chameleon
"Code that blends in."
chameleon learns your repo's actual conventions and injects archetype-aware guidance per-edit, so AI-generated code matches your existing style on the first try. Supports TypeScript and Ruby on Rails.
Quickstart
Before you start, you need uv and Node.js 20+ on your PATH. Ruby 3.0+ is also needed if you edit Rails repos. On a fresh machine, docs/install.md has copy-paste setup for macOS, Linux, and Windows, plus a check for each tool. Skip ahead if you already have them.
1. Install the plugin. In any Claude Code session:
/plugin marketplace add crisnahine/chameleon
/plugin install chameleon@chameleon
Restart Claude Code. Confirm it loaded by asking "What chameleon tools do you have?"
2. Profile a repo. Open a TypeScript or Ruby on Rails repo, then:
/chameleon-init # build a profile (3-10s for repos under 5k files)
/chameleon-trust # approve it for your user
After that, every Edit/Write in that repo gets archetype-aware context automatically.
Why
AI-generated code in established codebases routinely violates local conventions: wrong file location, off-pattern naming, missed team idioms, divergent error handling. Reviewer time gets spent on style and shape instead of logic and security.
chameleon clusters your actual code patterns (AST + statistical analysis), captures team-specific idioms (/chameleon-teach), and injects archetype-keyed guidance per-edit so the model writes code that fits.
How it works
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Bootstrap. /chameleon-init locks the repo's production branch (auto-detected from the origin default branch; you're asked only when the signal is ambiguous), materializes that branch's tree from local git objects, runs an AST scan over it, clusters files into archetypes by a 7-tuple signature, picks a canonical example per archetype, and writes .chameleon/profile.json — committed to git, team-shared. The profile reflects the production line no matter which feature branch you happen to have checked out.
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Trust. /chameleon-trust is a per-user, per-repo approval gate. Same mental model as git config --get user.signingkey: the profile lives in the repo, the trust grant lives on your machine.
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Per-edit context. Before every Edit/Write/NotebookEdit, the PreToolUse hook calls the chameleon MCP server, which returns the matched archetype's canonical excerpt, rules, and idioms. The hook injects <chameleon-context> into the model's context.
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Teach. /chameleon-teach captures idioms an AST can't infer — banned imports, mandatory wrappers, custom HTTP clients, internal conventions. Persisted to .chameleon/idioms.md and surfaced through the trust gate so reviewers see them before granting trust.
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Drift detection. Per-edit confidence is tracked in ~/.local/share/chameleon/<repo_id>/drift.db. When the profile no longer matches reality — or the locked production branch's tip moves past the commit the profile was derived from — /chameleon-status escalates and recommends /chameleon-refresh.
Because the skills trigger automatically, you don't need to do anything special after install. Edits in a trusted, profiled repo just blend in.
Install
The Quickstart above has the two commands for Claude Code. For the full guide - per-OS prerequisite setup (macOS, Linux, Windows), verification, updating, uninstall, and troubleshooting - see docs/install.md.
Workflow
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/chameleon-init — bootstrap a profile. Runs the AST scan, clusters files into archetypes, selects canonical examples, writes .chameleon/profile.json. Commit the result.
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/chameleon-trust — review and approve the committed profile for your user. Asks you to type the repo's basename to confirm. Trust state lives at ~/.local/share/chameleon/<repo_id>/.trust.
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Edit normally. The PreToolUse hook looks up the target file's archetype, fetches the canonical excerpt + rules + active idioms, and injects them as <chameleon-context> before the edit lands. The model references the canonical example and writes code that fits.
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/chameleon-teach — capture missed patterns as team idioms. Persists to .chameleon/idioms.md and survives /chameleon-refresh.
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/chameleon-status — check profile state, drift score, and plugin health. High drift recommends /chameleon-refresh to re-cluster against the current code.
