Add installation guide for AI coding assistants by FlorianBruniaux · Pull Request #8 · rtk-ai/rtk

FlorianBruniaux · 2026-01-28T16:15:01Z

Summary

Adds INSTALL.md with comprehensive installation guide optimized for AI coding assistant integration and team collaboration.

Changes

New INSTALL.md with step-by-step installation instructions
Mandatory pre-installation verification check (prevents unnecessary reinstalls)
Troubleshooting section for common installation issues
Production-validated token savings metrics
AI assistant integration checklist

Key Features

1. Mandatory Verification First

⚠️ Requires rtk --version check before any installation attempt
Prevents duplicate installations when RTK is already available
Helps AI assistants avoid unnecessary reinstall operations

2. Installation Options

Fork installation (includes latest features: pnpm, Vitest)
Upstream installation (stable baseline)
Clear guidance on when to use each option

3. Troubleshooting Section

PATH configuration issues
Missing command errors (feature branch selection)
Compilation errors and Rust version requirements

4. Production Metrics

Documents validated token savings from production T3 Stack projects:

Vitest: 99.6% reduction (102,199 → 377 chars)
Git operations: 59-80% reduction
pnpm operations: 70-90% reduction
Typical 30-min session: 70% reduction (150K → 45K tokens)

5. AI Assistant Integration

Provides checklist for AI coding assistants (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.):

Verify installation before use
Initialize project with rtk init
Use rtk proxy for all supported commands
Track savings with rtk gain

Use Cases

Helps teams onboard quickly with RTK
Ensures AI coding assistants properly check installation status
Provides clear troubleshooting guidance
Documents real-world token savings for validation

Files Changed

INSTALL.md: Comprehensive installation and usage guide (183 lines)

Documents 3 upstream PRs (git fix, pnpm support, issues) with: - Before/after examples - Token savings metrics - Production testing notes - Security improvements - Installation instructions Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

- Add INSTALL.md with step-by-step installation instructions - Mandatory pre-installation verification check (rtk --version) - Troubleshooting section for common issues - Production-validated token savings metrics (anonymized) - AI assistant integration checklist - Fork vs upstream installation strategy

Copilot

Pull request overview

Adds an installation/onboarding guide aimed at AI coding assistants and updates the README with detailed “fork improvements” content (including claimed support/fixes and token-savings metrics).

Changes:

Added a new INSTALL.md with pre-install verification, install steps, troubleshooting, and an AI assistant checklist.
Extended README.md with a large section describing fork-specific improvements, upstream PR links, and installation guidance.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 7 comments.

File	Description
README.md	Adds a fork-focused section (claimed git parsing fix, pnpm support, token metrics, and fork install instructions).
INSTALL.md	Introduces a dedicated installation guide with verification-first workflow, troubleshooting, and assistant checklist.

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Copilot · 2026-01-28T16:20:02Z

INSTALL.md

+- [ ] Use `rtk` for ALL git/pnpm/test/vitest commands
+- [ ] Check savings: `rtk gain`
+
+**Golden Rule**: AI coding assistants should ALWAYS use `rtk` as a proxy for shell commands that generate verbose output (git, pnpm, npm, cargo test, vitest, docker, kubectl).


The “AI Assistant Checklist” says to use rtk for ALL pnpm/vitest commands, but those subcommands are not implemented in the current CLI. This should be reworded to match the actual supported command set (or explicitly scoped to the branch/PR that adds pnpm/vitest support).

Suggested change

- [ ] Use `rtk` for ALL git/pnpm/test/vitest commands

- [ ] Check savings: `rtk gain`

**Golden Rule**: AI coding assistants should ALWAYS use `rtk` as a proxy for shell commands that generate verbose output (git, pnpm, npm, cargo test, vitest, docker, kubectl).

- [ ] Prefer using `rtk` for git and test commands that are supported by your installed RTK version (see `rtk --help`)

- [ ] Check savings: `rtk gain`

**Golden Rule**: AI coding assistants should use `rtk` as a proxy for shell commands that generate verbose output and are supported by the installed RTK version (for example: git, npm, cargo test; and pnpm/vitest when using a fork/branch that adds support, docker, kubectl).

Copilot · 2026-01-28T16:20:02Z

README.md

+Fixes a major bug where git flags were rejected as invalid arguments.
+
+**Problem**:
+```bash
+rtk git log --oneline -20
+# Error: unexpected argument '--oneline' found
+```
+
+**Solution**:
+- Fixed Clap argument parsing with `trailing_var_arg + allow_hyphen_values`
+- Auto-detects `--merges` flag to skip `--no-merges` injection
+- Propagates git exit codes properly (fixes CI/CD false positives)
+
+**Now Working**:
+```bash
+rtk git log --oneline -20           # Compact commit history
+rtk git diff --cached               # Staged changes only
+rtk git log --graph --all           # Branch visualization
+rtk git status --short              # Ultra-compact status
+```


The README claims the git argument parsing bug is fixed and shows examples like rtk git log --oneline -20 as “Now Working”, but the current CLI definition for rtk git log/rtk git diff still doesn’t allow hyphen-prefixed values for the args positional (see src/main.rs where GitCommands::{Log,Diff} have #[arg(trailing_var_arg = true)] without allow_hyphen_values = true). As-is, --oneline is still likely to be rejected by clap. Either update the docs to describe this as a pending change / branch-specific behavior, or implement the parsing fix before advertising it here.

Copilot · 2026-01-28T16:20:03Z

README.md

+### 📦 PR #6: pnpm Support for Modern JavaScript Stacks
+
+**Status**: [Open](https://github.com/pszymkowiak/rtk/pull/6) | **Target**: T3 Stack users
+
+Adds first-class pnpm support with security hardening.
+
+**New Commands**:
+```bash
+rtk pnpm list              # Dependency tree (70% token reduction)
+rtk pnpm outdated          # Update candidates (80-90% reduction)
+rtk pnpm install <pkg>     # Silent success confirmation
+```


This section documents rtk pnpm ... commands and claims pnpm support exists in this fork, but there is no pnpm subcommand in the current CLI (src/main.rs enum Commands doesn’t include Pnpm). This will mislead users following the README. Either remove/soften this to “planned” and point at the relevant branch/PR, or add the actual pnpm command implementation before merging the docs.

Copilot · 2026-01-28T16:20:03Z

README.md

+# Clone and build
+git clone https://github.com/FlorianBruniaux/rtk.git
+cd rtk
+cargo build --release
+
+# Install globally
+cargo install --path .
+
+# Or use directly


The installation snippet runs cargo build --release and then cargo install --path .. cargo install --path . already performs a release build and does not reuse the local target/release artifacts, so this extra build step is redundant and can confuse readers (and wastes time). Consider either (a) using only cargo install --path . (optionally with --force for upgrades) or (b) using cargo build --release and running ./target/release/rtk without cargo install as an alternative path.

Suggested change

# Clone and build

git clone https://github.com/FlorianBruniaux/rtk.git

cd rtk

cargo build --release

# Install globally

cargo install --path .

# Or use directly

# Clone and install from source

git clone https://github.com/FlorianBruniaux/rtk.git

cd rtk

cargo install --path .

# Or build and run locally (no install)

cargo build --release

Copilot · 2026-01-28T16:20:03Z

README.md

+## Improvements in This Fork
+
+This fork adds critical fixes and modern JavaScript stack support to RTK, validated on production T3 Stack codebases.


The PR description says only INSTALL.md is changed, but this PR also adds a large fork-specific section to README.md. Please update the PR description (or remove the README change) so reviewers and downstream consumers understand the scope and intent of the PR.

Copilot · 2026-01-28T16:20:03Z

INSTALL.md

+# Test with pnpm (fork only)
+rtk pnpm list
+
+# Test with Vitest (feat/vitest-support branch only)
+rtk vitest run
+```


INSTALL.md instructs users to run rtk pnpm list / rtk vitest run, but the current CLI doesn’t expose pnpm or vitest subcommands (src/main.rs has no Pnpm/Vitest in enum Commands). This verification section should only reference commands that exist in this repo, or clearly label them as branch-specific and point to the exact branch/commit that provides them.

Copilot · 2026-01-28T16:20:04Z

INSTALL.md

+git clone https://github.com/FlorianBruniaux/rtk.git
+cd rtk
+
+# Check branch (should be master or feat/vitest-support)


This step hardcodes the default branch as master for the fork. In this repository the primary branch appears to be main (and forks may vary), so instructing “should be master” is likely to be wrong and confusing. Consider changing this to “ensure you’re on the default branch (e.g. main)” and only mention feat/vitest-support when explicitly needed.

Suggested change

# Check branch (should be master or feat/vitest-support)

# Check branch (ensure you're on the default branch, e.g. `main`, or `feat/vitest-support` when explicitly needed)

Applies targeted code quality improvements: Issue rtk-ai#5: Reduce clones in HashMap merge - Destructure CcusagePeriod to avoid cloning key - Use .or_insert_with_key() for ccusage data merging - Keep necessary clones for rtk data (HashMap ownership requirement) - Affects: merge_daily, merge_weekly, merge_monthly Issue rtk-ai#7: Replace magic number with named constant - Add const BILLION: f64 = 1e9 - Improves readability in cache token calculation Issue rtk-ai#8: Add NaN/Infinity safety check - Guard format_usd() against invalid float values - Return "$0.00" for non-finite inputs Build: Clean (1 pre-existing warning) Tests: 79/82 passing (3 pre-existing failures) Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Add installation guide for AI coding assistants

Applies targeted code quality improvements: Issue rtk-ai#5: Reduce clones in HashMap merge - Destructure CcusagePeriod to avoid cloning key - Use .or_insert_with_key() for ccusage data merging - Keep necessary clones for rtk data (HashMap ownership requirement) - Affects: merge_daily, merge_weekly, merge_monthly Issue rtk-ai#7: Replace magic number with named constant - Add const BILLION: f64 = 1e9 - Improves readability in cache token calculation Issue rtk-ai#8: Add NaN/Infinity safety check - Guard format_usd() against invalid float values - Return "$0.00" for non-finite inputs Build: Clean (1 pre-existing warning) Tests: 79/82 passing (3 pre-existing failures) Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

- Fix misleading correctable count comment in rubocop_cmd.rs to explain the 0-value ambiguity (absent field vs genuinely zero) (issue rtk-ai#8) - Update compact_minitest_failure doc to describe full behavior including message line context (issue rtk-ai#14) - Add JSON-parse-failure fallback mention to rspec_cmd.rs and rubocop_cmd.rs module-level docs (issue rtk-ai#15) Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

FlorianBruniaux and others added 2 commits January 28, 2026 15:18

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings January 28, 2026 16:15

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of FlorianBruniaux January 28, 2026 16:15 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Jan 28, 2026

View reviewed changes

Merge branch 'master' into docs/installation-guide

542eca5

pszymkowiak merged commit 52b4ed3 into rtk-ai:master Jan 28, 2026
1 check failed

FlorianBruniaux added a commit to FlorianBruniaux/rtk that referenced this pull request Jan 29, 2026

Merge upstream changes (PRs rtk-ai#6, rtk-ai#7, rtk-ai#8 merged)

ff0fc3b

ahundt pushed a commit to ahundt/rtk that referenced this pull request Feb 23, 2026

Merge pull request rtk-ai#8 from FlorianBruniaux/docs/installation-guide

2fd752c

Add installation guide for AI coding assistants

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Add installation guide for AI coding assistants#8

Add installation guide for AI coding assistants#8
pszymkowiak merged 3 commits intortk-ai:masterfrom
FlorianBruniaux:docs/installation-guide

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		## Improvements in This Fork

		This fork adds critical fixes and modern JavaScript stack support to RTK, validated on production T3 Stack codebases.

	# Check branch (should be master or feat/vitest-support)
	# Check branch (ensure you're on the default branch, e.g. `main`, or `feat/vitest-support` when explicitly needed)

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FlorianBruniaux commented Jan 28, 2026

Summary

Changes

Key Features

1. Mandatory Verification First

2. Installation Options

3. Troubleshooting Section

4. Production Metrics

5. AI Assistant Integration

Use Cases

Files Changed

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