Overview
GStack is an open-source Claude Code skills toolkit created by Garry Tan. The current repo ships eight workflow skills: /plan-ceo-review, /plan-eng-review, /review, /ship, /browse, /qa, /setup-browser-cookies, and /retro., President of Y Combinator. It reframes how developers work with Claude Code by transforming a single generic assistant into a structured team of specialists — each with a defined role, priorities, and constraints.
The idea is simple but powerful: instead of firing off ad hoc prompts and hoping for consistent results, you invoke a specific role at the right moment in your workflow. Need product framing? Use /plan-ceo-review. Need architecture review? Use /plan-eng-review. Ready to land a finished branch? /ship takes over. For browser-driven testing use /browse or /qa, and for weekly retrospectives use /retro. This mirrors how high-functioning engineering teams actually operate, where a QA engineer thinks differently from a product lead, and a release manager applies different judgment than a senior developer.
Built exclusively on Claude Code's native slash commands feature, GStack uses an official setup flow that requires Claude Code plus Git and Bun v1.0+. Claude Code access is not limited to an Anthropic API account: most surfaces use a Claude subscription or Anthropic Console account, and the Terminal CLI and VS Code also support third-party providers. If you're evaluating AI code generator tools more broadly, GStack occupies a unique niche as a workflow orchestration layer rather than a standalone code generation tool. Tan reported averaging 10,000 lines of code and 100 pull requests per week over 50 days using this setup. The repo has earned over 8,500 GitHub stars since its open-source release.
Key Features
/plan-ceo-review— Founder / CEO — Reframes the problem before coding starts, focusing on user value, product ambition, and the higher-leverage version of the request. Ideal for project kickoff and requirement drafting, especially for solo developers who need a structured product counterpart before jumping into code./plan-eng-review— Eng Manager / Tech Lead — Locks in architecture, data flow, diagrams, edge cases, trust boundaries, and test coverage before implementation. Use it before design reviews or when planning how a change affects the broader codebase./review— Paranoid Staff Engineer — Reviews a ready branch for bugs that can pass CI but fail in production, and triages Greptile review comments when present./ship— Release Engineer — Handles final-mile release hygiene for a ready branch: syncs with main, reruns tests, updates changelog or version metadata when needed, pushes the branch, and opens or updates the PR./browse— Browser Automation — Gives the agent eyes. It logs into apps, clicks through flows, takes screenshots, and catches UI breakage./qa— QA Lead — Reads your diff, identifies affected pages or routes, and runs systematic smoke or regression testing. For teams that also use dedicated AI code checker tools, this role pairs well with static analysis workflows./setup-browser-cookies— Auth Setup Helper — Imports real browser cookies into the Playwright session so/browseand/qacan test authenticated pages./retro— Engineering Retrospective — Analyzes commit history, work patterns, PR volume, and shipping trends to produce a weekly retrospective.
How to Get Started
GStack setup is quick once prerequisites are installed, but the official flow also runs ./setup, builds a browser binary, and symlinks skills.
Prerequisites
- Claude Code installed and authenticated (
claude --versionto verify) - Git
- Bun v1.0+
Installation
Use the official install flow from the repository root:
# Personal install (available across all projects)
git clone https://github.com/garrytan/gstack.git ~/.claude/skills/gstack
cd ~/.claude/skills/gstack && ./setup
# Project-scoped install
git clone https://github.com/garrytan/gstack.git .claude/skills/gstack
cd .claude/skills/gstack && ./setup
The ./setup script builds the browser binary and symlinks the skills into Claude Code's expected location.
Verify the Installation
invoke one of the actual skill names directly, such as /plan-ceo-review, /review, /ship, /browse, /qa, or /retro. These are not namespaced /gstack:* commands.
Global vs. Project Install
For a personal install, place the repo at ~/.claude/skills/gstack and run ./setup. For a project install, copy it to .claude/skills/gstack and run ./setup there.
First Session Tip
Start with /plan-ceo-review for product framing, move to /plan-eng-review for architecture, implement the work, then use /review, /ship, and /qa as the branch nears merge. before you write any code. Then switch to /gstack:engineer for implementation, and close the session with /gstack:qa to validate what you built.
Pricing & Plans
GStack is completely free and open source under the MIT License. There are no paid tiers, subscriptions, or usage limits imposed by GStack itself.
GStack itself is free and MIT-licensed. Any separate cost comes from the Claude Code access path you choose—such as a Claude subscription, Anthropic Console usage, or a supported third-party provider.
| Plan | Cost | What You Get |
|---|---|---|
| GStack (open source) | Free | All 6 slash command skills, MIT License |
| Claude Code access | Varies by surface/provider | Most surfaces use a Claude subscription or Anthropic Console account; Terminal CLI and VS Code can also use supported third-party providers |
How It Compares
GStack is not the only way to add structure to Claude Code sessions. Here's how it positions against the most common alternatives:
| GStack | Plain CLAUDE.md | Cursor Rules | Custom Slash Commands | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Activation | On-demand per session | Always-on context | Always-on in Cursor | On-demand |
| Role specificity | 8 workflow skills spanning planning, review, shipping, browser automation, QA, cookie import, and retrospectives | Single shared context | Style/convention rules | Depends on author |
| Setup time | Usually quick once Git and Bun are installed, but depends on ./setup and browser binary build |
Minutes | Minutes | Varies widely |
| Customizable | Yes (fork + edit .md files) | Yes | Yes | Full control |
| CLI / IDE | Claude Code environments (terminal-first; Claude Code also has IDE surfaces) | CLI (Claude Code) | IDE (Cursor) | Depends on implementation |
| Opinionated defaults | ✅ Garry Tan's battle-tested setup | ❌ Blank slate | ❌ Blank slate | ❌ Blank slate |
| Cost | Free | Free | Free | Free |
vs. CLAUDE.md: A project-level CLAUDE.md file provides always-on context that shapes how Claude Code responds throughout a session. GStack is different — you invoke a specific role only when you need it, keeping focus sharp rather than giving Claude a broad, always-active instruction set.
vs. Cursor Rules: Cursor Rules apply automatically inside the Cursor IDE to enforce coding style and conventions. GStack serves a different purpose — it activates deliberate thinking modes (strategy, architecture, QA) on demand in Claude Code's CLI environment.
vs. Building your own slash commands: You can write your own custom slash commands from scratch inside .claude/commands/. GStack gives you a head start with six well-designed, production-validated role definitions — the same ones Tan used to ship 100+ PRs/week.
Community & Ecosystem
GStack launched in March 2026 when Garry Tan open-sourced his personal Claude Code setup on GitHub. It gained traction rapidly — surpassing 8,500 stars within days of release.
Repository Stats
- ⭐ 10.3k+ GitHub stars
- 📄 MIT License — fork, modify, and redistribute freely
- 💬 Active Issues tracker — community proposals include Automated Evals for Skills (#24)
- 🔤 GitHub currently shows TypeScript 78.5%, Go Template 19.7%, and Shell 1.8%
Creator Background
Garry Tan is President of Y Combinator and co-founder of Initialized Capital. He was an early-stage investor in Airbnb, Stripe, Dropbox, and Coinbase. GStack reflects the same workflow he used running his own development sessions at scale — it's not a side project; it's a working developer's toolkit.
Community Extensions
Because the skills are plain Markdown files, developers are already forking and extending them. Because the skills are plain files, developers can fork the repo and extend it with their own Claude Code workflows. The project has no official plugin marketplace, but the format is deliberately open — any developer can add new roles or modify existing ones without touching code.
Best For
- Solo developers using Claude Code who want structured, role-based AI assistance without a full team
- Engineering teams looking to standardize how they invoke Claude Code across different development phases, or those already using AI agent tools who want tighter control over role-specific behaviors
- Developers who frequently context-switch between product, engineering, QA, and DevOps concerns
- Anyone who wants to replicate a high-output AI-assisted development workflow inspired by real YC startup practices
- Open-source contributors and indie hackers who want a zero-cost upgrade to their Claude Code setup
FAQ
What is GStack?
GStack is an open-source Claude Code skills toolkit created by Garry Tan. The current repo exposes eight workflow skills: /plan-ceo-review, /plan-eng-review, /review, /ship, /browse, /qa, /setup-browser-cookies, and /retro. (President of Y Combinator). It turns Claude Code into a structured team of AI specialists — CEO, Engineering Manager, Engineer, Release Manager, QA Engineer, and DevOps Engineer — each invoked via a specific /gstack:* command.
Is GStack free to use?
Yes. GStack itself is MIT-licensed and completely free. You only pay for the underlying Anthropic API usage that powers Claude Code, which is billed directly by Anthropic based on your model choice and token consumption.
How do I install GStack?
Clone the GitHub repository and follow the repo's official install flow: clone to ~/.claude/skills/gstack and run ./setup, or copy the repo into .claude/skills/gstack for a project-scoped install and run ./setup there. GStack provides an installation script that handles cloning, validation, and file copying automatically. After installation, verify by typing /gstack: in a Claude Code session — the six commands should appear.
Does GStack work with any programming language?
Yes. The GStack skills are pure Markdown-based prompt configuration files. They define behavioral constraints and priorities rather than language-specific logic, making them compatible with any project regardless of tech stack, framework, or domain.
Do I need a special Claude plan to use GStack?
You need Claude Code plus the official prerequisites for this repo. Claude Code access depends on surface and provider: most surfaces use a Claude subscription or Anthropic Console account, while the Terminal CLI and VS Code also support third-party providers. GStack does not require a specific Claude tier, but more capable models will produce higher-quality outputs for complex architectural and product decisions. See the Claude Sonnet 4.6 review for a detailed look at the model most commonly used with Claude Code.
Can I customize the GStack skills?
Yes. Since the skills are plain Markdown files, you can edit them directly to adjust priorities, constraints, and persona behaviors. Many developers fork the repo and tailor the role definitions to match their specific project conventions or team processes.
How is GStack different from just prompting Claude Code?
Standard Claude Code prompting is ad hoc — output quality and focus vary depending on how well you describe the task each time. GStack assigns Claude a defined role with explicit priorities and constraints, producing more consistent, context-appropriate responses across development phases. It mimics having specialized team members rather than a single generalist.
Is GStack officially supported by Anthropic?
No. GStack is a community project created and maintained by Garry Tan. It builds on Claude Code's native custom slash commands feature, but it is not an official Anthropic product. Always verify the latest repository URL and installation instructions at Garry Tan's GitHub profile before use.
