# Game of Cards > Agile for the age of agents — turn work into durable, inspectable cards that humans and LLMs can collaborate on. Game of Cards (GoC) is a repo-local methodology runtime built for swarms, not standups. Work lives in cards under `.game-of-cards/deck/`; agents pull, work, and close them autonomously; humans steer by curating the queue and resolving decision gates. ## Install (Claude Code) The GoC plugin delivers all skills and hooks without requiring any checked-in files in the consuming repo. Install once per machine (run these slash commands inside Claude Code): ``` /plugin marketplace add zauberzeug/game-of-cards /plugin install game-of-cards@game-of-cards ``` **Updating after a new release — run this first:** ``` /plugin marketplace update zauberzeug/game-of-cards /plugin install game-of-cards@game-of-cards ``` Claude Code's `/plugin install` reuses a local marketplace clone and does not refresh it automatically. Skipping the `marketplace update` step installs from stale bytes even after an explicit reinstall. If `/plugin marketplace update` is not available, the equivalent round-trip is: ``` /plugin marketplace remove zauberzeug/game-of-cards /plugin marketplace add zauberzeug/game-of-cards /plugin install game-of-cards@game-of-cards ``` Once the plugin is installed, kick off any repo with: ``` /kickoff ``` or tell your agent: "use game of cards for this repo". ## Install (OpenClaw) The GoC [OpenClaw](https://openclaw.ai) plugin bundles the goc engine inside its npm payload — the only host prerequisite is `python3` (3.10+). `goc` is exposed as a **registered OpenClaw tool** (not a shell-PATH binary), so the agent invokes it like any typed function. Once the plugin is published, install via ClawHub: ```sh openclaw skills install game-of-cards ``` The same artifact is published to npm as `game-of-cards`; consumers that prefer npm can add it via OpenClaw's plugin loading mechanism (see ). Until publish lands (tracked under `publish-openclaw-plugin`), build from source against this repo's plugin payload at . > **Known limitation (OpenClaw ≤ 2026.5.6):** spawned subagents do not see the `goc` tool because OpenClaw's plugin-tool allowlist for subagents ignores `tools.subagents.tools.alsoAllow`. Main sessions are unaffected. Upstream tracker: . See the plugin README for workaround guidance. ## Install (other agent runtimes / CI) Install the `goc` CLI once per machine: ```bash pipx install game-of-cards # or: uv tool install game-of-cards ``` Initialize a repo (run from the project root): ```bash goc install ``` This creates `.game-of-cards/deck/`, `.game-of-cards/config.yaml`, and merges GoC guidance into `AGENTS.md` / `CLAUDE.md`. Full CLI reference: https://game-of-cards.com/goc/ ## Key concepts - **Cards** — markdown dirs under `.game-of-cards/deck//README.md` with YAML frontmatter (status, contribution, human_gate, definition_of_done). - **Human gate** — `none` lets agents work autonomously; `decision` or `session` parks the card until a human resolves it. - **Skills** — small markdown protocols the agent follows for each verb (`create-card`, `pull-card`, `finish-card`, …). - **Andon cord** — when an agent hits a decision-class question it cannot resolve locally, it raises the gate and parks, rather than guessing. ## Daily commands ```bash goc # open queue sorted by leverage goc --board # kanban board by status goc new rename-the-button # scaffold a new card goc status <title> active # claim a card goc done <title> # close after all DoD boxes are ticked goc validate # check frontmatter ``` ## More - CLI reference and install recipe: https://game-of-cards.com/goc/ - About the methodology: https://game-of-cards.com/about/ - GitHub: https://github.com/zauberzeug/game-of-cards