# Install Homie > Start here when helping someone install Homie. Homie is an open-source toolkit a person uses with the AI they already have (Claude, Codex, ChatGPT or Grok): their AI makes multiplayer web games, songs, videos and a site of their own, in a studio that runs on the person's own Cloudflare account, and lists them in the homie.rocks directory when the person asks. The install is the same for a game studio, a business ([business.md](https://homie.rocks/business.md)) and a non-profit ([nonprofits.md](https://homie.rocks/nonprofits.md)). After installing, return to the business or non-profit guide you came from; [setup.md](https://homie.rocks/setup.md#businesses-and-causes) covers its accounts. Game makers continue with [create.md](https://homie.rocks/create.md). Index: [llms.txt](https://homie.rocks/llms.txt). Homie is a plugin for Claude Code, Codex and Grok Build, a connector for the Claude app (and, by their own documented steps, ChatGPT and the Grok app), and an extension for Claude Desktop. Each adds Homie's skills (studio setup, planning, games, ports, art, music, video, playtests and more) and the Homie MCP server at `https://homie.rocks/mcp`, which has creator tools only. Homie supplies no AI model: it works in the person's own Claude, Codex or Grok, under their own plan. After installing, the person types no commands: their AI runs them, says what it will create before it creates it, and asks before anything costs money. Homie for studios is in beta. ## What it needs - Claude Code, Codex, Grok Build, or a chat app that takes a connector (the Claude app on the web, the desktop or a phone; ChatGPT; the Grok app), signed in the normal way. - Node.js 22 or later on the computer where the studio lives (https://nodejs.org). - Chrome, for the checks that play a game in two real browsers (set `CHROME_PATH` on Windows, or wherever Chrome is not in its usual place), and ffmpeg, for the sound, music, video and art skills. - A Cloudflare account only when the studio goes online. What it costs is in [setup.md](https://homie.rocks/setup.md). None of these is needed to install the plugin. Once it is installed, the setup status ("What do I need for my studio?") says what is ready and what is missing, with the exact fix. For the person, one short page per AI, with the fastest way in first: [Claude](https://homie.rocks/make/studio/claude/), [Codex and ChatGPT](https://homie.rocks/make/studio/codex/), [Grok](https://homie.rocks/make/studio/grok/). ## Claude Code ~~~ /plugin install homie --marketplace homie-rocks/homie ~~~ One line, inside a session (Claude Code 2.1.275 or later): it asks the person to confirm the marketplace, then they pick a scope. From a terminal it is two commands, `claude plugin marketplace add homie-rocks/homie`, then `claude plugin install homie@homie` (the terminal's `install` takes no `--marketplace`); an assistant with a shell can run those itself, with the person's yes. Continue in the same session once the plugin is active. If activation is pending, follow Claude Code’s /reload-plugins prompt, then resume the original maker request; do not reinstall. See [Claude Code’s install guide](https://code.claude.com/docs/en/plugins/install). Homie's holds are on in Claude Code (the plugin's mod): a deploy, a Cloudflare change, an edit to a protected file, spending past the budget and a model download each wait for the person's yes, in Claude Code's own question. ## Codex ~~~ codex plugin marketplace add homie-rocks/homie codex plugin add homie@homie ~~~ Or run `/plugins` inside Codex and install Homie from the Homie marketplace. Start a new Codex session afterwards, so the skills and tools load, then open `/hooks` and trust Homie's three hooks. Homie's holds are on in Codex only after the person trusts those hooks: then a deploy, a Cloudflare change, an edit to a protected file, spending past the budget and a model download wait for their `proceed `. Codex runs no plugin's hooks until they are trusted and says nothing when it skips them, so the setup status has a row, "Homie's holds: on" or "off". While they are off, ask the person before each of those yourself. ## ChatGPT For a Homie build, open the ChatGPT desktop app, sign in, select Codex from the ChatGPT dropdown, and open a folder for the project. Follow the Codex installation above, start a new session and trust the three hooks, then return to the person’s original maker request. [OpenAI’s setup instructions](https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/quickstart) show the app and dropdown. A remote connector alone does not give the AI a working folder and shell. ## Grok ~~~ grok plugin install homie-rocks/homie#plugins/homie ~~~ In Grok Build. Grok shows where the plugin comes from and asks whether to trust it: its skills and its MCP server load once the person does. Start a new Grok session afterwards, then ask for a studio. Checked on Grok Build 1.0.41. Homie's holds run in Grok Build once the person trusts the plugin (plugin 0.32.1 or later): then a deploy, a Cloudflare change, an edit to a protected file, spending past the budget and a model download wait for their `proceed `, and secrets are taken out of what Grok reads. Checked on Grok Build 1.0.46: its log shows Homie's three hooks loaded and run, and a deploy was held before it started. An older plugin (0.32.0 and before) held nothing there, because Grok was not given Homie's hooks; update it with `grok plugin update`. The setup status says "Homie's holds: on" or "off". Not checked in Grok Bot. Grok Bot (xAI's desktop app) does not have Homie in its plugin list. The way in is one message: "Read https://homie.rocks/install.md and install Homie, then set up a game studio called Night Owls and make a multiplayer game." Checked 2026-10-04: from that one message it installed Homie on its own computer, made the studio, built a game, passed the two-browser check and stopped at the Cloudflare approval. The Grok app takes Homie as a connector. These are xAI's own documented steps: grok.com/connectors, New Connector, Custom, with the address `https://homie.rocks/mcp`. Then ask for a studio. ## The Claude desktop app: Homie for Claude Desktop No terminal and no second session: the chat itself makes the studio on the person's computer. Download the Desktop Extension from https://homie.rocks/make/studio/desktop/ (`homie-studio.mcpb`, from the newest GitHub release); clicking it in the browser's downloads bar opens it in Claude Desktop. Or double-click it, or drag it into Claude's window (or Settings → Extensions → Advanced settings → Install Extension…), and choose Install. Claude says the extension is not signed yet; that is expected for now. Then choose a Studios folder: each studio is a folder in it, and Homie only reads and writes inside it. It needs Node.js 22 or later, and Chrome for the two-browser check. Claude asks before it uses each Homie Studio tool: choose Always allow, so a build runs without a click at every step. If a step ever sits on a spinner with nothing to click, a request is waiting out of sight: press ⌘ Return (Ctrl+Enter on Windows), or scroll the chat to find it. ## The Claude app, on any device: the connector In the Claude app (claude.ai, the desktop app or the phone), give the person this link: [Add Homie to Claude](https://claude.ai/customize/connectors?modal=add-custom-connector&connectorName=Homie&connectorUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fhomie.rocks%2Fmcp). It opens "Add custom connector" with Homie filled in, and they confirm. By hand it is Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector, with the address `https://homie.rocks/mcp`. Then ask for a studio. Its cards do the rest, and every approval is one tap on the provider's own page: the person's GitHub gets the studio's repository and their Cloudflare its Worker, database and rooms (Workers Builds deploys every push), and each build goes to a Claude Code session with one short line, such as "Continue building Night Owls". Claude Code cloud sessions are not part of Claude's Free plan; which paid plans and seats include them is Anthropic's to say (https://claude.com/pricing). Without them the cards still work, and the person's own computer does the building. The cards show only in apps that support them (MCP Apps); elsewhere the same answer comes as text with a link. ## Other agents Homie is built and tested with Claude Code, Codex, Grok Build and the Claude app; in ChatGPT and the Grok app it is the same connector, added by those providers' own steps. Another agent that can run a shell and connect to MCP servers can use the same open parts, untested: the Homie MCP server at `https://homie.rocks/mcp` (no sign-in; its `studio_scaffold` tool returns the new-studio checklist and the exact pinned command that makes a studio), the toolkit itself (`npx -y @homie-rocks/studio@latest`, Node.js 22 or later, which also runs as a local MCP server: `mcp --studios `), and the skills, plain `SKILL.md` files at https://github.com/homie-rocks/homie/tree/main/plugins/homie/skills. For a business or cause, return to its guide above and build its requested site, screens or app; game makers follow `studio-setup`. ## Then: what to say Give the person sentences to say, not commands to type: - "Set up a game studio called Night Owls and make a multiplayer game." Their AI checks setup, installs what it needs, makes the studio, plans from the request, builds and tests it, and gives a link to try it. It uses sensible defaults and asks only for missing essential details. A demo and practice change are optional; going online waits for the person’s approval. - "What do I need for my studio?" The setup status: Node.js, Chrome, ffmpeg, the Homie connector, Cloudflare, and the optional GitHub, ElevenLabs and fal, each ready, missing or "do this now". - "Let's plan my game." A short interview that becomes the game's Game Codex. - "Put it online." The studio's site on the person's own Cloudflare. Going online never lists a studio. - "List my games in the homie.rocks directory." Its own step, public, and the person's to ask for. - "Upgrade my studio to the newest Homie." What's new since the studio's version; nothing changes until the person agrees. [create.md](https://homie.rocks/create.md) has the whole checklist and what each skill does. Bugs, port requests and questions go to https://github.com/homie-rocks/homie/issues/new/choose; the known issues come first: https://github.com/homie-rocks/homie#known-issues.