Setup

Sidequest runs agents you have already installed and logged into on your machine. On first launch the setup wizard checks each dependency and offers to install anything that is missing.

Required Dependencies

Tool	Purpose
Claude Code CLI	The default agent. Supervisors, journals, Council summaries and the smart router all use it, so install it even if you mostly run other agents.
tmux	Terminal multiplexer that keeps every session alive in the background
git	Version control — used for worktrees, branching and diffs
GitHub CLI (gh)	Optional but recommended — enables issue browsing, PR badges, Review quests and cloning private repos

Optional agents

Sidequest can run quests on other agents. Install and authenticate whichever you want to use, then point Sidequest at them in Settings > Agent if they are not found automatically:

Agent	Binary	Install
Gemini CLI	gemini	npm install -g @google/gemini-cli
Codex CLI	codex	npm install -g @openai/codex
Copilot CLI	copilot	npm install -g @github/copilot
OpenCode	opencode	See opencode.ai

See Agents and Models for what each agent supports inside Sidequest.

Installing Dependencies

macOS (Homebrew)

# Claude Code CLI (requires Node.js)
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

# tmux, git, and GitHub CLI
brew install tmux git gh

If you don’t have Homebrew, install it first:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

If you don’t have Node.js (required for Claude Code), install it from nodejs.org or via Homebrew:

brew install node

Linux (apt)

# Claude Code CLI (requires Node.js)
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

# tmux, git, and GitHub CLI
sudo apt-get install -y tmux git gh

Linux (dnf)

npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
sudo dnf install -y tmux git gh

Linux (pacman)

npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
sudo pacman -S --noconfirm tmux git gh

Setup Wizard

When you launch Sidequest for the first time, the setup wizard walks you through dependency validation:

1. A welcome screen introduces the app
2. The Check Dependencies step scans your system for each tool
3. If a tool is found, its version is displayed with a green checkmark
4. If a tool is missing and the prerequisite package manager is available, an Install button appears to install it directly
5. If auto-install is not possible (e.g., npm is not installed), the wizard shows what’s needed and provides a Copy button for the manual install command

You can skip missing dependencies and continue, but Sidequest cannot create sessions without an agent CLI and tmux.

You can re-run the wizard at any time from Settings > General > Setup Guide > Run Again.

Path Resolution

Sidequest resolves tool paths using your login shell’s environment. This means tools installed via version managers like nvm, mise, fnm, or volta are detected automatically.

If Sidequest can’t find a tool (common when launched from Finder on macOS, which has a minimal PATH), it also checks well-known install locations:

• /opt/homebrew/bin/ (Homebrew on Apple Silicon)
• /usr/local/bin/ (Homebrew on Intel / manual installs)
• /usr/bin/ (system packages)

Custom Tool Paths

If auto-discovery doesn’t find your tools, set explicit paths in Settings: git and tmux under Tools, and each agent’s CLI under Agent. Leave a field empty to revert to auto-discovery. Each agent field shows Detected or Not found so you can confirm the path works.

What Sidequest installs for you

On every launch Sidequest refreshes a few files of its own:

• ~/.sidequest/bin/sidequest and ~/.sidequest/bin/sidequest-journal — command-line tools that agents (and you) can use. See Sidequest CLI.
• ~/.claude/skills/sidequest/SKILL.md and ~/.claude/skills/sidequest-journal/SKILL.md — Claude Code skills that teach the agent how to use those tools. They are rewritten at every launch, so edit the extended prompts instead of these files.
• ~/.sidequest/skills/sidequest-supervisor.md — the supervisor’s system prompt.
• A Claude Code Stop hook (once you enable notifications in Settings > Notifications) so Sidequest knows when a session is waiting for you.

Verifying Your Setup

To verify tools are working from your terminal:

claude --version
tmux -V
git --version
gh --version