Docs · set-up · the set-up pack
Set up Skald with Claude Code: one zip, one sentence
To set up Skald with Claude Code, send the set-up pack, open the site's code with the folder in it, and say: Set up Skald from CLAUDE.md. Claude Code finds how the site is hosted, does the matching steps, and reports back.
Set up Skald with Claude Code means handing Skald's set-up pack to an AI coding agent. The pack's CLAUDE.md, and AGENTS.md for other agents, holds the same steps as the guide for a person, written for an agent, with one rule above the rest: keys go only in environment variables or the host's secret settings.
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> Set up Skald from CLAUDE.md Step 1. How the site is hosted: nginx config and a deploy script over SSH. Case A: own Linux server. Step 2. Copy logs/install-server.sh to the server and run it with --dry-run? This changes a server. Run it? (yes / no) > yes Step 3. Script tag added once to the shared head: app/layout.tsx Step 5. sudo skald-ship-check: every line OK.
A sample session, shortened. The steps and the questions come from the pack's CLAUDE.md.
[01] the set-up pack
What the set-up pack holds for Claude Code
One zip for one site, with every way to connect it. The same folder serves a person and an agent: START-HERE.md for a person, CLAUDE.md and AGENTS.md for an AI coding agent.
The steps are filled in for the site: its name, its Skald page, the address its logs go to and the address for leads. The agent never has to guess an address.
- START-HERE.mda person
- CLAUDE.md · AGENTS.mdan agent
- secrets.envaddresses, keys if asked
- logs/install-server.shown server
- logs/cloudflare.mdCloudflare
- logs/ the log drain stepsVercel
- tag/script-tag.html · tag/README.mdscript tag
- leads/form leads
[02] the five steps
The five steps Claude Code follows from CLAUDE.md
In order, with no guessing. When a step needs a fact the agent cannot find in the code or on the server, it asks you one plain question and waits.
pick a step
Step 1. Find out how the site is hosted
The agent reads the site's code first. vercel.json or a .vercel folder means Vercel. wrangler.toml means Cloudflare. A Dockerfile, nginx or Apache files, or a deploy script that copies over SSH means your own Linux server. When the code does not settle it, the agent asks you.
Step 2. Connect the logs
Own server: it copies the installer over, runs it with --dry-run, reads which log it found, then runs it for real after your yes. Cloudflare: it deploys the Skald Worker with the token as the secret SKALD_TOKEN. Vercel: it sets the log drain, or gives you the exact steps when it cannot reach the dashboard.
Step 3. Add the script tag
Once, in the head every page shares: app/layout.tsx for the Next.js App Router, pages/_document.tsx for the Pages Router, the theme's header.php for WordPress, or the shared layout of any other site. It keeps data-site exactly as given and never adds the tag twice.
Step 4. Leads, when the site has a form
It finds where the backend handles the form, adds the file from leads/ for the backend's language, and calls it once after the lead is saved. The file signs each lead with the lead secret. SKALD_LEAD_URL and SKALD_LEAD_SECRET go in the backend's environment, never in code.
Step 5. Check, then report
It opens the site, or asks you to, and waits two to five minutes. On your own server it runs sudo skald-ship-check, where every line must say OK. Elsewhere it asks you to look at Settings > Connections. Then it reports: the case, the files changed, the secret settings set (names only), what the checks showed, and what is left for you.
[03] the rules
The rules an AI agent keeps with your keys
The pack gives the agent four rules before any step. They come first because the pack can hold the sending token and the lead secret.
| Rule | What it means |
|---|---|
| Secrets only in secret settings | Environment variables or the host's secret settings. Never in the site's code, never in git, never in the chat or a log |
| secrets.env is read, never echoed | Read only to copy a value into a secret setting |
| Change only what the steps say | No change to nginx, Apache or the site's pages beyond the tag. No web server restart without your yes |
| Ask before a server changes | Every command that changes a server waits for your yes |
On a server, the token goes in through the environment, never on the command line.
[04] send it
Send the set-up pack to a developer or an agent
In Skald, the site's Set up list starts with Send set-up to someone. The same box is in the logs and leads set-up steps.
Mail it
Up to 3 addresses, with a short note. Skald's server sends it, so mail must be set up in Settings > Mail. Up to 10 set-up mails per site an hour.
Or download it
The same zip, saved to your computer, to hand over any way you like.
Keys in, or out
Include the keys is ticked by default. Untick it to send the steps and addresses with no token and no lead secret.
Treat it like a password
Anyone with the mail can send data for the site. If the mail server refuses it, nothing was sent and a token made for it is taken back.
[05] before you start
What Claude Code needs to set up Skald
The agent works where it has access. Where it has none, it hands you the exact steps instead. Then check the site the same way a person would.
No card. We set up hosted Skald within one working day, or self-host it free.
What it does not do
- On your own server it needs SSH access. Without it, you run the commands it gives you.
- It cannot change a host's dashboard it cannot reach, such as a log drain on Vercel. It gives you the steps.
- It cannot add a site to Skald or make the pack. You do that in Skald first.
- Leads need a form handled by your own backend. Without one, step 4 is skipped.
keep reading
More on set up Skald with Claude Code
questions
Set up Skald with Claude Code FAQ
Straight answers, including what Skald does not do.
What do I say to Claude Code to set up Skald?
Give it the set-up pack folder, or the site's code with the folder in it, and say: Set up Skald from CLAUDE.md. It reads the steps, finds how the site is hosted, and follows the one case that fits.
Does it work with other AI coding agents?
The pack holds AGENTS.md beside CLAUDE.md, with the same steps, for agents that read that file. The steps are plain Markdown, so a person can follow START-HERE.md in the same folder.
Is it safe to give an AI agent the keys?
The pack's first rule: the sending token and the lead secret go only in environment variables or the host's secret settings, never in the site's code, never in git, never in the chat or a log. Commands that change a server need your yes first. To send the pack with no keys at all, untick Include the keys.
Can Claude Code set up a site on Vercel or Cloudflare?
Yes, from the pack's steps for each case: a log drain on Vercel Pro or Enterprise, or the Skald Worker on Cloudflare with its token as a secret. When it cannot reach the host's dashboard, it gives you the exact steps to do there yourself.
What does the agent report when it is done?
In short plain sentences: how the site is hosted, which case it did, which files it changed, which secret settings it set (names only, never the values), what the checks showed, and anything left for you to do.
$ tail -f access.log | skald
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