Free GitHub templates vs paid setup

There are hundreds of free CLAUDE.md templates on GitHub. One of them is ours, it is MIT, and most people reading this page should use it and stop there.

Last updated: 2026-09-21

Start here, because it changes the rest of the page

The free starter is not a demo. kit-claude-code-starter is MIT, has no key, no signup, no locked section and nothing phoning home. It is four plain-text files and you can read all of them in five minutes. If it works for your repo, you are done, and nobody here is going to pretend otherwise to sell you something.

What a template can and cannot do

	Any free template, ours included	Setup done for your repo
The four commands	Placeholders. You fill in install, dev, test and lint.	Filled in from your repo, and each one run there before the PR opens.
Permission allowlist	A sensible starting list, written for a repo that is not yours.	Built from the commands your repo actually runs, including the flags you actually use.
The “never do” list	Generic. Do not force push, do not commit secrets.	The things that would actually hurt in your codebase, which a template cannot know.
Skills	Examples to adapt.	Written against your stack, so they run rather than needing edits first.
Cost	Free, plus the hour or two you spend adapting it.	$29 for one repo, back as a pull request in about 24 hours.
Who reviews it	You.	You. It arrives as a PR you can close.

That is the entire difference, and it is smaller than most paid pages would admit. A template is a shape. The paid version is the same shape with the reading already done.

The step that decides it, either way

Whichever route you take, one edit carries most of the value: filling in CLAUDE.md with your real commands and your real “never do” list. A template copied unedited gets you maybe a third of what it could. That is not a sales point, it is the thing people skip and then conclude the whole idea does not work.

The free route, written out honestly, is the 15-minute setup guide. It costs nothing and it is the same order of operations we follow on a paid repo.

When free is genuinely the right answer

Your repo is small, or new, and you already know its four commands by heart
You enjoy this kind of configuration, which some people honestly do
You want to understand the mechanism before you let anyone else touch it
You are evaluating whether Claude Code is worth using at all — do not pay anyone during that

When paying is the cheaper option

You have tried twice, it half works, and the setup keeps dying with the session
The repo is old enough that nobody remembers which of the four commands is the real one
Your hour is worth more than $29 and you would rather review a diff than write one
You want hooks that actually block, which is a different job from a template (and the thing most people get wrong)

Questions people ask before choosing

Is the free starter repo crippled on purpose?

No. It is MIT, it has no key and no locked section, and it is complete. A free tier that is deliberately broken is an advert, people can tell, and it earns neither the users nor the trust. Clone it and never come back and that is a fine outcome.

What do I actually get for $29 that a template does not give me?

The reading. A CLAUDE.md written from your repo rather than a placeholder, an allowlist built from the commands your repo really runs, and every one of those commands run in your repo and passing before the pull request opens. It arrives as a PR you can close.

Why are there so many free CLAUDE.md repos, and are they any good?

Because it is a plain markdown file and everybody who sets up Claude Code writes one. Many are good. The common problem is length: a 400-line CLAUDE.md nobody can read is worse than a 40-line one that is accurate, and most of the large ones are collections rather than working setups.

Can I take the free files and use them commercially?

Yes. MIT, no attribution required, no restriction on commercial use. Strip mine them.

If I use the free version and it does not work, will you help?

Ask in the repo's Discussions. Answers there are real and do not require buying anything. That is deliberate: most people who eventually pay start by getting a straight answer for free.

Take the free one first: kit-claude-code-starter — MIT, four files, five minutes to read.

Buy Setup Lite — $29 See every price and scope Also: do it yourself, Lite or Sprint?