Fredasterehub/kiln: Multi-model AI orchestration workflow for Claude Code

Multi-model AI orchestration workflow for Claude Code - Fredasterehub/kiln

Summary

Kiln is a Claude Code plugin that orchestrates software builds across eight named phases, with Claude minds and (optionally) GPT-5.6 acting as cross-checking model families. It persists as a .kiln/ directory of markdown, JSON, and small scripts—no daemon, no server, no npm package. The project's own status table marks it RED as of the v3.2.2 release (July 31, 2026) and explicitly states it has not yet been fired on a real project end to end.

What it is useful for

Kiln is aimed at engineers who want an AI assistant that plans, builds, and verifies software inside a Claude Code session, with one model family checking the other's work. Useful when you want:

• Acceptance criteria frozen as a digest before any code is written (the Law phase), so "done" is decided up front and cannot be quietly edited to fit the code.
• Per-milestone git discipline: every milestone on its own branch, every green piece on its own commit, every finished milestone as a real merge plus annotated tag.
• Verification that runs the actually-built product against criteria journeys with a flaky-check bench, requiring a real exit-zero verdict rather than a self-report.
• A last-mile report that names what was parked, so shipped scope is not silently incomplete.
• A scout pass and set-intersection blocking on protected paths in an existing codebase, so plan gates fail closed instead of guessing.

The README explicitly excludes regulated domains—medical devices, avionics, exchange and financial systems—and asks users in those fields to open an issue first.

How engineers can use it

Documented prerequisites are Claude Code v2.1.198 or newer and Node; Codex CLI is optional, and if absent Kiln names a Claude substitute from the same routing file (plugins/kiln/machine/routing/active.json) and records the mode change in the ledger.

Install at a terminal:

claude plugin marketplace add Fredasterehub/kiln
claude plugin install kiln@kiln

Then inside a Claude Code session in the project you want built:

/kiln:fire [idea]
/kiln:doctor

/kiln:doctor reads the room and writes nothing. /kiln:fire [idea] runs preflight, runs the settings interview (Balanced, Budget Solo, Max Rigor, or Custom), and is resumable from disk—stop it, lose the terminal, come back later, and it picks up where .kiln/state.json says it stood. One fire per project at a time. The README asks you to run claude plugin update kiln@kiln periodically because Claude Code does not push plugin updates on its own.

When the run cools, start at .kiln/delivery/presentation.md, then .kiln/delivery/last-mile-report.md. Given the RED status, treat it as experimental and read the "The Discipline" section in the README before lighting anything.