The Foundational Creator Bundle

New creator setting up their first AI-augmented workflow

A creator new to Claude Code installs the Foundational Bundle as their starting substrate. Within the first week Researcher dispatches parallel workers for a content idea, Plan Challenger stress-tests the editorial calendar, Content Strategy maps the rollout sequence and AI SEO checks the publishing surface. The bundle replaces a typical six-month tool-stack assembly with a one-command starting line.

Established creator integrating Claude Code into existing practice

A creator with a working stack adds Claude Code on top. The Foundational Bundle slots underneath their existing tools: Source Harvest extracts patterns from the repos they already follow, Systematic Debugging takes over from ad-hoc fix attempts when the integration layer breaks, Skill Creator codifies their existing workflows into reusable skills. Their stack does not change. The discipline underneath it does.

Creator preparing to add an avatar bundle

A solo SaaS founder plans to install the Builder bundle. Installing the Foundational Bundle first removes the dedup confusion: the Builder bundle ships only the medium-specific skills (gstack, Context7, Impeccable) because Researcher, Source Harvest, Plan Challenger and Systematic Debugging are already present. Two installs, no overlap. The Foundational layer is the pre-install for every avatar.

Team or studio standardizing on a creator OS

A small studio decides every collaborator should run the same baseline. The Foundational Bundle is the standard install. New team members get the substrate in one command. The studio adds avatar bundles per role (Writer for content team, Builder for engineering, Strategist for operations) without re-installing the underlying five skills for each person.

Why a bundle instead of installing each skill individually?

The five IGOS skills and two marketing skills work together as a substrate. Installing them as a bundle preserves that intent and removes the friction of seven separate install steps. The bundle install is also idempotent, so re-running it updates the registration without duplicating anything.

Does the install bring extra skills I did not ask for?

Yes, intentionally. The marketing-skills plugin ships 40 skills as one unit, including Content Strategy and AI SEO. The other 38 are bonus marketing depth from the Corey Haines library: copywriting, paid ads, customer research, churn prevention, schema markup, programmatic SEO and more. They do not auto-execute. Claude Code surfaces them only when your work matches their description.

How does this relate to the avatar bundles (Builder, Writer, Performer)?

Two-layer architecture. The Foundational Bundle is the universal substrate. Avatar bundles ship the medium-specific skills on top of it. A creator picks the avatar that matches their working surface and installs the avatar bundle, which assumes the Foundational Bundle is already present. No skill duplication across avatar bundles.

Can I install the Foundational Bundle without an avatar bundle?

Yes. Many creators inhabit multiple archetypes or do not fit a single avatar cleanly. The Foundational Bundle alone is a complete starting stack. Avatar bundles are optional medium-specific extensions for creators whose practice is concentrated in one surface (writing, building, performing and so on).

What does the install script actually change on my system?

It edits Claude Code settings.json (default location: ~/.claude/settings.json) to register two marketplaces (igos-library and marketingskills) and enable six plugins (the five IGOS skills plus marketing-skills). It does not download skill files directly; Claude Code does that on next launch via the marketplace registrations. The script prints every change before applying.

Is the install reversible?

Yes. The bundle is just settings.json entries. To remove the bundle, remove the marketplace and plugin entries from settings.json (or run /plugin uninstall for each plugin from inside Claude Code). No system-level changes happen.