Claude Code

Claude Code is Anthropic’s official CLI for Claude. AVC integrates with it via the Model Context Protocol — Claude can call avc_snapshot, avc_diff, avc_restore, etc. as native tools.

Setup

avc init --skills claude-code

That single command writes everything needed.

What gets written

.claude/
├── settings.json                       ← MCP server registration
└── skills/
    ├── avc-snapshot/SKILL.md           ← "When and how to snapshot"
    ├── avc-branch/SKILL.md             ← "When to use branches"
    ├── avc-restore/SKILL.md            ← "When to roll back"
    └── avc-merge/SKILL.md              ← "How to merge an agent branch"

The settings.json registers the AVC MCP server:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "avc": {
      "command": "avc",
      "args": ["mcp", "serve", "--compact"]
    }
  }
}

The skill files are prompt instructions Claude reads when it loads the project. They explain the four primitives and when to use each tool.

Workflow

Open the project in Claude Code:

claude

Claude detects the .claude/ directory and loads the skills. Ask it to do something non-trivial:

“Refactor the auth module to use bcrypt”

What Claude does (with AVC integration):

1. Calls avc_branch_create to make a refactor-auth workspace
2. Edits files inside .avc/workspaces/refactor-auth/
3. Calls avc_snapshot after each meaningful change
4. When done, summarizes what it did and asks if you want to merge

You can run avc list (or open the Web UI) at any time to see every snapshot Claude took.

Updating skills

If you update AVC and want the latest skill files:

avc init --skills claude-code

This is idempotent — it overwrites .claude/settings.json and the AVC skill files but leaves your other skills alone.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
Claude says “tool avc_snapshot not found”	Restart Claude Code so it re-reads .claude/settings.json
avc: command not found in the MCP error	Set the full path in settings.json: "command": "/usr/local/bin/avc"
Skills not being followed	Confirm .claude/skills/avc-*/SKILL.md files exist; rerun avc init --skills claude-code