pnCore — v0.18.7

pnCore is an MCP server and Cursor plugin. It runs software delivery as a sequence of named, gated steps instead of one long chat.

It ships discovery, planning, skeptic challenge, design, audits, assets, and delivery through a deterministic workflow_step engine — backed by skills, agents, rules, and pn-core:// resources, not a folder of prompts.

Catalog: 170 skills, 9 public agents + 6 internal orchestration agents, 31 visible slash palette files (30 under pn submenu + /pn stub) + 18 palette-hidden surgical commands (49 command files total), 26 MCP tools, 16 workflow types, plus pn-core:// resources and prompts.

Why this exists

A single chat can plan a feature, write the code, and tell you it's done — but there's no checkpoint in between. If it goes sideways on step three, you're rereading the whole transcript to find out where. Asking it to redo one part usually means starting the conversation over, and whatever context got it that far is gone.

pnCore moves that step list out of the chat. workflow_step(type, index, state) runs one step at a time — discovery, plan, build, review — and hands back the next instruction. A skeptic pass, a human gate, or workflow_verify decides whether a step actually passed, not the model's own say-so. If you get disconnected, workflow_state_save and workflow_state_load pick the run back up where it left off.

Related MCP server: odin

What it is

Deterministic. workflow_step(type, index, state) decides the next instruction. Steps aren't skipped by assumption — skipping one is a gate decision, logged in state.

Gated. Skeptic, human, and workflow_verify gates are built into the engine. Intent is full auto, design focused, or involved — involved means you approve discovery, plan, specialists, and review before they run.

Multi-surface. One canonical tree in packages/pn-core-mcp/content/. The MCP runs the engine in any client. The Cursor plugin adds the / palette, file-glob rules, agent selector, and stop hook. Pi registers the same 26 tools natively.

Resumable. Every run has a run_id. Handoff lines and usage land in JSONL. After a disconnect, load state and continue the same step list.

Install

Prerequisite: Node.js 22+.

Call health first — it should return version, calendarDateUtc, and capabilities. If it doesn't, nothing downstream (skills, agents, workflow_step) will load either.

Cursor — MCP (one-click)

Or add manually to ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pn-core": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "--package=git+https://github.com/perniemann/pnCore.git#main", "--", "pn-core"],
      "env": { "GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT": "0", "GIT_ASKPASS": "echo" }
    }
  }
}

GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT=0 and GIT_ASKPASS=echo fail fast when git cannot authenticate (missing credentials, rate limit, or a bad URL). Without them, a credential prompt on piped stdin leaves Cursor in a forever loading state.

Cursor — Plugin

From your target project directory:

npx github:perniemann/pnCore plugin-install

Copies commands, rules, skills, agents, config, and hooks into .cursor/ and .cursor-plugin/. Reload Cursor, then run /pn-new.

MCP or plugin? MCP is the engine. The plugin is the Cursor surface (slash palette, rules, agents, stop hook). The intended Cursor setup is both. Details: Plugin vs MCP.

pi.dev (Pi coding agent)

pi install git:github.com/perniemann/pnCore@main

Pi surfaces a single /pn entry. Direct invoke: /pn pn-build. Native tools ship with pi install git:…/pnCore or pi install . from this repo root after npm run build:mcp. Cursor and Claude Code still use the stdio MCP server. See ADR-0008 and ADR-0009.

Claude Code

Use the same MCP JSON. Settings → MCP Servers, paste the block, enable it. See Anthropic's MCP documentation.

Windows, Cloud Agents, this-checkout node paths, and first-npx timeouts: packages/pn-core-mcp/README.md. Clone-and-develop: CONTRIBUTING.md.

Quick start

1. Install MCP and/or plugin (above).

2. Call health — version, UTC date, capabilities.

3. New repo or greenfield: /pn-new or workflow_step("project_kickoff", 0, {}) — discovery, refs, PRD, and design docs under docs/refs/.

4. Build or extend: /pn-build or workflow_step("full_dev", 0, {}) — skips kickoff when the project already has context.

5. Before ship: /pn-deliver or /pn-frontend-audit.

Copy-paste first message:

pn-new ▲

Build [your-project-name] — [one-line description].
References: [path or "in .ref/"] (pitch, requirements, design assets).
Analyze both: prior art and design.
Intent: Involved — full gates at discovery, plan, specialists, and review.
Delivery tier: full. Design ambition: distinctive.

Answer Step 0: Yes, Both. Step 1: (3) Involved.

More prompts: docs/how-to-use-guide.md.

Workflows

Call list_workflow_types for live step counts.

Also on the engine: visual_tweak, prompt_optimize, game_feature, engine_feature (Unreal / Godot), fsi_analyst_draft, media_director. Full table and aliases: list_workflow_types.

Example: full_dev

Tool steps are 0-based. Resume after disconnect: workflow_state_save then workflow_state_load. Schema: pn-core://reference/workflow-state-schema.md.

Design-first: workflow_step("design", 0) instead of full_dev. Load .pncore-design.md via /pn-setup.

Game / 3D: workflow_step("game_feature", 0) for feature loops. For full builds, use full_dev and name the stack in discovery.

What changes

Three tier concepts (do not conflate them): delivery tier (MVP/Full), context tier (1–4 reading depth), model tier (fast / standard / premium / premium_thinking / long_horizon). Loop orchestration: suggest_model_tier with role: orchestrator → long_horizon. See pn-core://reference/delivery-tier-criteria.md and MCP tools.

Load before a build session: pn-core://reference/best-practices.md, pn-core://reference/loop-orchestration-guide.md, pn-core://reference/aesthetics-baseline.md, and health for the current UTC date.

Honest edges

Best fit: teams building with Cursor on React, Astro, Next.js, vanilla web, Node backends, Three.js / Babylon / gamedev, n8n, and web3. Inventory: docs/plugin-reference.md.

Documentation

Scripts

Contributor scripts, local MCP config, and how to develop pnCore live in CONTRIBUTING.md. Repo layout: docs/folder-structure.md.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.