msd-core/docs/how-to/install-minimal-and-add-skills.md

How to install a minimal MSD and add skills later

Install MSD Core with a small skill footprint to keep cold-start context low, then grow the surface — live or on reinstall — only when you need more. Use this when context budget matters: large existing projects, constrained models, or runtimes where every description token counts.

What you need: A supported runtime and the standard installer prerequisites (Node.js 18+ and npx). If you have not installed MSD at all yet, read Install on your runtime first — this guide covers the profile choice that layers on top of any runtime install.

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Install the minimal profile

To install only the core main-loop skills, add --minimal to the installer:

npx @golem15/msd-core@latest --claude --global --minimal

--minimal has two aliases — use whichever reads best to you; they are identical:

npx @golem15/msd-core@latest --claude --global --core-only
npx @golem15/msd-core@latest --claude --global --profile=core

A minimal install gives you the eight skills needed to run the core phase loop:

• new-project
• discuss-phase
• plan-phase
• execute-phase
• phase
• help
• update
• surface

No sub-agents are installed, and the skill-description tokens the model carries at cold start drop to roughly 130, against roughly 1,200 for a full install. The chosen profile is recorded in the .msd-profile marker in your runtime config directory and is reapplied automatically every time you run /msd-update, so you stay minimal across upgrades until you decide otherwise.

Do not combine --minimal with --profile= — the installer treats that as a conflict and exits.

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Choose a profile

If core is too small, pick a wider profile instead. Pass it with --profile=<name>:

Profile	What you get	Approx. description tokens
core	The eight core-loop skills above. No agents.	~130 desc tokens
standard	Everything in core plus brownfield onboarding (onboard), common management skills — review, config, progress, resume-work, pause-work, workspace — and the sub-agents those skills need.	~700 desc tokens
full	Every skill and every sub-agent. This is the default when you pass no profile flag.	~1,200 desc tokens

# Standard: the core loop plus everyday management commands
npx @golem15/msd-core@latest --claude --global --profile=standard

If you want a named profile plus one extra cluster, compose them with a comma. The installer writes the union of both:

# Core loop plus the audit/review skills, nothing else
npx @golem15/msd-core@latest --claude --global --profile=core,audit

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See what is installed and what is available

From inside your runtime, list the current surface, the disabled clusters, and the token cost of each:

/msd-surface list

The skills are grouped into clusters you can toggle as a unit:

core_loop, audit_review, milestone, research_ideate, workspace_state, docs, ui, ai_eval, ns_meta, utility

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Add skills later without reinstalling

If you installed minimal and now need more, you do not have to re-run the installer. /msd-surface changes the live surface and persists the change in a separate .msd-surface.json file, leaving your install-time profile marker untouched.

To switch to a wider profile in place:

/msd-surface profile standard

To turn on just one cluster while keeping your base profile:

/msd-surface enable audit_review

To turn a cluster back off, or to discard all your live changes and return to the profile you installed:

/msd-surface disable utility
/msd-surface reset

Surface changes take effect in your next session — restart the runtime to pick them up.

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Add skills by reinstalling

/msd-surface is the right tool for occasional, reversible adjustments. If you have decided you want the wider surface permanently, change the install-time profile instead so every future /msd-update keeps it:

# Re-run the installer without --minimal to record `full` as your profile
npx @golem15/msd-core@latest --claude --global

# ...or pin a specific profile
npx @golem15/msd-core@latest --claude --global --profile=standard

Running /msd-update re-reads the .msd-profile marker and reinstalls at that profile, so a one-off reinstall at a new profile is all you need — subsequent updates follow it automatically.

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Related

• Install on your runtime
• Update MSD
• Configuration
• Docs index