Install

Requirements

• Claude Code 2.1.287 or later
• bash and python3
• Node.js 22.18 or later, for kref only

Setup, the Stop hooks, and the Bash hooks need python3.

Install Katharsis

1. In Claude Code, add the marketplace and install the plugin:

   /plugin marketplace add OpenScribbler/Katharsis
   /plugin install katharsis@openscribbler

2. Run setup:

   /katharsis:setup

3. Open /config, select Output style, and choose a Katharsis style.

What setup changes

Setup adds one entry to permissions.allow in ~/.claude/settings.json:

Bash(~/.claude/katharsis/scripts/katharsis-exchange-style.sh:*)

The entry lets the model run the per-turn script without a permission prompt. Setup writes nothing else outside ~/.claude/katharsis-data/. It also checks your Claude Code version, and prints the fix when it is older than 2.1.287. When the version check fails, setup still adds the permission but doesn’t finish, and each new session asks you to run setup again until it passes. To preview the change, run ~/.claude/katharsis/scripts/setup.sh --dry-run.

Check your instruction files

Setup ends by offering /katharsis:rules-check, which you can also run at any time. It reads every instruction file Claude Code loads for the current project: CLAUDE.md files from the root down, CLAUDE.local.md, .claude/rules/, AGENTS.md where Claude Code loads it, and every file those import with @. It reports the rules that repeat the style, the rules that contradict it, and a count of the rest. Each duplicate and conflict comes with a suggested edit. The skill changes a file only after you approve that edit, and a file that reaches every project, such as ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md, needs its own yes.

Output styles

Style	Description
katharsis:Katharsis	The style alone. Claude Code drops its built-in software engineering instructions.
katharsis:Katharsis coding	The style plus Claude Code’s built-in software engineering instructions.

/config saves your choice to .claude/settings.local.json in the current project. Until you choose a Katharsis style, the per-turn and Stop hooks stay idle. The session-start hook still creates the symlink and the data directory, and asks you to run setup until you do. The Bash hooks that save a file a call replaced unread run either way.

Mods

Katharsis is a mod, a plugin with a hooks module that Claude Code loads with no flag from 2.1.287 on. On a Claude Code that doesn’t load mods, the per-turn reminder doesn’t reach the model, the Stop hooks stay idle, and the drawer doesn’t appear. The Bash hooks that save a file a call replaced unread still run.