Bmad Loop Setup

Module Setup

Overview

Installs, configures, and upgrades a BMad module in a project. This module is special: alongside the four automation skills it relies on the bmad-loop orchestrator tool (the Python program that drives the loop), installed as the bmad-loop package from its public Git repository. So setup does two jobs — (1) register module config + help entries, and (2) install or upgrade the orchestrator tool and bootstrap the project so it is ready to run.

The same skill handles both first-time setup and upgrades. When it detects an existing bmad-loop install (or you ask it to upgrade), it upgrades the orchestrator tool, refreshes the per-project bmad-loop-* skill copies, and re-stamps config — the two-step upgrade ritual, run for you. A plain re-run on an already-installed project is treated as an upgrade.

Module identity (name, code, version) comes from ./assets/module.yaml. Collects user preferences and writes them to three files:

• {project-root}/_bmad/config.yaml — shared project config: core settings at root (e.g. output_folder, document_output_language) plus a section per module with metadata and module-specific values. User-only keys (user_name, communication_language) are never written here.
• {project-root}/_bmad/config.user.yaml — personal settings intended to be gitignored: user_name, communication_language, and any module variable marked user_setting: true in ./assets/module.yaml. These values live exclusively here.
• {project-root}/_bmad/module-help.csv — registers module capabilities for the help system.

Both config scripts use an anti-zombie pattern — existing entries for this module are removed before writing fresh ones, so stale values never persist.

{project-root} is a literal token in config values (the data written into the files above) — never substitute it there. It signals to the consuming LLM that the value is relative to the project root, not the skill root. This does not apply to the filesystem path arguments passed to the scripts below (the --*-path, --*-dir, and --target arguments): those are real paths, so you must resolve {project-root} to the actual project root before running, or the scripts will write to a literal {project-root}/ directory under the skill folder. The scripts reject an unresolved token with an error.

On Activation

1. Read ./assets/module.yaml for module metadata and variable definitions (the code field is the module identifier)
2. Check if {project-root}/_bmad/config.yaml exists — if a section matching the module's code is already present, inform the user this is an update
3. Check for per-module configuration at {project-root}/_bmad/bmad-loop/config.yaml and {project-root}/_bmad/core/config.yaml. If either file exists:
   • If {project-root}/_bmad/config.yaml does not yet have a section for this module: this is a fresh install. Inform the user that installer config was detected and values will be consolidated into the new format.
   • If {project-root}/_bmad/config.yaml already has a section for this module: this is a legacy migration. Inform the user that legacy per-module config was found alongside existing config, and legacy values will be used as fallback defaults.
   • In both cases, per-module config files and directories will be cleaned up after setup.

Decide fresh-install vs upgrade. This drives whether the tool is upgraded and whether the per-project skills are refreshed (see "Install the Orchestrator Tool" below). Treat it as an upgrade when any of these hold:

• The user asked for one in their arguments — upgrade, update, upgrade tool and skills, or similar.
• {project-root}/_bmad/config.yaml already has a bmad-loop section (step 2 above).
• The orchestrator tool is already installed under uv: run uv tool list and look for a bmad-loop entry. (A bare bmad-loop --version is not sufficient on its own — it can be satisfied by a source checkout or unrelated virtualenv; see step 1 of "Install the Orchestrator Tool".)
• A pre-rename install is present — the project (or the machine) is on the old bmad-auto. Two tells: {project-root}/_bmad/config.yaml has a legacy bauto section, or uv tool list shows a bmad-auto entry (the tool's former name). Treat this as an upgrade from bmad-auto (renamed to bmad-loop) and follow "Migrating from bmad-auto (renamed)" below in addition to the normal upgrade path.

Otherwise it is a fresh install. State the decision to the user before proceeding — e.g. "Detected an existing bmad-loop install — running an upgrade: tool + skills + config" or "No existing install detected — running a fresh setup". When the signals conflict (e.g. config has a bmad-loop section but the tool isn't uv-managed), prefer the upgrade path for whatever is present and call out what's missing.

If the user provides arguments (e.g. accept all defaults, --headless, upgrade, or inline values like user name is BMad, I speak Swahili), map any provided values to config keys, use defaults for the rest, and skip interactive prompting. Still display the full confirmation summary at the end.

Migrating from bmad-auto (renamed)

Only when you detected a pre-rename install ("Decide fresh-install vs upgrade" above). The project was set up under the tool's former name, bmad-auto. The rename was a clean break — module code bauto → bmad-loop, tool package bmad-auto → bmad-loop, state dir .automator/ → .bmad-loop/ — with no compatibility shims, so a few steps below need explicit handling. Do these as part of the normal upgrade:

1. Carry old config defaults over. merge-config.py --legacy-dir reads _bmad/bmad-loop/ (the new code), so it won't find the old bauto config on its own. Before collecting values, read the legacy bauto: section from {project-root}/_bmad/config.yaml (and, if present, the old installer file {project-root}/_bmad/bauto/config.yaml) and fold any keys that still match the current module.yaml schema into your defaults. Priority: existing bmad-loop values > legacy bauto section > legacy _bmad/bauto/config.yaml > module.yaml defaults.
2. Reinstall the tool under its new name — uv can't rename a package in place, so this is an uninstall + install, not an upgrade. See the renamed-tool note in "Install the Orchestrator Tool" step 2.
3. Run bmad-loop init as usual. It handles the on-disk migration for you: strips the old .automator/ Stop hook from each CLI's settings, removes the bmad-auto-* skill dirs, and carries .automator/policy.toml over to .bmad-loop/policy.toml — leaving the rest of .automator/ (runs, archives, profiles, plugins) in place for you to delete once satisfied.
4. Post-merge cleanup — the anti-zombie merges key on the new names, so old rows and sections survive and need explicit removal:
   • Delete the leftover bauto: section from {project-root}/_bmad/config.yaml, plus any bauto-marked keys in {project-root}/_bmad/config.user.yaml.
   • Delete rows from {project-root}/_bmad/module-help.csv whose module column (column 1) reads BMAD Automator Skills — merge-help-csv.py's anti-zombie filter keys on the new BMAD Loop Skills, so it leaves the old-named rows behind.
   • The legacy installer dir _bmad/bauto/ is removed by the cleanup step's --also-remove bauto (see "Cleanup Legacy Directories").

Then continue with the normal flow below.

Collect Configuration

Ask the user for values. Show defaults in brackets. Present all values together so the user can respond once with only the values they want to change (e.g. "change language to Swahili, rest are fine"). Never tell the user to "press enter" or "leave blank" — in a chat interface they must type something to respond.

Default priority (highest wins): existing new config values > legacy config values > ./assets/module.yaml defaults. When legacy configs exist, read them and use matching values as defaults instead of module.yaml defaults. Only keys that match the current schema are carried forward — changed or removed keys are ignored. On a rename-upgrade from bmad-auto, the old bauto section (in _bmad/config.yaml) and any _bmad/bauto/config.yaml installer file slot in below existing bmad-loop values and above module.yaml defaults — you read them yourself (see "Migrating from bmad-auto (renamed)"), since merge-config's --legacy-dir only looks under the new code.

Core config (only if no core keys exist yet): user_name (default: BMad), communication_language and document_output_language (default: English — ask as a single language question, both keys get the same answer), output_folder (default: {project-root}/_bmad-output). Of these, user_name and communication_language are written exclusively to config.user.yaml. The rest go to config.yaml at root and are shared across all modules.

Module config: Read each variable in ./assets/module.yaml that has a prompt field. Ask using that prompt with its default value (or legacy value if available).

Write Files

Write a temp JSON file with the collected answers structured as {"core": {...}, "module": {...}} (omit core if it already exists). Values inside this JSON keep the literal {project-root} token. Then run both scripts — they can run in parallel since they write to different files.

In the commands below, replace {project-root} in every path argument with the actual project root (e.g. /home/me/myapp) before running — these are filesystem paths, not config values.

python3 ./scripts/merge-config.py --config-path "{project-root}/_bmad/config.yaml" --user-config-path "{project-root}/_bmad/config.user.yaml" --module-yaml ./assets/module.yaml --answers {temp-file} --legacy-dir "{project-root}/_bmad"
python3 ./scripts/merge-help-csv.py --target "{project-root}/_bmad/module-help.csv" --source ./assets/module-help.csv --legacy-dir "{project-root}/_bmad" --module-code bmad-loop

Both scripts output JSON to stdout with results. If either exits non-zero, surface the error and stop. The scripts automatically read legacy config values as fallback defaults, then delete the legacy files after a successful merge. Check legacy_configs_deleted and legacy_csvs_deleted in the output to confirm cleanup.

Run ./scripts/merge-config.py --help or ./scripts/merge-help-csv.py --help for full usage.

Create Output Directories

After writing config, create any output directories that were configured. For filesystem operations only (such as creating directories), resolve the {project-root} token to the actual project root and create each path-type value from config.yaml that does not yet exist — this includes output_folder and any module variable whose value starts with {project-root}/. The paths stored in the config files must continue to use the literal {project-root} token; only the directories on disk should use the resolved paths. Use mkdir -p or equivalent to create the full path.

Install the Orchestrator Tool

This module ships the bmad-loop orchestrator — the Python program that actually drives the loop — as the bmad-loop Python package, installed from its public Git repository. The skills do nothing on their own: the orchestrator is what spawns fresh coding CLI sessions through the selected adapter(s) to invoke bmad-dev-auto (the upstream dev primitive) for the dev pass — then re-invokes it on the done spec for the follow-up review pass — and bmad-loop-sweep, watches their hook signals, and verifies their artifacts. Installing the tool is therefore part of setup, not an optional extra.

Why is the tool installed from Git? The BMAD installer copies only the skill directories into a project — it does not carry sibling files, so the tool can't ride along in the skill folder; it's installed from Git instead. The canonical source is https://github.com/bmad-code-org/bmad-loop. (The reverse holds, though: the tool's wheel bundles the skills, so bmad-loop init lays them down into a project's skill trees on its own — see step 3.)

Unless the user explicitly asked to skip it (e.g. skills only / --no-tool), install or upgrade and bootstrap now. Which branch you take in step 2 follows the fresh-install-vs-upgrade decision from "On Activation". In the commands below, resolve {project-root} to the real project path before running.

1. Check what's already on PATH: run bmad-loop --version. A version printing here does not mean this project is set up — it only means some bmad-loop is importable in the current environment. Before trusting it, run uv tool list and look for bmad-loop: if it's absent (the on-PATH copy comes from a source checkout or an unrelated virtualenv), warn the user that the active environment is shadowing a clean install and that the project would be relying on that checkout. Unless the user explicitly declines, install/upgrade from the canonical source below so the project doesn't depend on an incidental dev environment. Only skip the install if the user confirms the on-PATH copy is the one they want this project to use.

2. Install or upgrade from the Git repository (the [tui] extra pulls in the Textual dashboard so bmad-loop tui works). uv tool install puts bmad-loop in uv's own managed environment, so there's no PEP 668 externally-managed conflict and no need for --user, an activated virtualenv, or --break-system-packages.

   • Renamed from bmad-auto (uv tool list shows bmad-auto, not bmad-loop): uv can't rename a package in place, so uv tool upgrade won't move you across the rename. Record bmad-auto --version first (for the delta), then uninstall the old tool and install the new one fresh:

     uv tool uninstall bmad-auto
     uv tool install "bmad-loop[tui] @ git+https://github.com/bmad-code-org/bmad-loop.git"
     

     After this the machine is on bmad-loop; later runs follow the plain upgrade path below.

   • Fresh install (no uv-managed bmad-loop):

     uv tool install "bmad-loop[tui] @ git+https://github.com/bmad-code-org/bmad-loop.git"
     

     Pin a release tag for reproducibility by appending @v<X.Y.Z> to the Git URL.

   • Upgrade (uv already manages bmad-loop, per the "On Activation" decision):

     1. Record the current version first so you can report the delta: bmad-loop --version.

     2. Default — follow main (or the currently pinned tag):

        uv tool upgrade bmad-loop --reinstall
        

        The --reinstall is required for a Git source: a plain uv tool upgrade reuses the cached commit and won't pull new code. Then offer to pin a release tag for reproducibility — if the user wants a specific version, move to it with:

        uv tool install --force "bmad-loop[tui] @ git+https://github.com/bmad-code-org/bmad-loop.git@v<X.Y.Z>"
        

     3. Re-run bmad-loop --version and note the before → after for the confirmation step.

3. Bootstrap the project — install the coding-CLI hooks, the bundled bmad-loop-* skills, the .bmad-loop/policy.toml template, and the gitignore entry (idempotent).

   First decide which coding CLI(s) the orchestrator should drive. The three supported adapters are claude (default), codex, and gemini. Hooks are registered per CLI, so the choice matters — register every CLI you intend to use for dev/review/triage. Ask the user (unless they already specified it in their setup args, e.g. cli: claude, codex, or accepted defaults — then default to claude only):

   "Which coding CLI(s) should the orchestrator drive — claude, codex, and/or gemini? You can pick more than one. [claude]"

   Build the command with one --cli <name> per selected CLI (the flag is repeatable). On an upgrade, append --force-skills so the per-project skill copies are actually refreshed — without it init skips every existing skill dir and the project keeps stale skills against the upgraded tool. On a fresh install, omit it.

   # fresh install, claude only (default)
   bmad-loop init --project "{project-root}" --cli claude
   
   # fresh install, multiple, e.g. claude + codex + gemini
   bmad-loop init --project "{project-root}" --cli claude --cli codex --cli gemini
   
   # upgrade — refresh the bundled skills in place
   bmad-loop init --project "{project-root}" --cli claude --force-skills
   

   Names must be exactly claude, codex, or gemini — init errors on an unknown profile and lists the valid ones. init prints any one-time first-run notes per CLI (e.g. start claude once in the project and accept the workspace-trust + hooks-approval dialogs before bmad-loop run — spawned sessions can't answer first-run dialogs). Relay those notes to the user.

   Skills are installed automatically: init lays the bundled bmad-loop-* skills into the right tree for each selected CLI — .claude/skills/ for claude, .agents/skills/ for codex/gemini. On a fresh install, existing skill dirs are left untouched; on an upgrade, --force-skills overwrites them with the bundled copies from the upgraded tool (use --no-skills to skip the step and manage skills yourself).

   Note: --force-skills also overwrites bmad-loop-setup itself (it ships in the same bundle). That's expected and safe — the freshly laid-down setup skill takes effect on the next invocation, and your _bmad/custom/*.toml overrides (keyed by skill directory name) are untouched.

4. Preflight — verify config, sprint-status, git, tmux, and the coding CLI:

   bmad-loop validate --project "{project-root}"
   

   validate exits non-zero when the project isn't fully ready (e.g. no sprint-status.yaml yet, or bmad-sprint-planning hasn't run). On a fresh project that is expected — report its findings to the user as a readiness checklist, not as an install failure.

5. Point the user at per-role adapter config. --cli in step 3 only registers hooks for each CLI. Which CLI actually runs each stage is governed by {project-root}/.bmad-loop/policy.toml, written from a template by init. The [adapter] name (default claude) applies to every stage; optional [adapter.dev], [adapter.review], and [adapter.triage] tables override individual stages (each takes its own name and extra_args). So a mixed setup — e.g. claude for dev, codex for review — needs both the hooks registered (step 3) and the role pointed at that CLI in policy.toml:

   [adapter]
   name = "claude"        # default for all stages
   
   [adapter.review]
   name = "codex"         # review runs on codex instead
   

   Tell the user where the file is and that any CLI named in policy.toml must also have been registered with --cli in step 3 (re-run bmad-loop init --cli <name> to add one later). Leave policy.toml untouched if they only use a single CLI — the default is correct.

Cleanup Legacy Directories

After both merge scripts complete successfully, remove the installer's package directories. Skills and agents in these directories are already installed at .claude/skills/ — the _bmad/ directory should only contain config files.

As with the merge scripts, replace {project-root} in the --bmad-dir and --skills-dir path arguments with the actual project root before running.

python3 ./scripts/cleanup-legacy.py --bmad-dir "{project-root}/_bmad" --module-code bmad-loop --also-remove _config --skills-dir "{project-root}/.claude/skills"

The script verifies that every skill in the legacy directories exists at .claude/skills/ before removing anything. Directories without skills (like _config/) are removed directly. If the script exits non-zero, surface the error and stop. Missing directories (already cleaned by a prior run) are not errors — the script is idempotent.

On a rename-upgrade from bmad-auto, also remove the old _bmad/bauto/ installer directory. When it was populated by the BMAD-method installer it holds the pre-rename bmad-auto-* skill copies, which no longer exist at .claude/skills/ — so run this cleanup without --skills-dir to skip the installed-skill verification (their removal is exactly the point). It is a no-op when _bmad/bauto/ isn't present:

python3 ./scripts/cleanup-legacy.py --bmad-dir "{project-root}/_bmad" --module-code bauto

(--module-code bauto also targets core, already handled above — a missing directory is a no-op.)

Check directories_removed and files_removed_count in the JSON output for the confirmation step. Run ./scripts/cleanup-legacy.py --help for full usage.

Confirm

Use the script JSON output to display what was written — config values set (written to config.yaml at root for core, module section for module values; the bmad-loop section's version is re-stamped from ./assets/module.yaml on every run via the anti-zombie merge), user settings written to config.user.yaml (user_keys in result), help entries added, fresh install vs upgrade.

Report the tool result according to the branch taken:

• Fresh install: the installed bmad-loop --version, that bmad-loop init registered hooks, installed the bmad-loop-* skills, and wrote policy/gitignore for the selected coding CLI(s) (name each one — e.g. "hooks + skills installed for claude, codex").
• Upgrade: the before → after bmad-loop --version (e.g. "upgraded 0.3.1 → 0.3.2", or "already current at 0.3.2"), that the bmad-loop-* skills were refreshed (not skipped) with --force-skills in each CLI tree, and the re-stamped config version.

Also report the bmad-loop validate preflight result (pass, or the readiness checklist of what's still missing). If legacy files were deleted, mention the migration. If legacy directories were removed, report the count and list (e.g. "Cleaned up 106 installer package files from bmb/, core/, _config/ — skills are installed at .claude/skills/"). Then display the module_greeting from ./assets/module.yaml to the user.

Outcome

Once the user's user_name and communication_language are known (from collected input, arguments, or existing config), use them consistently for the remainder of the session: address the user by their configured name and communicate in their configured communication_language.