Claude Code

ototo init sets Otōto up in Claude Code, and the installer runs it for you. This page says what it changes, so that you can read it before you say yes, do it by hand, or take it out again.

What we ran (11 October 2026): Claude Code 2.1.296 with Otōto 2026.19 on a Mac, set up by ototo init: claude mcp get ototo says Connected, and ototo doctor passes its checks for Claude Code. It is also how Otōto is written, and the figures on ototo.dev were measured with Claude Code.

Claude Code 2.1 or later.

Set up

ototo init

finds a model server, tests it, lists what it will change and asks before it writes. --dry-run only lists, --yes does not ask, and it can be run again at any time: it is also the step after an upgrade. Each file it changes is backed up first, as <file>.before-ototo-<time>.

Then start a new Claude Code session: one that is already running keeps the tools it started with.

What it changes

The registration. ototo as an MCP server for all your projects. By hand, that is:

claude mcp add ototo --scope user -- ~/.local/bin/ototo serve

It serves the directory Claude Code starts it in. -e OTOTO_…=… on the registration sets a setting for it, and wins over ~/.config/ototo/config.toml; a project’s .mcp.json can register it with settings of its own.

~/.claude/CLAUDE.md. A marked block that tells Claude when to use Otōto: for a question about the code, first ask with the whole question; read with read and outline; search with search. The text is dist/CLAUDE.ototo.md. A CLAUDE.md that already tells Claude about Otōto in your own words is left as it is. This block is where the savings come from: the same advice in the MCP server’s own instructions alone was weaker.

~/.claude/settings.json. Three things:

Key	What is added	Why
`permissions.allow`	`mcp__ototo`	Otōto’s tools run without a prompt each time
`permissions.deny`	`Grep`, `Glob`, `Bash(grep:)`, `Bash(rg:)`, `Bash(find:)`, `Bash(git grep:)`	Claude’s own search is off, so a question goes to `ask` and exact text to `search`. It is how we run it, and how it was measured
`hooks`	four, below

Hook	What it does
`UserPromptSubmit`	Says with each prompt what the block says, briefly
`SubagentStart`	Says the same to the agents Claude starts, which see neither `CLAUDE.md` nor the prompt hook, only the brief Claude writes for them
`PreToolUse` on `Bash`	`ototo hook bash` refuses a command that only prints code (`sed -n '10,40p'`, `head`, `cat`, and `unzip -l` or `javap` on an archive) on a file Otōto can read, and names the `ototo read` to make. Pipes, redirections, other commands and files outside the repository run as before; about 10 ms
`PreToolUse` on `Read`	`ototo hook read` refuses nothing. When Claude reads a file one of the plugins reads (a pipeline, a compose file), it adds a note naming the `ototo read` that gives the file as its tool evaluates it

ototo init --keep-search leaves Claude’s own search on: no permissions.deny, and no hook on Bash. The rest is the same.

With no small model

ototo init on a machine with no model server sets up the tools that need none: search, read, outline, changes, history and replace_all. The block and the hooks then speak of those alone. Run ototo init again once a server runs (quick starts), and ask, locate, callers and edit join them.

Check

claude mcp get ototo

should say Status: ✔ Connected. ototo doctor checks the three parts above, with the model server and the plugins, and says what to do about anything wrong.

Worth knowing

A long question. An ask can take minutes. If Claude Code gives up on one, raise MCP_TOOL_TIMEOUT (milliseconds) in its environment.
Git worktrees. Otōto serves the checkout the session started in and that repository’s other worktrees: a call works in one when its paths point inside it, or when it passes root.
Directories added to the session (/add-dir, claude --add-dir) are served the same way. A home directory or / is too broad, and is not.
Agents. Claude’s own agents get Otōto’s tools too, and the SubagentStart hook tells them so. When you brief one yourself, say it as well: outline a file before reading it, read path#Name for the parts that matter.

Taking it out

sh uninstall.sh, from the package, undoes all of it and removes the binary. By parts:

claude mcp remove ototo -s user

ototo settings remove ~/.claude/settings.json

and delete the block between  in ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md. Everything else in those files stays as it was.

For everyone on a machine

ototo managed writes the registration, the permissions and the hooks as Claude Code’s managed settings (managed-mcp.json, managed-settings.json), which apply to every user and sit above anything a user or a project sets: see For organisations.

Keyboard shortcuts

Otōto