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How to install a knack pack

Step-by-step install guide for any knack pack on macOS, Linux, or Windows. Five minutes, two commands, no Docker, no daemon.

Every knack pack is a single zip file. Inside is your skills, commands, agents, an installer script, a PACK.yaml manifest, and a licence file. The installer copies the skill files into your existing Claude Code config directory and writes a small licence record alongside. That’s the whole flow.

Before you install

You need:

  • Claude Code installed and working. If /agents doesn’t list anything when you run it from Claude Code, fix that first. Knack packs land in the same directory tree Claude Code already reads from.
  • Your purchase confirmation email, which contains the pack download link and the licence key. The licence key looks like KNACK-SCO-202604-K7P3XQ. You’ll be prompted for it during install.
  • A terminal. macOS Terminal, iTerm, GNOME Terminal, Windows Terminal, all fine.

The free Knack Starter Pack skips the licence-key step. Paid packs prompt for it.

macOS and Linux

Download the zip from your purchase email and unzip it wherever you keep installers. Then:

cd /path/to/unzipped/<pack-id>
./install.sh

Paste your licence key when prompted. The script:

  1. Reads the pack version from the bundled PACK.yaml.
  2. Validates your licence key against the expected format.
  3. Copies skills, commands, and agents into ~/.claude/.
  4. Writes a plain-text licence record to ~/.claude/knack/<pack-id>.licence.

Restart Claude Code so it picks up the new skills.

If you’d rather not be prompted (running it from a script, for example):

KNACK_LICENCE=KNACK-SCO-202604-K7P3XQ ./install.sh

Windows

Open PowerShell in the unzipped pack directory and:

PowerShell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\install.ps1

The -ExecutionPolicy Bypass flag is needed because the installer isn’t code-signed yet. It applies only to that one invocation; nothing on your machine changes permanently. Behaviour from there is identical to the macOS / Linux path: prompt for the licence key (paid packs only), copy the files, write the licence record, done.

The Windows installer pins the install root to %USERPROFILE%\.claude rather than $HOME\.claude. This matches Claude Code’s own resolution and avoids a class of OneDrive Known Folder Redirection bugs that previously caused upgrades to land in a different tree from the original install. If you have a legacy install at $HOME\.claude from an older pack version, the installer warns you and gives the cleanup command.

For non-interactive use:

$env:KNACK_LICENCE = "KNACK-SCO-202604-K7P3XQ"
PowerShell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\install.ps1

Custom install location

If you keep your Claude Code config somewhere other than ~/.claude (or %USERPROFILE%\.claude), set CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR first:

CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR=~/work/.claude ./install.sh

The pack lands at ~/work/.claude/skills/... instead. This is the same env var Claude Code itself honours.

What happens if it fails

A handful of common errors and what they mean:

  • “could not find PACK.yaml” — you ran the installer from the wrong directory. cd into the unzipped pack first.
  • “licence key does not match the expected format” — re-check the key against your purchase email. The format is KNACK-{PACK-CODE}-{YYYYMM}-{6-char base32}. We skip the characters 0, 1, 8, and 9 because they look like letters; if you typed any of those, that’s the issue.
  • Permission denied on cp — ~/.claude/ is owned by another user, or filesystem permissions are unusual. Check ls -la ~/.claude and adjust.
  • Skills don’t show up after install — restart Claude Code. The skill directory is read at startup.

If something else goes wrong, email support@knack.run with your Polar order ID and the installer output. One working day reply, UK time.

What this doesn’t do

The installer never makes a network call. No telemetry, no licence-server check, no analytics ping. The licence file it writes is for your records and for Claude Code to surface to the skills, not for us. If a future pack version breaks idempotency or starts phoning home, that’s a regression and we want to hear about it.

For the on-disk detail of what landed where, see what files a knack pack puts on your machine. For the no-telemetry guarantee, see Knack packs don’t phone home.