Use a plugin

You're here because you want to apply someone else's plugin to a project. This is the consumer ramp.

Where to start

The consumer flow

The commands you'll use almost every day:

ht init                                      # one-time per machine
ht plugin list --search foundation --remote-only
ht apply engineering-foundation              # add / materialize a plugin
ht status .                                  # inspect lock + snapshot drift

Create a starter manifest when you want apply-from-repo. Default teammate onboarding in a repo that already has apm.yml is ht install (the same loop as ht apply with no selector):

ht config init
ht install                                   # resolve from apm.yml

That's the loop. Search, apply, commit apm.lock.yaml (and apm.yml if you have one) plus harness files, restore with ht install on a fresh clone.

Recommended reading order

1. Projects — apm.yml, apm.lock.yaml, environments mapping.
2. ht config init — write the starter manifest.
3. Apply — selector, no-selector from apm.yml, or local .apm/ primitives.
4. Install — ht install, the same no-selector loop; default teammate onboarding.
5. MCP Registry identities — dependencies.mcp registry strings, ht install --mcp, ht mcp search|list|show|install.
6. Compile and targets — ht compile (named apply-from-manifest) and ht targets (resolved harness preview).
7. Apply git dependencies — git dependencies.apm, transitive walk, lock replay.
8. Audit — ht audit, Unicode on apply, lock SHA-256, apm-policy.yml.
9. Executable trust — opt-in executables: gate, ht approve / ht deny, lock exec_status.
10. Lockfile — pins, --update, plugin why.
11. Export a lockfile SBOM — ht lock export, CycloneDX / SPDX inventory.
12. Drift — status --check, snapshots, revert.
13. Stop here unless you hit catalog search or Cloud auth above.

Author-curious?

If you want to publish a plugin others can apply, switch to the author ramp. The plugins you build there apply with the same ht apply command everyone here is running.

Cloud for teams?

Org catalogs, immutable versions, and ht auth login live on the Cloud ramp. Consumer commands are unchanged when you point at a private org — you'll authenticate first, then search and apply as usual.