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Set up your coding agent

One command installs the CLI, the skill, and the MCP server for every agent on the machine.

Agent setup is one command. It installs the CLI if it's missing, teaches every coding agent on your machine the insta workflow, and wires up the MCP server.

One-line install

npx insta@latest agent setup

Also available as a shell installer (curl -fsSL https://agents.instacloud.com | sh, macOS/Linux). Already have the CLI? Run the setup step directly:

insta agent setup

What gets installed

  • The insta skill, installed user-globally into every agent directory the skills tool knows — including Claude Code, Cursor, OpenAI Codex, OpenCode, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, Windsurf, Factory Droid, Goose, Aider, Continue, Roo, Kilo Code, Qwen, and the universal .agents directory.
  • The MCP server registration. For Claude Code, setup runs claude mcp add --transport http --scope user insta-cloud https://mcp.instacloud.com/mcp. For config-file agents (Cursor, Codex, OpenCode, Copilot, Factory Droid), it writes the equivalent entry into each agent's config — only for agents whose config directory already exists.

By default the MCP connection authenticates with OAuth in the agent's own flow, so no credential is written to disk.

insta agent setup

Flags:

  • -y, --yes — accept all prompts, for scripted setup
  • --project <id> — link the current directory to an existing project after setup (flows through login first if needed)
  • --mcp-token — Claude Code only: mint a durable API token (named mcp-<hostname>) and register the MCP server with it as a Bearer header instead of OAuth, for headless machines and CI. Other agents are always registered as OAuth entries
  • --env <prod|staging> — deployment to set this machine up for

insta config install-mcp

To add the MCP server to one specific agent without rerunning full setup:

insta config install-mcp --agent claude-code

Valid agents: claude-code, cursor, codex, opencode, copilot, factory-droid. --mcp-token applies to claude-code only; the config-file agents authenticate with OAuth.

Verify

insta status

confirms the CLI is authenticated and shows the linked project. Then ask your agent to call insta_whoami (MCP) or run insta status itself (skill) — if both answer, the agent is wired. In Claude Code, claude mcp list should show insta-cloud as connected.

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