Installation

Requirements

• Emacs 29.1 or later. transient is built into Emacs 29.1+, and ecc requires no other external packages.
• The Claude Code CLI, available on your PATH or configured via ecc-executable.

These are the only hard requirements. The following packages are optional:

Package	Feature
ghostel	Terminal emulator for sessions handed over by ecc-tui-open
posframe	Floating popups for /btw side-queries and usage reports
nerd-icons	Icons for tool calls in the transcript
markdown-mode	Major mode for plan and review buffers

Installation

ecc is not currently on MELPA; install it directly from the Git repository.

Note that the repository name is emacs-claude-code while the package name is ecc. Package managers that infer the package name from the repository URL must be configured explicitly.

Emacs 30 and later

(use-package ecc
  :ensure t
  :vc (:url "https://github.com/wakamenod/emacs-claude-code" :rev :newest))

Use :rev "<commit-sha>" to pin a specific commit instead of tracking the latest changes.

Emacs 29

M-x package-vc-install RET https://github.com/wakamenod/emacs-claude-code RET

Then configure it with a standard use-package declaration (without :vc).

straight.el

(use-package ecc
  :straight (ecc :type git :host github :repo "wakamenod/emacs-claude-code"))

Initial configuration

Because M-x ecc-start is autoloaded, ecc works without any extra configuration. The most useful initial addition is binding the global keymap:

(use-package ecc
  :ensure t
  :vc (:url "https://github.com/wakamenod/emacs-claude-code" :rev :newest)
  :bind-keymap ("C-c c" . ecc-global-map))

ecc-global-map lets you respond to permission prompts, jump to waiting sessions, and open the dashboard from any buffer — so you never have to search for a paused session. See the key binding reference for all available bindings.

Enabling the MCP server

The built-in loopback MCP server allows Claude to query Emacs for editor-specific context: xref references, imenu symbols, and flymake diagnostics. It is disabled by default, and evaluating arbitrary Elisp requires an additional explicit opt-in:

(setq ecc-mcp-enabled t)
;; Only if you want Claude to be able to evaluate Elisp:
;; (setq ecc-mcp-enable-execute-code t)

Verifying the setup

1. Open any file in a project.
2. Run M-x ecc-start.
3. Type a message in the bottom prompt area and press C-c C-c.

If the CLI fails to start, check the session log buffer (C-c ? then L, or M-x ecc-show-log), which records the exact command executed and the raw output received from the CLI process.

For all other options, run M-x customize-group RET ecc or consult the configuration reference. Pressing C-c ? inside any session opens the transient menu, showing all commands and their keybindings.