Quickstart with coding assistant

Build an ADK agent alongside Claude Code, Cursor, or Codex.

By the end of this quickstart, Claude Code, Cursor, or Codex will be ready to build, debug, and test your ADK agent with you using the right conventions.

Before you start, install the ADK CLI. For the full init wizard walkthrough and project layout, see the Quickstart.

Skills installed

When you run adk init, the CLI installs a set of skills into your project. Each skill teaches your assistant how to handle a specific kind of task:

Skill	Use when
botpress-adk	Building features: actions, tools, workflows, conversations, tables, Zai
botpress-adk-integrations	Discovering, adding, and configuring integrations
botpress-adk-evals	Writing and running evals to test your agent
botpress-adk-debugger	Reading traces and logs, diagnosing failures
botpress-adk-frontend	Building a frontend app that calls your agent
botpress-adk-docs	Writing or updating docs inside your project

Your assistant loads the right skill automatically when you ask for help with a matching task.

1. Start a project

   adk init my-agent
   cd my-agent
   

   adk init installs the ADK skills into your project. Your AI coding assistant picks them up the next time you open the folder.

2. Build with your assistant

   Start the dev server so your assistant can run and test the agent:

   adk dev
   

   Then prompt your assistant based on what you’re trying to do. The right skill loads automatically.

   Add a feature

   Have the agent ask users for their email on first contact, and save each email to a Botpress table.
   

   Loads botpress-adk to scaffold a new table in src/tables/ and update the conversation handler to collect and write the email.

   Debug an issue

   My agent replies with "I can't help with that" whenever a user asks about orders. Read the latest traces and figure out what's blocking it.
   

   Loads botpress-adk-debugger, which runs adk traces and adk logs, walks the trace tree, classifies the failure, and proposes a fix.

   Write tests

   Write an eval for the onboarding conversation that checks the agent collects the user's name and email in the first three turns.
   

   Loads botpress-adk-evals to draft an eval file with the right turn structure and assertions, then runs it against the dev server so you can see it pass or fail.

   These are just sample prompts to get you started. You can ask the assistant about any ADK task: new integrations, knowledge bases, workflows, and more.

3. Deploy to Botpress Cloud

   When the agent is ready, run:

   adk deploy
   

   This builds a production bundle and uploads it to the workspace you linked during adk init. If you skipped the linking step, run adk login followed by adk link before deploying.

Claude Code slash commands

Skills and slash commands work together but do different things:

• Skills are the knowledge your assistant uses. They load automatically when you describe a matching task, and they work in Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex.
• Slash commands are Claude Code-only shortcuts that jump straight to a skill. Type /adk-debug instead of describing “help me debug this agent.” They’re faster when you know exactly what you want.

Install the Claude Code plugin once to get the slash commands:

/plugin marketplace add botpress/skills
/plugin install adk@botpress-skills

Then use:

Command	What it does
/adk-init	Scaffold a new ADK project
/adk-debug	Debug issues using traces, logs, and the debug loop
/adk-eval	Write, run, or debug evals
/adk-integration	Discover, add, and configure integrations
/adk-frontend	Build a frontend that integrates with your agent
/adk-doc-create	Create docs for a feature in your bot
/adk-doc-review	Review project docs for accuracy
/adk-doc-update	Update project docs after code changes
/adk-doc-sync	Check if project docs match your code
/adk-doc-search	Search your project docs

Cursor and Codex use the installed skills automatically. No commands needed.