Setting Up for Your Team

Roll out Candid to your team effectively.

Why Team Adoption?

When everyone uses Candid with shared standards:

• Consistent code quality across the team
• Better DX code reviews (issues caught early)
• Shared understanding of standards
• Reduced back-and-forth in PRs

Quick Start for Teams

1. Install for Everyone

Each team member installs Candid:

claude plugin marketplace add ron-myers/candid
claude plugin install candid@candid

2. Create Shared Technical.md

/candid-init

Generate or write a Technical.md that reflects your team’s standards.

3. Commit to Repository

Commit Technical.md so everyone uses the same standards.

Review it as a team. Everyone should be aligned with what’s outlined in Technical.md.

4. Set Team Defaults

Create .candid/config.json in the repo:

{
  "tone": "constructive",
  "mergeTargetBranches": ["develop", "main"],
  "exclude": ["*.generated.ts", "vendor/*"]
}

Config Options

User Overrides

Team members can override with personal config at ~/.candid/config.json.

CLI flags always take precedence over any config.

Workflow Recommendations

Best Practices

Start Small

Don’t enforce everything at once:

1. Start with a minimal Technical.md
2. Add rules as you identify recurring issues
3. Remove rules that aren’t providing value

Use Constructive Tone

Harsh tone is great for personal projects, but constructive tone works better for team environments.

Don’t Over-Enforce

Not every issue needs to be fixed:

• Focus on Critical and Major issues
• Code smells can be tech debt tickets
• Architectural issues need discussion

Iterate on Technical.md

Your standards should evolve:

• Review Technical.md monthly
• Remove rules no one violates
• Add rules for recurring issues
• Validate with /candid-validate-standards

Share Learnings

When Candid catches something interesting:

• Share in team chat
• Add to Technical.md if it should be a standard
• Discuss patterns that keep appearing