wtf is mise-en-claude?

Mise-en-claude, known as mise for short, is a setup tool for Claude Code, the AI coding assistant. Its job is to get a project's engineering foundations in order before you start building, the way a chef preps ingredients before cooking. Instead of a traditional app, it works as a prompt you paste into a Claude Code session, or as an installed set of commands, that interviews you about your project and then sets up the boring but important groundwork. There are two ways to use it. Mode A is zero install: you copy a file called PROMPT.md and paste it as your first message in any Claude Code session, whether that's the CLI, the desktop app, the web version, or an IDE extension. Mode B involves cloning the repository and running an install script, which adds reusable slash commands like /mise-init, /mise-update, /mise-cook, /mise-handoff, and /mise-clean to your Claude Code setup. Once running, mise walks through a series of phases, and nothing happens without your approval at each step. It learns your project's vision and goals, looks at your current files and tools, sets up git with a proper .gitignore and first commit, writes a starter CLAUDE.md and README, connects the services your project needs through APIs or command line tools, installs helpful workflow commands, and hooks up a task tracker such as GitHub Issues, Jira, Linear, Asana, or Trello so context is not lost between sessions. A key feature is Rescue mode. Many people who reach for this tool already have a messy, AI-assisted project with no git history, no clear structure, and maybe a secret key pasted directly into the code. Mise is designed to detect this situation and straighten things out without losing existing work. The project is written mostly in Shell and currently covers stacks including iOS, iPadOS, macOS, React, Next.js, Angular, Flutter, React Native, and three backend setups. The author describes it as consent-first and snapshot-safe, meaning it always previews its plan and asks before making changes, and it treats secrets by reference rather than copying them directly.