Installation

relay is a Claude Code plugin. When you install it, Claude Code automatically sets up:

Two slash commands: /relay:relay, /relay:agent
A PostToolUse hook that streams agent activity to the real-time dashboard
An MCP server that handles all inter-agent communication

Prerequisites

Node.js v18 or later
Claude Code v1.0.33 or later (claude --version to check)

Step 1 — Add the relay marketplace

Claude Code installs plugins through marketplaces. Add the relay marketplace from its GitHub repository:

/plugin marketplace add custardcream98/relay

This registers the catalog. No plugins are installed yet.

Step 2 — Install the plugin

Install the relay plugin to your user scope (available across all projects):

/plugin install relay@relay

To install for the current project only (shared with teammates who trust the repo):

/plugin install relay@relay --scope project

After installing, run /reload-plugins or restart Claude Code. You should see /relay:relay and /relay:agent in the slash command list.

Step 3 — Configure your agent pool (optional)

relay auto-generates a project-specific agent pool on first run. You can skip this step and go straight to Step 4.

To customize your team instead, define it in .relay/agents.pool.yml at the project root. Copy the example pool to get started:

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/custardcream98/relay/main/agents.pool.example.yml
mv agents.pool.example.yml .relay/agents.pool.yml

Or write .relay/agents.pool.yml from scratch. A minimal two-agent example:

agents:
  pm:
    name: Project Manager
    emoji: "📋"
    tags: [planning, coordination]
    tools: [create_task, get_all_tasks, send_message, get_messages, broadcast_thinking]
    systemPrompt: |
      You are the project manager. Break down the user's request into
      concrete tasks and assign them to the team via create_task.

  fe:
    name: Frontend Engineer
    emoji: "🎨"
    tags: [frontend, react, css]
    tools: [claim_task, update_task, post_artifact, send_message, broadcast_thinking]
    systemPrompt: |
      You are a frontend engineer. Claim frontend tasks and implement them.

See Customising agents for the full schema, multi-instance agents (extends), and a 12-agent example pool.

Step 4 — Verify

Run a quick test to confirm everything is wired up:

/relay:relay "hello"

relay will auto-generate an agent pool for your project and start a session. If agents start and the dashboard URL appears in the output, installation is complete.