Quickstart: Plugin

This guide takes you from zero to seeing live session data in the Trenchcoat dashboard. Estimated time: 5 minutes.

Prerequisites

• Claude Code installed and working (claude --version)
• A Trenchcoat account — sign up free
• Python 3.9+ (check with python3 --version)

Step 1: Create an API key

1. Go to app.trenchcoat.com and sign in
2. Open Settings → API Keys
3. Click New API Key, name it (e.g., "My MacBook"), and select the write:events scope
4. Copy the key — it looks like ct_live_... and is shown only once

Step 2: Install the plugin

Install the Trenchcoat plugin from the Claude Code plugin registry:

claude plugin install trenchcoat

Or install manually by cloning the plugin files into your Claude plugins directory:

git clone https://github.com/trenchcoat-ai/plugin ~/.claude/plugins/trenchcoat

Step 3: Connect your API key

After installing, run the connect command inside Claude Code:

/trenchcoat-connect

Paste your API key when prompted. The command writes it to ~/.claude/telemetry/config.json:

{
  "api_url": "https://app.trenchcoat.com",
  "api_key": "ct_live_your_key_here"
}

You can also set this manually by editing the file directly.

Step 4: Start a session

Open a new Claude Code session in any project:

cd ~/my-project
claude

The SessionStart hook fires automatically. At the end of the session, the plugin batches all events and pushes them to the API.

Step 5: View your session

Go to app.trenchcoat.com and open the Sessions page. Your session should appear within a few seconds of it ending.

Troubleshooting

No session appearing after ending a session?

• Check that api_key is set in ~/.claude/telemetry/config.json
• Run /trenchcoat-report inside Claude Code to see local event counts
• The push happens on SessionEnd — make sure you closed the session cleanly (not Ctrl+C mid-session)

Plugin not loading?

• Confirm plugin list shows trenchcoat in the list
• Check ~/.claude/telemetry/config.json exists and has "enabled": true