codeswithroh/tastemaker installation guide

Install Tastemaker for Claude Code on macOS Tahoe (Apple silicon)

What you are installing

Tastemaker is a **Claude Code skill packaged as a Claude Code plugin**. It adds design-focused instructions, references, local memory files, and Python helper scripts that Claude Code can use while building or reviewing interfaces. Its documented uses include landing pages, dashboards, app screens, components, reference-image study, and UI audits.

**Classification:**

• **Mechanism:** context injection
• **Install mode:** Claude extension
• **Setup effort:** low
• **Confidence:** high

This classification is supported by the repository’s Claude plugin manifest and its `skills/tastemaker/SKILL.md` workflow. It is not a replacement for Claude Code and does not run as a separate AI gateway or hosted service.

The repository says the skill runs locally, has no hosted backend, requires no Tastemaker account, and needs no API key for its normal operation. Some asset helpers can make HTTPS requests to a documented allowlist of public services. Project-specific design memory is stored in `.tastemaker/` inside your project, while durable personal preferences can be stored in `~/.tastemaker/profile.md`.

Before you begin

You need an existing, working installation of **Claude Code**. The supplied repository files do not document how to install Claude Code itself, so this guide does not provide an unsupported command for doing that.

For the recommended installation, Claude Code must have its plugin system available. For the manual alternative, you also need Git because the documented procedure clones the public repository.

Tastemaker consists of Markdown and Python scripts. Python 3 is used by its deterministic helper scripts, but the main README says missing Pillow does not prevent the skill from operating: reference-image color extraction falls back to a vision-based read. No source file documents any Apple-silicon-specific setup, Rosetta requirement, Homebrew dependency, or separate build step. Do not add those merely because you are using macOS Tahoe.

Recommended method: install as a Claude Code plugin

This is the repository’s recommended path and preserves the complete skill, including its references, scripts, assets, and bundled Ideagram illustration sub-skill.

1. Open Claude Code

Start Claude Code normally. Open it in the project where you want to use Tastemaker, or start a Claude Code session and navigate as you usually do.

The next two lines are **Claude Code slash commands**, not macOS Terminal commands. Enter them in Claude Code one at a time.

2. Add the Tastemaker marketplace

Paste this into Claude Code and submit it:

/plugin marketplace add codeswithroh/tastemaker

This registers the repository as a plugin marketplace source.

3. Install the plugin

After the first command completes, paste and submit:

/plugin install tastemaker@codeswithroh

The repository’s `.claude-plugin/plugin.json` identifies the plugin as `tastemaker`, and its project layout says `skills/tastemaker/` is the actual installed skill.

4. Restart Claude Code

The README explicitly says to restart your agent after installation. Close the current Claude Code session and start it again. No additional activation command is documented.

Verify that Tastemaker is available

After restarting Claude Code, open a project where it is safe for Claude Code to create or change UI files. Then paste the repository’s example request:

build a landing page for a coffee subscription

Tastemaker is designed to trigger automatically on requests to build, design, style, improve, study, or audit UI. You do not need to invoke a `/tastemaker` command. Its skill description also covers phrases such as “make this look good,” “match this vibe,” and “why does this look AI-generated.”

Successful use may create project-local memory such as:

• `.tastemaker/style-lock.md` for the project’s established design rules
• `.tastemaker/decisions.log` for keep, reject, or pending-review decisions
• `.tastemaker/reference-board.md` for reference direction
• `.tastemaker/log.json` for structural choices across builds

Those files are expected behavior, not a second installation.

Manual installation alternative

Use this only if your Claude Code installation does not have the plugin system. The repository warns that you must install the specific `skills/tastemaker` folder, **not the entire repository**.

Open the macOS Terminal app and run these documented commands:

git clone https://github.com/codeswithroh/tastemaker /tmp/tastemaker
cp -r /tmp/tastemaker/skills/tastemaker ~/.claude/skills/tastemaker

The first command downloads the public repository to `/tmp/tastemaker`. The second copies only the complete Tastemaker skill into Claude Code’s skills location.

This documented copy command assumes Claude Code’s `~/.claude/skills/` directory is already available. The supplied files do not document a directory-creation command, so none is added here. If the destination is unavailable, prefer the plugin installation method rather than guessing at Claude Code’s local directory setup.

After copying, restart Claude Code and use the same verification request shown above.

Optional Pillow support

Pillow is needed only for the deterministic reference-image color extraction script. It is not described as mandatory for basic installation. If you want that deterministic extraction path and already have a working Python and `pip` setup, the repository documents:

pip install Pillow

If Pillow is missing, the README says Tastemaker falls back to a vision-based read rather than failing. The repository also describes CairoSVG plus the system Cairo library as optional for PNG and favicon exports, but it does not supply a macOS installation command for Cairo. Therefore, this guide does not invent a Homebrew or system-package command for it.

What does not need to be installed

Do not install the dependencies from `web/package.json` merely to use the Claude Code skill. That package belongs to a separate React, TypeScript, and Vite web project in the repository. Likewise, the `site/` directory is the project’s marketing site and live demo, not the Claude Code extension.

You also do not need to deploy the website, run Vite, install Netlify tooling, or copy the repository root into Claude Code. None of those steps is part of the documented Claude Code installation.

Network and privacy expectations

Tastemaker’s security documentation says the skill is local and has no telemetry or analytics. Its Python scripts can read and write files in your project. Asset-related helpers may contact only these documented hosts:

• `api.iconify.design` for icons
• `api.openverse.org` for public-domain or CC0 photography searches
• `pixabay.com` for an optional, API-key-based photography source
• `cdn.jsdelivr.net` for pinned Motion delivery
• `cdnjs.cloudflare.com` for pinned GSAP and ScrollTrigger delivery

The security file says requests are HTTPS-only and host-allowlisted, including redirects. Normal Openverse and Iconify use requires no API key. Pixabay is optional and requires `PIXABAY_API_KEY`; you do not need it to install Tastemaker.

Illustration matching can use a personal unDraw library under `~/.ideagram/undraw/`. The repository does not bundle unDraw illustrations because their license bars redistribution as a collection. Populating that library is optional feature setup, not part of installing the Claude Code plugin.

Troubleshooting

Claude Code does not recognize `/plugin`

Make sure you entered the slash commands inside Claude Code, not in Terminal. If your Claude Code environment genuinely lacks the plugin system, use the documented manual installation instead.

Tastemaker does not activate after installation

Restart Claude Code first, as required by the README. Then try the exact verification request. Tastemaker is meant to activate from ordinary UI-related language rather than through a dedicated invocation command.

The manual copy fails

Confirm that Git successfully cloned the repository and that Claude Code’s skills directory already exists. Do not copy the whole repository as a substitute; the source specifically says to copy `skills/tastemaker`.

Reference-image extraction is not deterministic

Install Pillow using the documented optional command if your Python environment supports `pip`. Without Pillow, the repository says extraction falls back to vision rather than stopping the overall workflow.

Illustrations use a simpler fallback

The bundled Ideagram workflow produces its best results with a user-maintained local unDraw collection. If that library is absent, Tastemaker may ask you to download illustrations from unDraw or use its lower-quality primitive fallback. This does not mean the plugin installation failed.

Installation complete

For most macOS Tahoe users on Apple silicon, the complete process is: add the marketplace in Claude Code, install `tastemaker@codeswithroh`, restart Claude Code, and make a normal UI request. No platform-specific compilation, hosted account, Tastemaker API key, or web-project build is documented as necessary.