diff --git a/install.sh b/install.sh
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/install.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# ============================================================
+# Claude Code — Bootstrap installer
+# Installs Claude Code CLI, authenticates, then sets up
+# symlinks and plugins for the claude-config repo.
+# ============================================================
+set -euo pipefail
+
+RED='\033[0;31m'; GREEN='\033[0;32m'
+YELLOW='\033[1;33m'; BLUE='\033[0;34m'; NC='\033[0m'
+ok()   { echo -e "${GREEN}✓${NC} $1"; }
+warn() { echo -e "${YELLOW}⚠${NC}  $1"; }
+info() { echo -e "${BLUE}→${NC} $1"; }
+err()  { echo -e "${RED}✗${NC} $1"; exit 1; }
+
+REPO="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")" && pwd)"
+
+echo ""
+echo "═══ claude-config bootstrap installer ═══"
+echo ""
+
+# ── 1. Check prerequisites ──
+echo "── Checking prerequisites..."
+
+if ! command -v node &>/dev/null; then
+  err "Node.js not found. Install it first: https://nodejs.org"
+fi
+
+NODE_MAJOR=$(node -v | sed 's/v//' | cut -d. -f1)
+if [ "$NODE_MAJOR" -lt 18 ]; then
+  err "Node.js >= 18 required (found $(node -v))"
+fi
+ok "Node.js $(node -v)"
+
+if ! command -v npm &>/dev/null; then
+  err "npm not found"
+fi
+ok "npm $(npm -v)"
+
+# ── 2. Install Claude Code CLI ──
+echo ""
+echo "── Installing Claude Code (latest)..."
+
+if npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code@latest; then
+  ok "Claude Code installed: $(claude --version 2>/dev/null || echo 'unknown')"
+else
+  err "Claude Code installation failed"
+fi
+
+# ── 3. Authenticate ──
+echo ""
+echo "── Authentication"
+echo ""
+echo "  You need to log in to Claude Code."
+echo "  This will open an interactive session."
+echo ""
+printf "  Press Enter to launch 'claude login'... "
+read -r
+
+if claude login; then
+  ok "Authenticated"
+else
+  warn "Login exited with non-zero status"
+  warn "You can retry later with: claude login"
+fi
+
+# ── 4. Init git submodules ──
+echo ""
+echo "── Initializing submodules..."
+cd "$REPO"
+if git submodule update --init 2>/dev/null; then
+  ok "Submodules initialized"
+else
+  warn "Submodule init failed — some plugins may be unavailable"
+fi
+
+# ── 5. Symlink config into ~/.claude/ ──
+echo ""
+echo "── Setting up symlinks..."
+bash "$REPO/link.sh"
+
+# ── 6. Install plugins ──
+echo ""
+echo "── Installing plugins..."
+bash "$REPO/install-plugins.sh"
+
+# ── Done ──
+echo ""
+echo "═══════════════════════════════════════════"
+echo ""
+ok "Bootstrap complete!"
+echo ""
+echo "  Start Claude Code in any project with:"
+echo "    claude"
+echo ""