/connect-mcp — set this machine up

Two jobs a machine needs once, and they are independent: the plugin bundle needs no vault, and the brain needs one. Do the half that was asked for, and offer the other in one line. /setup-plugins was a separate ritual until 2.42.0; someone who types that name wants the first half.

The plugin bundle

1. Run this — it installs the Core tier (superpowers, skill-creator, claude-md-management, claude-code-setup, feature-dev, code-review, code-simplifier, context7):

   node "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/mcp/ai-os.js" setup-plugins --tier core --scope user

   ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT} is the installed plugin; from a clone of the Cortex repo, use that clone's path instead. No vault and no CORTEX_ROOT are needed — this reads only the bundle manifest shipped with Cortex.
2. Read what this machine already has: node "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/mcp/ai-os.js" setup-plugins --status --json. It reads Claude Code's plugin registry and installs nothing. Each tier's state is installed, partial, missing or unknown, and each plugin carries installed.
3. Then ask the user their role / stack and OFFER the optional tiers whose state is not installed (do not auto-install). For a partial tier, name the plugins it still lacks. When every tier that fits is installed, say so in one line and offer none. unknown means there was no registry to read: offer by role, as on a machine with nothing installed.
   • Frontend/QA → --tier browser-qa (playwright, chrome-devtools-mcp; heavy: downloads browsers).
   • TS repos / lots of PRs → --tier dev-tools (typescript-lsp, github).
   • Deploys to Vercel/Cloudflare → --tier platform.
4. If the claude CLI is unavailable, the command prints the exact commands instead of failing — relay them for guided setup.
5. Confirm which tiers were installed in one line.

Installing is not staying current: an update to the marketplace does not move the installed plugin, so a machine can sit for weeks running a version nobody meant to run. /update-plugin is that check, and it is the first thing to suspect when a skill edit appears to have no effect.

• Don't auto-install the heavy or platform tiers — offer them by role.
• Don't fail hard if the CLI is missing; the command degrades to printing commands.

The brain

Plugins give this machine the tools; they do not give it recall. This half is the step people skip after a clean plugin install — the commands are all there and nothing remembers anything.

Register the Cortex MCP server at user scope so every project on this machine can recall/capture.

What to do

1. Ask for the vault's absolute path → CORTEX_ROOT. The vault is its own private repo, not this one and not the plugin. The server is ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/mcp/server.js — it ships with the plugin, not the vault. From a clone of the Cortex repo rather than the plugin, use that clone's path.
2. There is nothing to install — the server has no dependencies. Node 20+ is the only requirement.
3. Check what is already registered: claude mcp list. A server named ai-os whose command ends in mcp/server.js is this same brain, registered before the name changed. It keeps working as it is: AI_OS_ROOT, the variable it carries, is still read. Say so and stop, unless the user wants the new name. To move, remove it first (claude mcp get ai-os prints the remove command for its scope), then register as below. Never leave both: two servers over one vault show every tool twice.

4. Print (and offer to run) the registration for the user's agent. A registration stores a literal path, so expand ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT} to its absolute value before printing:

   Claude Code:

   claude mcp add --scope user cortex --env CORTEX_ROOT=<vault> -- node "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/mcp/server.js"

   Cursor / other MCP agents: add to the agent's mcpServers config:

   { "cortex": { "command": "node", "args": ["${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/mcp/server.js"], "env": { "CORTEX_ROOT": "<vault>" } } }

   The tools then appear as mcp__cortex__recall, mcp__cortex__capture and so on.

   The plugin's path carries its version (…/plugins/cache/cortex/cortex/<version>/), so a plugin update can leave the registration pointing at a folder that is gone. Say so, and tell the user to re-run /connect-mcp after updating — or register a Cortex clone's path, which does not move.

5. Confirm in one line: "Brain connected (user scope). recall/capture available in every project."

Don't

• Don't register at project scope (defeats the "zero setup per project" goal).
• Don't touch the current project's git or files.

Inside a repo, /resume-work names what that repo is waiting on.