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Getting Started

Install H·AI·K·U, create your first intent, and deliver working software

Get H·AI·K·U running in your project and deliver your first feature. H·AI·K·U is the software development profile of the H·AI·K·U Method (Human AI Knowledge Unification).

Installation

/plugin marketplace add thebushidocollective/ai-dlc
/plugin install haiku --scope project

The Two Commands You Need

CommandWhat it does
/haiku:newCreate an intent — define what you're building and select a studio
/haiku:runRun the stage pipeline — autonomous execution through each stage

Your First Feature

Step 1: Create an Intent

/haiku:new

The AI guides you through:

  1. What you want to build
  2. Studio selection — software (git + PRs) or ideation (filesystem + local delivery)
  3. Stage mode — single-stage (all disciplines merged) or multi-stage (sequential progression)
  4. Success criteria — how you'll know it's done
  5. Units — how to break down the work (for complex features)

Example session:

User: /haiku:new
AI: What do you want to build?
User: Add user authentication with email/password
AI: [Asks clarifying questions via interactive prompts]
AI: Here are the success criteria I captured...
AI: Intent created! Run /haiku:run to start.

Step 2: Run Stages

/haiku:run

The AI now works through the stages defined by your studio. For the software studio, stages progress through:

  1. Inception — Understand the problem, decompose into units
  2. Development — Plan, build, and review each unit
  3. Security — Threat modeling and vulnerability assessment (if applicable)
  4. Operations — Deployment and monitoring (if applicable)

Each stage has its own hats (roles) defined as files in the stage's hats/ directory. The AI transitions through hats automatically, running quality gates at each step.

You can watch, intervene if needed, or let it run.

Step 3: Continue After Context Resets

If the session runs long, the AI will suggest clearing context:

AI: "Context getting full. Run /clear to continue."
User: /clear
User: /haiku:run

Your progress is preserved — the AI picks up where it left off.

Key Commands

CommandPurpose
/haiku:newCreate a new intent
/haiku:runRun the stage pipeline
/haiku:reviewPre-delivery code review — catches issues before external CI/bots
/haiku:resume [slug]Resume an existing intent after a break
/haiku:quickQuick mode for small tasks — skip full pipeline
/haiku:resetAbandon current work and start fresh
/haiku:autopilotFull autonomous workflow — create, run, review, deliver

Example: Complete Workflow

User: /haiku:new
AI: What do you want to build?
User: Add a dark mode toggle to the settings page
AI: [Guides through requirements and criteria]
AI: Intent created!

User: /haiku:run
AI: [Works autonomously through inception → development → review]
AI: Intent complete! All criteria satisfied.

User: Great, let's create a PR
AI: [Creates PR with summary of changes]

After Delivery

Once your intent is complete, manage ongoing operational tasks with /haiku:operate. Define scheduled jobs, reactive handlers, and human review processes as spec files in .haiku/{intent}/operations/. See the Operations Guide for details.

What's Different from AI-DLC?

If you used AI-DLC before the H·AI·K·U rebrand, see the Migration Guide for a complete map of changes. The key shifts:

  • Studios replace workflows — named lifecycle templates that define which stages run
  • Stages replace standalone hats — each stage has its own hats/ directory with per-hat files
  • Persistence adapters — git (PRs) or filesystem (local), configured per studio
  • .haiku/ replaces .ai-dlc/ as the project directory
  • /haiku:* replaces /ai-dlc:* as the command prefix

Next Steps