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Indigo HQ Docs

hq-core

hq-core is the HQ scaffold: the starter kit copied into a new HQ instance by npx create-hq. It is the seed that every HQ directory grows from.

What it is

  • The create-hq scaffold — distributed as a seed, not as an npm package. Its version is tracked as hqVersion in core.yaml (currently 15.x).
  • A minimal scaffold for orchestrating autonomous AI workers across sessions. HQ is a team AI operating system that scales from solo operator to enterprise.
  • Ships minimal on purpose — rich capabilities install separately as @indigoai-us/hq-pack-* content packs.

v15.0.0: engineering surface is now a pack

As of v15.0.0, the engineering toolkit no longer ships inside core. The dev skills (/tdd, /review, /execute-task, /run-project, /architect, /diagnose, /land, and more), the coding workers (qa-tester, security-scanner, and others), plus their knowledge bases and policies now live in the installable hq-pack-engineering pack. Vanilla core is a pure orchestration layer that founders, ops, and knowledge-work tenants can use without coding tooling they will never touch.

Upgrading is transparent. /update-hq auto-installs hq-pack-engineering and symlinks every capability back to its original path before removing the inline copies, so existing commands keep working with no prompts. Fresh npx create-hq installs stay lean; add the pack on demand:

Terminal window
hq install github:indigoai-us/hq-packages#packages/hq-pack-engineering

Who uses it / when

Anyone standing up a new HQ instance. You touch hq-core once at install time; afterward you operate the instance with the hq CLI and upgrade with /update-hq.

Key flows

Terminal window
# scaffold a new HQ instance
npx create-hq ~/my-hq


# full vs minimal install
npx create-hq ~/my-hq --full      # prompts to install recommended packs
npx create-hq ~/my-hq --minimal   # bare scaffold

create-hq scaffolds the directory, runs setup.sh, and can install the recommended packs declared in core.yaml. Prerequisites: Claude Code and the GitHub CLI are required; qmd, Codex, the Vercel CLI, and ggshield are optional/recommended.

What the scaffold contains

core.yaml defines the rule tiers (locked / reviewable / open) and recommended packages. The scaffold lays down the .claude/ command + skill tree, modules/, companies/, and workers/ — the structure the rest of the ecosystem plugs into via the module system.

Composition

  • The scaffold seeds, it does not run — after npx create-hq, hq-core has no runtime dependency on the other repos. Upgrades flow through /update-hq.
  • Capabilities arrive as packs — see hq-packages and install them with hq install.