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CTO Chief

Your Virtual CTO — 60 AI agents. 265 expert skills. 15 quality gates.

/plugin marketplace add https://github.com/robotijn/ctoc

/plugin install ctoc

Enable auto-update: /plugin → Marketplaces tab → robotijn → Enable auto-update

GitHub: robotijn/ctoc

Command Description
/ctoc Interactive dashboard (run in terminal) or status report (via Claude)
/ctoc:update Update to latest version

Updating CTOC

/ctoc:update

This is a workaround for a Claude Code bug where /plugin update doesn't refresh the cache (#21995).

How it works:

  • Fetches latest from GitHub
  • Compares versions and skips if already current
  • Clears and repopulates plugin cache
  • Restart Claude Code to use the new version

What is CTO Chief?

CTO Chief transforms Claude Code into a disciplined engineering system. Instead of jumping straight to code, it follows a 15-step Iron Loop methodology:

  • Plan before code
  • Test before ship
  • Secure before deploy
  • Document before commit

You are the CTO Chief — the human commander. The plugin provides 60 specialist agents and 265 expert skills that execute your vision. Skills are loaded on-demand and token-optimized — you only pay for what you use.

YOU (CTO Chief)
       |
       v
  AI Coordinator --> 60 Specialist Agents
       |
       +-- Testing (9)       Quality (8)      Security (5)     Infrastructure (4)
       +-- Validators (11)   Frontend (3)     Mobile (3)       Data/ML (3)
       +-- Compliance (3)    Versioning (3)   AI Quality (2)   Documentation (2)
       +-- DevEx (2)         Cost (1)         Coordinator (1)

Validators: accessibility, API contracts, config, database, error handling, health checks, memory safety, observability, performance, resilience, i18n

Agent Categories: Testing (9) · Quality (8) · Security (5) · Infrastructure (4) · Specialized (11) · Frontend (3) · Mobile (3) · AI Quality (2) · Data/ML (3) · Documentation (2) · Compliance (3) · Cost (1) · DevEx (2) · Versioning (3)

Installation

From Claude Code:

Step 1: Add the marketplace

/plugin marketplace add https://github.com/robotijn/ctoc

Step 2: Install the plugin

/plugin install ctoc

Step 3: Enable auto-update (important!)

  1. Run /plugin
  2. Go to Marketplaces tab (use Tab key)
  3. Select robotijn
  4. Select Enable auto-update

This ensures you always have the latest version on startup.

Verify: /plugin → Installed tab → ctoc should be listed.

Quick Start

1. Start Claude Code with permissions bypass

claude --dangerously-skip-permissions

This flag allows CTOC agents to run without constant permission prompts. It's safe when:

  • You're on a feature branch (not main)
  • You have git to revert unwanted changes
  • You're in a sandboxed dev environment

2. Resume a previous session (optional)

claude --dangerously-skip-permissions --continue

The --continue flag resumes your last conversation, preserving context.

3. Check status

/ctoc

The Iron Loop

15 steps across 4 phases — Full methodology →

Phase Steps Description
Functional Planning 1-3 ASSESS → ALIGN → CAPTURE · Gate 1: User approves what to build
Technical Planning 4-6 PLAN → DESIGN → SPEC · Gate 2: User approves how to build
Implementation 7-10 TEST → PREPARE → IMPLEMENT → REVIEW
Delivery 11-15 OPTIMIZE → SECURE → VERIFY → DOCUMENT → FINAL-REVIEW · Gate 3: User approves commit

Key features: Hook Enforcement · Crash Recovery · Integrator + Critic Loop · 14 Quality Dimensions · Smart Quality Gates

Agents

60 specialist agents across 15 categories — Browse all →

Category # Agents
Coordinator 1 cto-chief
Testing 9 unit, integration, e2e, mutation, smoke + writers
Quality 8 architecture, code-review, complexity, type-check, code-smell, dead-code, duplicate, consistency
Security 5 scanner, secrets, dependencies, input-validation, concurrency
Specialized 11 performance, memory, accessibility, database, api-contract, config, error, health, observability, resilience, i18n
Frontend 3 bundle, component, visual-regression
Mobile 3 ios, android, react-native
Infrastructure 4 terraform, kubernetes, docker, ci-pipeline
Documentation 2 docs, changelog
Compliance 3 gdpr, audit, license
Data/ML 3 data-quality, ml-model, feature-store
Cost 1 cloud-cost
AI Quality 2 hallucination, ai-code-review
DevEx 2 onboarding, deprecation
Versioning 3 backwards-compat, feature-flags, tech-debt

Agents spawn conditionally based on your project and current Iron Loop step.

Skills

265 embedded skills for instant expert knowledge — Browse all →

Type # Examples
Languages 50 Python, TypeScript, Go, Rust, Java, C#, Swift, Kotlin
Web 85 React, Next.js, Vue, Django, FastAPI, Rails, Spring Boot
AI/ML 44 PyTorch, LangChain, Hugging Face, MLflow
Data 52 PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis, Kafka, Spark
DevOps 15 Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, Helm
Mobile 15 React Native, Flutter, SwiftUI

Stack detected automatically from your project files. Also includes: CTO Persona · Iron Loop · Quality Standards · Enforcement

Interactive Dashboard

The /ctoc command opens an interactive dashboard with numbered menus:

Screen Purpose
Pipeline Plan counts per stage, navigate to any stage
Functional Manage functional plan drafts
Implementation Manage implementation plan drafts
Todo FIFO queue for agent work (sequential processing)
Review Review completed implementations
Progress In-progress and finished items
Commands Release, Doctor, Update, Settings

Navigation: Select by number [1] [2] [3]... [0] for back/cancel.

Plan Pipeline:

vision → functional → implementation → todo → in-progress → review → done

3 Human Gates — transitions that require your explicit approval:

  1. Functional → Implementation (approve what to build)
  2. Implementation → Todo (approve how to build)
  3. Review → Done (approve the result)

Or just talk naturally — CTO Chief understands intent.

Enforcement

CTO Chief blocks premature actions:

Edit/Write blocked until planning complete (Steps 1-6)

❌ BLOCKED: Edit operation blocked
   Current step: 3 (CAPTURE)
   Edit/Write allowed from: Step 7 (TEST)

Commit blocked until verification complete (Steps 1-12)

❌ BLOCKED: Commit blocked
   Current step: 10 (REVIEW)
   Commit allowed from: Step 13 (VERIFY)

Escape hatch — say "skip planning" or "quick fix" to bypass.

Smart Quality Gates

Background quality agent runs checks without blocking your workflow:

git commit ───► post-commit hook spawns background agent
(instant)              │
                       ▼
              Running: lint, typecheck, affected tests, security
                       │
               ┌───────┴───────┐
               ▼               ▼
            PASS            FAIL
               │               │
          auto-push        "Fix: ..."
Tier When Checks Blocking?
Tier 1 Every commit lint, typecheck, affected tests, secrets, critical CVEs Yes (blocks push)
Tier 2 Every commit coverage, complexity, duplication, medium CVEs No (warnings)
Tier 3 Stage transitions docs, circular deps, bundle size, benchmarks At transition
Tier 4 CI only full tests, e2e, mutation, memory, license CI

Smart test selection — only tests affected by changes run, via coverage map.

Philosophy

CTO Chief embodies a senior engineering leader who:

Never compromises on:

  • Tests for critical paths
  • No secrets in code
  • Error handling in production paths
  • Documented public APIs

Prioritizes:

  • Security > everything
  • Correctness > performance
  • Maintainability > cleverness

Asks first:

  • What business problem does this solve?
  • How will we know it works?
  • What happens if it fails?

Requirements

  • Claude Code >= 1.0.0
  • Node.js >= 18.0.0

Updating

Use /ctoc:update instead of /plugin update ctoc:

/ctoc:update

Then restart to load the new version:

exit
claude --dangerously-skip-permissions --continue

Why /ctoc:update?

The built-in /plugin update command has a bug (#21995) where it updates the git repo but doesn't refresh the plugin cache.

/ctoc:update works around this by:

  • Fetching latest from GitHub
  • Clearing and repopulating the cache
  • Updating the plugin registry
  • Cleaning up old versions

Command-line flags

Flag Purpose
--dangerously-skip-permissions Bypass permission prompts for tool calls
--continue Resume previous conversation with full context

Recommended workflow:

# Start new session
claude --dangerously-skip-permissions

# Or resume previous session
claude --dangerously-skip-permissions --continue

Troubleshooting

Plugin not found — reinstall:

/plugin marketplace add https://github.com/robotijn/ctoc
/plugin install ctoc

Plugin stale after update — force refresh:

/ctoc:update

Then restart Claude Code.

State invalid — reset:

rm ~/.ctoc/state/*.json

Health check:

/ctoc doctor

Version

6.1.20 — Smart Quality Gates & Plan Pipeline

  • Smart Quality Gate system with tiered checks (Tier 1 blocks push, Tier 2 warns)
  • Plan pipeline: vision → functional → implementation → todo → review → done
  • 3 human gates enforcing approval at stage transitions
  • Deterministic plan navigation state machine (lib/menu-screens.js)
  • Canonical Iron Loop step labels enforced (Steps 7-15)
  • Background quality agent with smart test selection via coverage maps
  • Sequential todo plan processing (FIFO, never parallel)

Releasing

Every commit bumps the patch version automatically (e.g., 5.2.29 → 5.2.30).

For larger changes, ask for:

  • "minor release" → 5.2.29 → 5.3.0 (new features, backward compatible)
  • "major release" → 5.2.29 → 6.0.0 (breaking changes)

The release script syncs the version across all files automatically.

For Developers

Version management:

const { release, getVersion, syncAll, checkForUpdates } = require('./lib/version');

getVersion()       // → '6.1.18'
release()          // → bumps patch: 6.1.18 → 6.1.19, syncs all files
release('minor')   // → bumps minor: 6.1.18 → 6.2.0, syncs all files
release('major')   // → bumps major: 6.1.18 → 7.0.0, syncs all files
syncAll()          // → syncs current version to all files without bumping

// Async update check
const update = await checkForUpdates();
if (update.updateAvailable) {
  console.log(`${update.currentVersion} → ${update.latestVersion}`);
}

Files synced automatically by release():

  • VERSION (source of truth)
  • .claude-plugin/marketplace.json
  • .claude-plugin/plugin.json
  • README.md (version line)

Run tests:

node --test tests/*.test.js

License

MIT — See LICENSE

Links

"Excellence is not an act, but a habit."

About

The CTO Chief repo with the official Iron Loop for programming

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MPL-2.0 license

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