Imitation EngineDocs

Getting started

Installation

One command sets up everything the plugin needs — the bun runtime, the Claude Code marketplace and plugin, the crawler dependencies, and Playwright Chromium. Here's how it works on each operating system.

Prerequisites

  • Claude Code installed and signed in — the installer stops early if the claude CLI isn't on your PATH.
  • An active subscription or trial. One subscription covers one developer; every plugin request is verified server-side against your Claude email.
  • Roughly 500 MB of free disk — the Playwright Chromium build alone is ~150 MB.

Quick install

On macOS, Linux, or Windows under WSL, run:

Terminal
curl -fsSL https://imitationengine.com/install.sh | bash

The script is idempotent — safe to re-run any time. It:

  1. checks the Claude Code CLI is available,
  2. installs the bun runtime if it's missing (the crawler tools run on it),
  3. registers the Imitation Engine marketplace and installs the plugin,
  4. installs the crawler dependencies and Playwright Chromium into the plugin's cache directory.

Note

After the script finishes there is exactly one step left: /imitation-engine:setup inside Claude Code, covered in Connect your account.

Platform setup

Works on macOS 13 Ventura or later, Apple silicon and Intel alike.

  1. 1

    Install Claude Code (skip if you have it)

    Terminal
    curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash
  2. 2

    Run the Imitation Engine installer

    Terminal
    curl -fsSL https://imitationengine.com/install.sh | bash

    It installs bun to ~/.bunif you don't already have it, adds the plugin, and downloads Playwright Chromium (~150 MB on first run).

  3. 3

    Finish inside Claude Code

    Open Claude Code anywhere and run /imitation-engine:setup to link your account — see Connect your account.

Connect your account

The plugin authenticates with a personal plugin token (ie_…) tied to your subscription.

  1. 1

    Generate a token

    Go to Dashboard → Settings and press Generate token. The token is shown once — copy it right away. You have one active token at a time; regenerating revokes the old one everywhere.

  2. 2

    Run setup in Claude Code

    Claude Code
    /imitation-engine:setup

    Paste the token when asked. It's stored in ~/.imitation-engine/credentials.json with owner-only permissions; on CI or shared machines you can use the IMITATION_ENGINE_TOKEN environment variable instead.

  3. 3

    Confirm the plan check

    Setup verifies your subscription server-side and reports the plan it found. If it says "Subscribe to continue", your trial has ended — pick a plan on the subscription page and re-run setup.

Verify the install

Check the plugin is registered with Claude Code:

Terminal
claude plugin list# … should include imitation-engine@imitation-engine

Then run /imitation-engine:setup once more — every step is idempotent, so a healthy machine reports "already set up" along with your plan. From there, clone your first site:

Claude Code
/imitation-engine:master https://example.com

The project is named after the directory Claude Code is running in, and the crawl shows up on your dashboard in real time.

Manual install

Prefer to see every step, or on a machine where curl | bash isn't an option (native Windows with Git Bash, locked-down CI)? Run the pieces yourself:

Terminal
# 1. Marketplace + pluginclaude plugin marketplace add marvelxcodes/imitation-engine-pluginclaude plugin install imitation-engine@imitation-engine # 2. Crawler dependencies + Chromium (in the installed copy)cd ~/.claude/plugins/cache/imitation-engine/imitation-engine/*/bun installbun x playwright install chromium

On Windows, install bun first with irm bun.sh/install.ps1 | iex in PowerShell. Finish with /imitation-engine:setup in Claude Code as usual.

Troubleshooting

bun: command not found

The installer put bun in ~/.bun/bin but your shell hasn't picked up the PATH change. Open a new terminal, or add export PATH="$HOME/.bun/bin:$PATH" to your shell profile.

Chromium fails to launch on Linux (missing shared libraries)

Install the system dependencies from the Linux setup — either sudo bun x playwright install-deps chromium or the distro packages listed in Playwright's error output.

"Not connected" when running a command

This machine has no valid token (the sync tool exits with code 4). Run /imitation-engine:connect and paste a fresh token from Dashboard → Settings.

"Subscribe to continue"

Your trial has expired or the subscription lapsed (exit code 5). Renew on the subscription page; the plugin works again immediately — no reinstall needed.

Token stopped working after I generated a new one

By design: one active token per account. Generating a new token revokes the previous one, so re-run /imitation-engine:connect on every machine you use. Note the fair-use cap of 5 distinct machines per token per 24 hours.

Still stuck? Write to hello@imitationengine.com — include the command output and your OS.