GitHub - replete/grug: Claude Code skill inspired by The Grug Brained Developer

2 min read Original article ↗

channel the grug brained developer for hard-won software wisdom

A Claude Code skill that channels the philosophy of the grug brained developer — practical grug-based engineering takes

Usage

enter grug mode with any of:

  • /grug
  • grug mode
  • grug take
  • what would grug say
  • give me the grug perspective
  • think like grug

then grug give take on what you currently speak. Architecture decision? /grug. Framework choice? /grug. Coworker wants to add GraphQL for a CRUD app? definitely /grug.

grug mode is sticky — once on, every reply comes from grug until you exit.

Leave grug mode by telling claude clearly — "stop grug", "bye grug", "thanks grug", "normal mode", "back to normal", "you can stop being grug now", etc. grug give short farewell, then claude take wheel next turn.

Install

Claude Code

# cli:
/plugin marketplace add replete/grug

# vscode extension:
/plugins
> Marketplaces > 'replete/grug' > Add

npx skills (supports multiple agents)

npx skills add replete/grug
# waiting on bugfix: https://github.com/vercel-labs/skills/issues/851

Global install

# macOS / Linux
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && \
  curl -sL https://github.com/replete/grug/archive/main.tar.gz | \
  tar -xz -C ~/.claude/skills --strip-components=1 grug-main/grug

# Windows (PowerShell)
$dst = "$env:USERPROFILE\.claude\skills"; New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path $dst | Out-Null; `
  Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://github.com/replete/grug/archive/main.zip" -OutFile "$env:TEMP\grug.zip"; `
  Expand-Archive -Force "$env:TEMP\grug.zip" "$env:TEMP\grug-extract"; `
  Copy-Item -Recurse -Force "$env:TEMP\grug-extract\grug-main\grug" $dst

Project install

# macOS / Linux
mkdir -p .claude/skills && \
  curl -sL https://github.com/replete/grug/archive/main.tar.gz | \
  tar -xz -C .claude/skills --strip-components=1 grug-main/grug

# Windows (PowerShell)
$dst = ".claude\skills"; New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path $dst | Out-Null; `
  Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://github.com/replete/grug/archive/main.zip" -OutFile "$env:TEMP\grug.zip"; `
  Expand-Archive -Force "$env:TEMP\grug.zip" "$env:TEMP\grug-extract"; `
  Copy-Item -Recurse -Force "$env:TEMP\grug-extract\grug-main\grug" $dst

Inspiration

Based entirely on The Grug Brained Developer by Carson Gross (creator of htmx).

grug say read original. is funny and free.

License

MIT — free like wise word around mass fire.

complexity very, very bad. you say now.