A beginner-friendly guide to installing Leopoldo on Claude Code. From downloading the ZIP to your first conversation with the orchestrator, every step explained.
Leopoldo Editorial
This guide walks you through installing Leopoldo on Claude Code from scratch. No technical background required. Every step is explained.
Claude Code is Anthropic's official command-line tool for working with Claude. It runs in your terminal (the black window where developers type commands) and gives Claude access to your files and projects.
If you do not have Claude Code yet, install it first from docs.anthropic.com. You need a Claude Pro, Team, or Enterprise subscription.
Leopoldo is an expertise system that makes Claude a specialist. Out of the box, Claude is a generalist. Leopoldo adds deep domain knowledge (finance, legal, consulting, development) plus an orchestrator that routes every request to the right expert automatically.
You choose a domain. You get the full system.
Make sure you have:
That is everything you need.
After requesting access at leopoldo.ai, you receive an email with a download link. Click it to download the ZIP file. The link is valid for 7 days and allows up to 3 downloads.
The ZIP file name looks something like: leopoldo-investment-core-v1.0.0.zip
Save it anywhere. Your Desktop is fine.
Open the ZIP file and extract (unzip) its contents directly into your project folder. The result should look like this:
The key thing: the .claude folder must be at the root of your project folder. Not inside a subfolder. Not somewhere else.
**On macOS:** Double-click the ZIP, then drag the extracted contents into your project folder.
**On Windows:** Right-click the ZIP, select "Extract All", then copy the extracted contents into your project folder.
**On Linux:** Run unzip leopoldo-*.zip -d /path/to/your-project in your terminal.
If your project already has a .claude folder, that is fine. The installer merges everything safely.
Open your terminal and navigate to your project folder:
cd /path/to/your-project
Then start Claude Code:
claude
On the first session, Leopoldo detects the extracted files and installs itself. This happens automatically. You will see the orchestrator set up hooks, create the manifest, and load your domain expertise.
This only happens once. On future sessions, everything is already in place and Leopoldo activates instantly.
Now try a simple test. Type something related to your domain:
If the orchestrator routes your request to a specialized agent and you get structured, professional output, everything is working.
Leopoldo adds a management layer you can use anytime:
Updates are always explicit. Leopoldo never connects to the internet unless you ask it to.
When you start Claude Code in a project with Leopoldo installed, here is what happens:
1. Leopoldo detects the extracted files and runs the installer (first session only) 2. The orchestrator activates and reads your domain expertise 3. Your request is classified and routed to the right specialized agent 4. Quality gates verify the output before you see it 5. Hooks run automatically for session management and integrity checks
You do not need to think about any of this. Just talk to Claude normally.
**Claude does not seem to know about Leopoldo.** Make sure the .claude folder is at the root of the folder where you started Claude Code. Run ls -la in your terminal to check.
**I see an error about missing files.** Run /leopoldo repair to fix any corrupted or missing files.
**I want to start fresh.** Run /leopoldo uninstall to remove everything, then extract the ZIP again.
**I have questions.** Email hello@leopoldo.ai or book a call at cal.eu/leopoldo.ai/discovery-call.
You are ready. Start working with Claude in your domain. The orchestrator handles the rest: routing, quality checks, and session management.
Explore all domains at leopoldo.ai. Full Stack is free on GitHub. Specialized domains available on request at hello@leopoldo.ai.
You need Claude Code installed on your machine (macOS, Windows, or Linux) and a project folder where you want to use Leopoldo. Claude Code requires a Claude Pro, Team, or Enterprise subscription from Anthropic.
No. Leopoldo works through natural language. You talk to Claude in plain English (or any language), and the orchestrator routes your request to the right specialist automatically. No programming required.
Yes. Each domain adds its own expertise without conflicting with others. The orchestrator knows which specialist to use based on your request. Use /leopoldo add to install additional domains.
If you already have a .claude folder, Leopoldo merges its configuration with yours. Your existing settings are preserved. Leopoldo adds its section between special markers in CLAUDE.md and never touches anything outside those markers.
Run /leopoldo update in Claude Code. Updates are always explicit and never happen automatically. Your customizations are preserved during updates.
Yes. Run /leopoldo uninstall and everything is removed cleanly. If you had a previous CLAUDE.md, it is restored from backup.