The setup guide
Every step, with nothing assumed.
A few minutes of honest setup stands between buying a kit and watching your AI build your business. This page walks all of it — written for someone who has never used GitHub, never installed an AI agent, and never opened a terminal. Depending on how you run your AI, you may never need a terminal at all.
What you need
- A computer — Mac, Windows, or Linux.
- The AI subscription you already have: a Claude plan that includes Claude Code, or a ChatGPT plan that includes Codex.
- A free GitHub account if you want instant delivery — optional; the kit also ships as a plain download.
- About an hour for the first working session, once you're set up.
Works with any AI subscription including Claude Code, OpenAI's Codex, or open models/agents. You do NOT have to have experience with AI agents to get started!
Choose where your AI runs
Claude Code is Anthropic's AI agent — it's what executes the kit. It runs in three places; all three can run a kit end to end. Pick whichever feels most like home. Signing in uses the Claude account you already have.
A
Simplest — no terminal
The desktop app
Download the Claude desktop app at claude.ai/download, sign in with your Claude account, and open Claude Code inside it. A normal app window — you point it at your kit and type in a chat box.
B
Nothing to install
In your browser
Go to claude.ai/code and sign in. Claude Code runs in a secure workspace in the cloud and connects straight to your kit's GitHub repository — best if you gave your GitHub username at checkout.
C
Two pasted lines
In the terminal
The classic way, and less scary than its reputation: a terminal is just a plain window where you type a line and read the answer. Two pasted commands install it — the full steps are right below.
Setting up option C — the terminal, from zero
Open a terminal (Mac: press Cmd + Space, type terminal, Enter · Windows: press the Windows key, type powershell, Enter), paste the install line, and press Enter. Every line you'll ever need is on this page with a Copy button.
Mac / Linux — paste into the terminal, press Enter
curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bashWindows — paste into PowerShell, press Enter
irm https://claude.ai/install.ps1 | iex$claude --version
2.1.178 (Claude Code)
When the install finishes: close the terminal, open a new one, and check it took — any version number is a pass. Then type claude to start; the first run opens your browser to log in.
Using Codex instead?
Same idea, three surfaces of its own — sign in with your ChatGPT account. Every kit ships instructions for Codex too (AGENTS.md). This page shows Claude Code; the steps map one-to-one.
If your screen disagrees with this page
Apps change over time. The current official install steps live at docs.anthropic.com — or ask Claude on claude.ai to walk you through it.
Get your kit
Kits are delivered through GitHub — or as a plain zip download if you skip that. GitHub is where code and files live online; think of your username there as a shipping address. You never have to learn it: your AI drives it for you.
A GitHub account — optional, recommended
With one, delivery is instant and your AI connects to your kit directly (that's also what the browser option runs on). No account? Create a free one at github.com/signup — two minutes — or skip it entirely and take the zip.
At checkout, one choice
Your email is the receipt-and-support address. The GitHub username field is optional: fill it for instant delivery to that account, or leave it empty and download your kit as a zip straight from your order page instead.
Within a few minutes of paying
Gave a username? GitHub emails you an invitation to your kit's private repository — open it, click View invitation, then Accept invitation. Either way, your order page shows your personal start line and live delivery status.
From: GitHub <noreply@github.com>
Subject: You've been invited to collaborate on thefounderkit/launch-kit
You've been invited to collaborate on the thefounderkit/launch-kit repository.
View invitationClick it, then click Accept invitation on the page that opens. That's the whole GitHub part.
Took the zip instead?
It downloads right from your order page — the page after checkout, also linked from your Stripe receipt. Same kit, same license. Unzip it somewhere you'll find it (Desktop is fine); that folder is the kit. Questions? support@thefounderkit.ai.
Start your kit
Open Claude Code wherever you chose in part 01, paste your kit's start line, and press Enter. Your personal line — with your kit's address filled in — is on the order page from checkout. Here's the Launch Kit's:
Clone https://github.com/thefounderkit/launch-kit (help me sign in to GitHub first if I need it), then follow the kit contract in CLAUDE.md: start with playbooks/00-intake.md — interview me, then take my business from idea to launched, one phase at a time, verifying each phase before the next.Sample — the Launch Kit's line. After you buy, your order page shows yours.
- Desktop app: open Claude Code in the app and paste the line into the chat.
- Browser: at claude.ai/code, follow the prompts to connect your kit's repository, then paste the line.
- Terminal: type
claude, press Enter, paste the line.
- 1
It may ask permission
Claude Code asks before it touches anything. Yes/no prompts are it working as designed — not something going wrong.
- 2
It helps you sign in to GitHub, if needed
A browser tab opens and you click the green Authorize button. That's the “help me sign in” part of the line doing its job. (Zip kit? This step never comes up.)
- 3
It opens your kit
The kit lands in a folder (or the workspace, in the browser), and your AI reads the contract inside — the rules it must follow while it builds.
- 4
It interviews you
Ten to fifteen minutes, one plain-English question at a time. No wrong answers: you're describing your business, not configuring software.
“What's the business? Tell me like you'd tell a friend.”
“Who pays you? Describe one real person who'd buy this.”
— the kit's actual first interview questions.
Got the kit as a zip?
Open your AI in the unzipped folder (desktop app: open that folder; terminal: start claude inside it) and paste this line instead — it does the same thing without GitHub:
Start my startup kit: follow the kit contract (CLAUDE.md / AGENTS.md), begin with playbooks/00-intake.md — interview me, then take my business from idea to launched one phase at a time, verifying each phase before the next.The eight phases, honestly previewed
From here your AI works phase by phase and narrates as it goes. It cannot skip ahead: each phase ends with a check that must pass before the next begins. Here's what each one is, who does the work, and what you'll see.
- 00
The interview
You talk, it writes · 10–15 min
Plain-English questions, one at a time — what the business is, who pays you. It ends by reading your answers back for your sign-off.
- 01
Accounts — the one sitting
You, at the keyboard; it directs · 45–60 min, once
The only phase with signups: four free accounts (database, payments, email, hosting), created in your name, passwords in your password manager. Seven values get pasted into one settings file on your computer — never into the chat. After this sitting, you're mostly approving.
- 02
The build
It works, you watch · a few minutes
It configures the website template with your business's name, voice, and colors, builds it, and shows you the result.
- 03
The database
It works · minutes
Where your customer data will live. It creates the tables and proves they answer before moving on.
- 04
Payments
It wires, you test-buy · minutes, one fun moment
Stripe in practice mode: it connects checkout, then you buy from your own shop with the test card (4242 4242 4242 4242). No real money exists here yet.
- 05
Email
It works, you check your inbox · minutes
Receipts and sign-in emails, wired up and test-fired to your own inbox so you see exactly what customers will get.
- 06
Social
It drafts, you approve · as long as you like
Launch posts and a two-week content plan, drafted in your voice. Nothing posts itself — you read, edit, and approve.
- 07
Launch
It deploys, you decide · 15–30 min
Your site goes live on a real public address and every earlier check runs again in production. Taking real payments is a separate, explicit yes from you — one more 10-minute block, only when you say so.
PASS phase 01 — accounts + keys
PASS phase 02 — app builds
PASS phase 03 — database tables
PASS phase 04 — payments (test mode)
PASS phase 05 — email sending
Result: nothing broken.
The kit's actual check output. A phase that fails its check gets fixed, not skipped.
Stopping is safe
Progress saves to a file after every phase. Close everything whenever you like; next time, start your AI in the kit and say “continue my kit” — it picks up exactly where you left off.
Practice mode until you say go
All payment work happens in Stripe's test mode — fake card, no real money — until launch day, when switching real payments on is your explicit, out-loud call.
Two failed fixes and it stops to talk
If the same error survives two fix attempts, your AI stops, runs the kit's doctor script, and lays out your options in plain English. It never grinds silently.
The two safety rules
Never paste passwords or secret keys into the chat
The AI guides every key from the service's page straight into a settings file. If any tool ever asks you to paste a secret key into a conversation — don't.
Real-money actions are always your explicit call
The AI drafts, prepares, and asks; you approve. That covers going live on payments, buying a domain, and anything else that costs or publishes.
Stuck at any point? Tell your AI: “Run the kit's doctor script and explain what it finds in plain English.” Or email support@thefounderkit.ai — a human replies.
That's the whole setup.
No hidden steps, no “then figure it out.” A few minutes of setup, one honest hour of accounts, and your AI does the rest.