In a platform project, an AI agent such as Claude Code, Cursor, or Codex follows the rules placed there and talks to the platform through the agent plugin. Always open it in the parent project folder ~/Documents/application-platform/<organization>/<project>/ so that it finds all repositories and the rules files.
Install the agent plugin
The prerequisites are Node.js version 18 or newer and the ap CLI. Both are done in the terminal, the CLI with the first command (Windows, in PowerShell: irm https://www.application-platform.com/install.ps1 | iex), the plugin with the second:
curl -fsSL https://www.application-platform.com/install.sh | sh
npx --yes github:doppelt-digital/application-platform-plugin
The installer detects the installed agents, places skills and MCP configuration with them, and signs you in with ap login; afterwards you reload the editor or restart the agent.
The plugin brings skills, slash commands such as /create-project, and the MCP server application-platform via ap mcp serve; the details and the installation paths for individual tools are in CLI and agent plugin.
What you can ask the agent
- “Import this project into my Application Platform account.” The agent detects the stack, creates the project, and pushes your code, see Bring in an existing project.
- “Create a new Application Platform project with a Next.js app and a NestJS backend and clone it.” The agent creates the project from a template, waits for the setup, and clones it.
- “Start the backend locally.” The agent runs
ap run-localin the backend repository.
Which rules the agent follows
The file AGENTS.md from local-configuration in the project folder requires starting applications with ap run-local, never editing .gitlab-ci.yml and env/*.generated.env by hand, writing your own values to env/*.custom.env, never committing or printing secrets, working in the application repository instead of local-configuration, taking runtimes from .tool-versions, and storing backend uploads under ./upload. Agents do not commit and push on their own.
Add your own rules
Your own rules, such as preferred libraries, go into local-configuration/AGENTS.md; after a commit and push they apply to everyone on the team, see Your own rules for AI agents.
Limits
The MCP server runs locally through the ap CLI, so cloud agents cannot use it; if the agent reports that you are not signed in, type ap login. If creating or importing fails, the agent does not work around the error with its own Git commands.
You save and publish the agent’s changes.