Cadence

A markdown-based personal EM operating system that runs inside Claude Code. It gives you a structured workspace for managing your engineering org - people files, program tracking, 1:1 cadence, weekly reviews - all version-controlled on your machine as local markdown, with an optional mirror to whatever documentation platform you already use. Claude loads full context at the start of every session and operates as a senior EM advisor, so you can run rituals through slash commands rather than starting from scratch each time.

Recommended setup: Obsidian + Glass. Cadence's workspace is already plain markdown, so Obsidian needs no configuration beyond opening this directory as a vault, and Glass lets you run Claude Code sessions from inside Obsidian against that same vault - no separate platform to keep in sync. See Documentation Platform below for other options.

Before running setup, make sure you have:

• Claude Code installed (claude.ai/code)
• GitHub CLI (gh) installed and authenticated - only needed if you want to push Cadence to a private GitHub repo (recommended)
  • Install: brew install gh
  • Authenticate: gh auth login
• Obsidian + Glass - recommended, not required. Since Cadence is already local markdown, Obsidian needs no configuration beyond opening this directory as a vault - Glass is what lets you run Claude Code sessions from inside it. See Documentation Platform below.
• Notion MCP configured in your Claude Code settings - only needed if you choose Notion as your documentation platform during setup instead (see below); the setup skill creates all required databases automatically

Cadence's local markdown files (people/, programs/, rituals/, outputs/) are always the source of truth, version-controlled on your machine regardless of anything else. On top of that, /setup lets you optionally mirror your rituals to a documentation platform:

• Obsidian (Recommended) - no setup needed, and no separate sync layer to keep in sync. Since the workspace is already plain markdown, just open this directory directly as a vault (or symlink it into an existing one) and you're done. Pair it with Glass to run Claude Code sessions from inside Obsidian against this same workspace - edit, review, and run Cadence's slash commands without leaving your vault. This is the way Cadence is meant to be run.
• Notion - /setup creates the required databases via the Notion MCP, and commands like /weekly, /11, and /status push to them automatically. Works well, but it's a second system to keep in sync with your local files.
• Google Docs (or anywhere else) - no automatic sync; copy content over manually whenever you want it there.
• None - just the local files. Also fine.

1. Get the files - pick one:

• Download (recommended, no git required): grab the latest release from github.com/humantorch/Cadence/releases, unzip it, and rename/move the folder to wherever you want Cadence to live (e.g. ~/Documents/Cadence).
• Clone with git:

  git clone git@github.com:humantorch/Cadence.git ~/Documents/Cadence
  cd ~/Documents/Cadence

Either way works with /setup in the next step - if you cloned, it detaches from the template's git history before creating a repo of your own.

2. Open Claude Code in this directory and run:

/setup

The /setup skill handles everything from here: configuring your documentation platform, writing cadence-config.md, setting up the GitHub remote, and walking you through your master prompt and first people files.

1. Asks for your name, workspace path, and documentation platform
2. If you chose Notion, creates all 6 required databases with correct schemas (otherwise, nothing further needed - local files are already the record)
3. Writes cadence-config.md in the repo with your values (platform choice, DB IDs if applicable)
4. Sets up a private GitHub remote (optional)
5. Walks you through filling out your master prompt
6. Creates your first two people files (manager + one direct report)

Setup takes about 20-30 minutes end-to-end.

• People files - one per direct report, skip-level, manager, and close XFN partner. Use people/_template.md.
• Program files - one per active initiative. Use programs/_template.md.
• Rubrics - add context/rubric-em.md and context/rubric-sr-em.md (or your organization's equivalent, i.e. L6 & L7 if you're at Amazon) if you want promo signal tracking in /journal and gap analysis in /em-check.