Dev Start

google/dev-start

Quick-start guide for new Capsem developers. Use when someone asks "how do I get started", "how to set up", "first time setup", or "bootstrap". Points to the bootstrap script and full docs. For detailed environment troubleshooting, use /dev-setup instead.

572 tokens

context cost

the whole folder, loaded on every use

files

instructions only

copies elsewhere

how many repositories repackaged it

stars on the repo

on the repository, not the skill itself

Install

one command, takes just this skill from the repository

npx skills add https://github.com/google/capsem --skill dev-start

What it tells the agent to use

found in the instruction text

Bash runs shell commands — read the instruction before connecting

The instruction itself

6 sections, as written by the author

Developer Quick Start

Fastest path

git clone <repo> && cd capsem
./bootstrap.sh                  # interactive, prompts [Y/n] before each install
./bootstrap.sh --yes            # non-interactive (CI / unattended setup)
just exec "echo hello"           # verify VM boots (build-assets runs as part of bootstrap)

bootstrap.sh lives at the repo root, not under scripts/.

What bootstrap.sh does

Three phases. Default answer at every prompt is Yes — press Enter to install, type n to skip.

Hard prereqs (you must have): bash, git, curl. Auto-installed: rustup (sh.rustup.rs), just (just.systems → ~/.local/bin).
Dependencies: uv (astral.sh), uv sync, flock (brew on macOS), container runtime on macOS (colima + docker + docker-buildx via brew, then colima start --vm-type vz --vz-rosetta --memory 16 --cpu 8), pnpm install for the frontend.
Doctor --fix (scripts/doctor-common.sh --fix): installs Rust targets, cargo-llvm-cov, cargo-audit, b3sum, cargo-tauri (= tauri-cli crate), cargo-sbom; builds VM assets and packs the initrd.

Release-only local preflight also needs cdxgen. Install it with

npm install -g @cyclonedx/[email protected] before running

bash scripts/check-release-workflow.sh or local VM asset release dry runs.

--yes flag and non-tty input both auto-accept every prompt.

After bootstrap

All just recipes (run, test, dev, etc.) check for .dev-setup and auto-run doctor if missing. You can't accidentally skip setup.

Full documentation

Detailed setup + troubleshooting: Development Guide or /dev-setup skill
Just recipe reference: /dev-just
Testing workflow: /dev-testing

Container runtime

Docker (via Colima on macOS) with 12GB+ RAM (16GB recommended -- the Tauri install-test build OOMs below 12GB). On Linux, Docker runs natively. See /dev-setup for configuration.

How to use it

Copy the folder

Take google/dev-start from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.

Check the name does not clash

The agent identifies a skill by the name field in its header. Two skills with the same name cannot sit side by side — one of them will be ignored.

Install what it needs

The instructions reference npm, docker. Without those the skill loads but fails at the first command.