Getting started with Scawork

Scawork is a read-only template that teaches the AI coding agent you already use to create, develop and maintain Minecraft Java plugin projects for Bukkit, Spigot, Paper, Folia, BungeeCord and Velocity. This guide takes you from getting access to your first plugin, and then shows how to keep going. Prefer to watch first? The guide on scawork.dev has a session you can step through at each interview level.

Before you start

• An AI coding agent. Scawork gives your agent the rules and the knowledge. It does not include an agent. Claude Code, OpenCode, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot and Gemini CLI each have their own adapter, and any other agent that reads standard project instructions can follow the same rules. The compatibility page has the detail.
• A GitHub account. Access to the template is granted to it after payment.
• No Java required. You can start without Java experience: the interview adapts to your level.

Get access and install

1. Pay. Choose Stripe or PayPal in the pricing section.
2. Get access. After payment, access to a GitHub repository is granted to the GitHub account you give.
3. Install once. Install the template by following the instructions in that repository. The template is read-only: the only thing written inside it is your saved interviews, so you can resume them.
4. Start from any folder. For Claude Code, OpenCode and Codex, automatic setup installs itself, so you can start from any folder. For the other agents, follow the instructions in the repository.

Note

Outside your project, the only thing Scawork installs is the setup entry for your agent, where that agent supports it. Inside your project, it creates the workspace only after you approve the plan.

Your first plugin

Here is how a session goes. It is an illustration: the wording and the output vary with your agent.

×−+

Claude Code

~/plugins/my-pluginmain0.4s

claude

Claude CodeTip: describe the plugin you want to start with.

›Create a Paper plugin that greets players when they join.

⏺Scawork is active. Your agent follows the Scawork rules.

⏺Before I build anything, I will ask you a few questions.

⏺User answered Claude's questions:

⎿Level →Beginner

⎿Build →Gradle with Kotlin DSL

⏺Here is your plan

PlatformPaper

Minecraft1.21.4

BuildGradle, Kotlin DSL

StructureSingle module

StyleGoogle

✓ Valid

⎿Plan →Approve and create the workspace

✻Worked for 4s

⏺Write(plugin.yml)

⎿Wrote 14 lines

⏺Write(build.gradle.kts)

⎿Wrote 22 lines

⏺Bash(gradle build)

⎿BUILD SUCCESSFUL

✓Workspace ready

⎿Rules for your agent

⎿The knowledge your plan needs

⎿Decisions, recorded

⏺Ask me to add the join greeting first.

›Describe the plugin you want to build

▸▸plan mode on (shift+tab to cycle)

Illustrative session. Wording and output vary with your agent.

1. Ask for a plugin

Ask your agent for a plugin, from a vague idea or from a detailed specification. For example: “A Paper plugin with custom commands”, “A Velocity and Paper network” or “Adopt my existing plugin”.

2. Answer the interview

Your agent adapts its questions to your level: none, beginner, intermediate or experienced. The level sets how much is explained and who makes each choice: the agent decides, proposes or asks. It never changes which options exist. You can pick an interview up again from any agent.

Only harmful requests are refused. When a request seems impossible, the agent must show evidence before it says no.

3. Review and approve the plan

Your answers become one plan that lists every choice for your project: the platform, the Minecraft version, the build tool, the structure and the code style. The plan is checked for validity, and nothing is built until you approve it.

4. Start building in your workspace

After you approve, the agent creates the workspace with the rules and knowledge your plan needs. Then it reports where it is, what it verified and what to ask for first. Nothing from the interview is left in your project.

Work on a plugin you already have

Adoption mode brings an existing project under Scawork. Ask your agent to adopt your existing plugin.

Keep going

• Review and test. Your agent writes the code, following the plan you approved. Review and test the result as you would any code.
• Change agent or model. The rules live in your project, not in the agent, so they stay the same. Shared rules say how agents pass work on, and the project keeps track of what is in progress.
• Grow the project. Add or remove capabilities, modules, platforms or agents, and apply a new template version without losing local work.
• Experimental knowledge. Each area carries a confidence level. Experimental knowledge is used only if you accept it.

Updates

Updates are optional and are delivered through GitHub. The pricing section has what they cost and how they are paid.

More

• What Scawork covers, in detail: platforms, versions, build tools, libraries and agents.
• Questions people ask first.