reload The Client

After installing or updating:

• Start a new Codex conversation.
• In Claude Code, run /reload-plugins or start a new session.
• In Zed, run workspace: reload from the command palette, then open a new Agent thread. Confirm all ten Cadre skills and the active MCP server below. An already-open workspace can retain stale skill discovery after an update.

Confirm installation with the native clients:

codex plugin list --json
claude plugin list --json

Codex and Claude should report cadre@cadre installed and enabled. For Zed, open AI → Skills to confirm all ten cadre-* skills and AI → MCP Servers to confirm that cadre is active.

MCP Permission Behavior

The default installer changes only Cadre-specific client settings:

• Codex receives default_tools_approval_mode = "approve" under plugins."cadre@cadre".mcp_servers.cadre.
• Claude receives cadre in enabledMcpjsonServers and mcp__cadre__* in permissions.allow.
• Zed receives one exact mcp:cadre:<tool> entry with default: "allow" for every Cadre MCP tool.

Existing comments and unrelated settings are preserved. The installer never removes or overrides a Claude deny rule; a deny rule that blocks Cadre stops installation with a corrective error.

These client settings suppress repetitive prompts for Cadre's own MCP calls. They do not approve Cadre lifecycle proposals or unrelated shell, network, filesystem, container, dependency, or server operations.

Cadre uses MCP form elicitation for concise clarifications and bound human decisions when the client supports it. Claude Code displays these forms without additional configuration. Codex displays them under an interactive approval policy. Codex Full Access reports the non-interactive never policy, so Cadre does not attempt a form there and asks the same short question once in chat. Zed does not advertise MCP form elicitation, so it uses the same one-question chat fallback. Other unsupported or policy-rejected form requests behave the same way. Tool pre-approval and form elicitation policy are separate.

To retain per-call MCP prompts:

cadre-ai install --prompt-mcp-tools

Installer Options

--force aliases --replace-marketplace; --agent aliases --target for compatibility. There is no current installer --check mode.

Update

npm install -g cadre-ai@latest
cadre-ai doctor
cadre-ai install

Use --replace-marketplace only when a marketplace already named cadre points at a different location that you have reviewed and intend to replace.

Cadre 4.0 accepts existing 3.9.0/3.9.1/3.9.2 projects using schema-2 state and v5 without a project refresh or migration. Update the installed runtime and start a new client session. Interrupted work still requires receipt reconciliation; inconsistent approval state requires an explicitly approved repair.

For an older format, status reports PROJECT_UPGRADE_REQUIRED. Install cadre-ai@3.9.0, run cadre-ai install --target all --scope user, and reload the client. Reconcile interrupted operations and use Cadre refresh in 3.9.0 for an approved migration to schema-2/v5 at a quiescent boundary. Then install 4.0, reinstall the client integration and reload again. Never update version labels by hand. See release notes for the complete route.

Uninstall

cadre-ai uninstall --target all

Uninstall removes the selected native plugin registrations or Zed-owned skill links and matching context-server entry. With target all, it also removes owned Cadre marketplace payloads and backups. A single-client uninstall retains the shared marketplace for other clients. Client approval settings are preserved rather than broadly rewriting user configuration.

Install From A Source Checkout

From the repository root:

pnpm install
pnpm --filter cadre-ai build
node harness/dist/cadre-cli.mjs doctor
node harness/dist/cadre-cli.mjs install --target all

Use this path for harness development and release validation, not for normal package upgrades.