Orca GTT Method
GTT-Method
Governance Through Thinking
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Install GTT Bootstrap

Step-by-step guide to installing GTT Bootstrap in a project and freezing its governed context.

GTT Bootstrap is the reference implementation of GTT-Method. Installing it puts the GTT engine, the governed context and the integrations for your ADEs inside your project. This guide uses GTT CLI, which downloads and operates Bootstrap for you.

Repository: https://github.com/GTT-Community/gtt-bootstrap

Before you start

  • GTT CLI installed: https://gtt-method.org/cli/
  • git, bash and python3. On Windows: Git for Windows (it provides bash) and Python 3
  • An ADE: Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Codex or Kiro
  • A project folder, new or with existing code
  • Recommended: a finished design document in the project root. Any name and any common format works (.md, .txt, Word, PDF). It should describe the idea and goal, vision, requirements, architecture, technology stack, constraints and development rules

No design document yet? Skip it. Bootstrap offers the Initial Design Questionnaire and your ADE guides you through it.

1. Run gtt init

cd my-project
gtt init

gtt init finds, downloads and verifies GTT Bootstrap. Nothing is installed until you answer its questions.

2. Answer the questions

  • Participating ADEs: the ADEs it detects are only candidates. GTT installs the integrations you choose and no others
  • Primary ADE: the one that leads the workflow
  • Language
  • Method Plan: Light, Medium, Hard or Team. It decides how much operational work GTT does without asking. It is not a quality level, and no plan turns governance off
  • Initial design documents: the documents the governed context will be built from

The Method Plans are described at https://github.com/GTT-Community/gtt-bootstrap/blob/main/.gtt/docs/method-plans.md

3. Check the installation

gtt status
gtt doctor

Your project now contains:

  • AGENTS.md: the contract your agents read
  • .gtt/: the GTT engine, its scripts and its documentation
  • gtt-domain/: the governed context, decisions (ADR), proposals and backlog
  • The integration of each participating ADE, for example .claude/ or .kiro/

4. Build the governed context with your ADE

Open your Primary ADE in the project. If it does not start on its own, ask it:

Bootstrap GTT in this project

The ADE then:

  • Reads your design document and writes a Design Assessment, area by area
  • Asks you to confirm that the design is complete and not a draft
  • Asks you directly for whatever the document does not answer, instead of inventing it
  • Maps the design into the six governed context files in gtt-domain/context/
  • Shows you a summary and waits for your confirmation before writing them
  • Keeps your original document as SOURCE-BRIEF in the project root

5. Review and freeze

Read the governed context and correct anything that is wrong. When it represents your design, freeze it:

gtt freeze

Freezing is a human act and there is no unfreeze. From that moment the governed context is protected from direct agent writes, and every change goes through a proposal that you approve.

Day to day

gtt sync
gtt resume
  • gtt sync keeps agent context, document tracking, the index and validation up to date in one run
  • gtt resume gives the session context derived from the real state of the project
  • gtt update updates GTT Bootstrap and preserves your project state and your local changes

Other ways to install