Open-Forge
Guided, resumable self-hosting of open-source apps on infra you own
Test report
- Verdict
- Works with setup
- Score
- Tested
- Jul 17, 2026
- Environment
- Claude Code 2.x (agent harness)
- Upstream re-checked
- Aug 10, 2026 · 86181c5
The Ghost-on-Lightsail recipe carried the exact specifics a from-scratch plan tends to miss -- blueprint_id ghost_5, bncert-tool for TLS (not certbot), allocate-static-IP-before-DNS, the bitnami SSH user -- across 2250 bundled reference files that back the '2216+ recipes' claim. Could not run a deploy end to end because it needs a real AWS account, a domain and payment, so the beat-baseline edge is verified on the runbook, not on a live site.
Scored on four weighted criteria — install, triggering, output vs. baseline, docs. How scoring works
- Installs cleanly 5/5
- Triggers reliably 5/5
- Output vs. baseline 6/10
- Docs & honesty 5/5
What Open-Forge does
Walks a user from a cloud account and domain to a working app with TLS and mail, executing the aws/ssh/jq/curl steps and stopping only for choices and credentials. Ships 2200+ reference recipes/adapters plus a live-derived Tier-2 fallback. Triggers on self-host, deploy to my own cloud, or naming an open-source app + a cloud provider.
How to install Open-Forge
git clone https://github.com/zhangqi444/open-forge.git
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
cd open-forge && cp -r plugins/open-forge/skills/open-forge ~/.claude/skills/open-forge
Skills live in ~/.claude/skills/ (global) or .claude/skills/
(per-project). Restart Claude Code after installing.
Commands — how to trigger Open-Forge
-
/open-forgeGuided, resumable self-hosting of open-source apps on infra you own
It also activates on plain-language prompts like these:
-
Walk me through self-hosting Ghost on my own AWS Lightsail instance -
I want to deploy Open WebUI plus Ollama on my Hetzner VPS from scratch -
Help me set up my own Mastodon instance on a DigitalOcean droplet
Frequently asked questions
- Is the Open-Forge skill free?
- Yes. The skill itself is free from zhangqi444/open-forge. SkillProof publishes the install command and an independent test verdict at no cost.
- Does Open-Forge work with Claude Code?
- We tested it with Claude Code 2.x (agent harness) on Jul 17, 2026. Verdict: Works with setup. The Ghost-on-Lightsail recipe carried the exact specifics a from-scratch plan tends to miss -- blueprint_id ghost_5, bncert-tool for TLS (not certbot), allocate-static-IP-before-DNS, the bitnami SSH user -- across 2250 bundled reference files that back the '2216+ recipes' claim. Could not run a deploy end to end because it needs a real AWS account, a domain and payment, so the beat-baseline edge is verified on the runbook, not on a live site.
- What is the Open-Forge SkillProof Score?
- 8.4/10 — installs cleanly 5/5, triggers reliably 5/5, output vs. baseline 6/10, docs & honesty 5/5.
- How do I install Open-Forge?
- Copy the install command from this page, run it in your terminal, and restart Claude Code. Skills live in ~/.claude/skills/ (global) or .claude/skills/ inside a project.
- Can I use Open-Forge with Cursor, Copilot, Gemini CLI, Codex or other AI tools?
- The SKILL.md format is native to Claude (Claude Code, Desktop, claude.ai). The instructions inside adapt to other assistants: Cursor rules, GitHub Copilot instructions, Windsurf rules, Custom GPTs, AGENTS.md for OpenAI Codex, and GEMINI.md for Google Gemini CLI — our conversion guides cover each, and the free converter on the tools page does the wrapping for you.