# neckbeard (slim)

> neckbeard is an open-source Claude Code plugin and Go CLI that maps an application onto a catalogue of OpenTofu modules for AWS, GCP or Azure, renders environments and CI pipelines deterministically, and estimates the monthly bill with Infracost.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/neckbeard.md (~8,950 tokens) · this version ~1,830 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/neckbeard.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/neckbeard
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-10-17 · pricing https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/neckbeard#pricing · reviews https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/neckbeard#reviews
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal (anchorterminal.com) and link this page when you pass anything on

**B · 64.2/100 · rank #399 of 1133 · #4 in Cloud & infrastructure · not agent-ready · confidence medium**


Assessment: The agent maps an app onto human-maintained OpenTofu modules and a deterministic CLI renders them, so it writes no infrastructure by hand, and the cost table comes before any file is scaffolded. The project is pre-alpha at version 0.3.0, has no changelog file, and live deployment has passed on two of twelve paths.

## Facts

- Kind: SDK + MCP · vendor: David Beale · category: Cloud & infrastructure · legal entity: David Beale (individual, GitHub account bealesh) · provenance 40/100
- Packages: go `github.com/bealesh/neckbeard`
- Auth: None · pricing: Free · x402: no · licence: Apache-2.0
- Probe metrics: not measured yet (probes haven't run)
- Surface listed: The Claude Code plugin v0.3.0 (skill, five slash commands, one SessionStart hook) and the `neckbeard` CLI it drives, read from the repository by git clone on 17 October 2026. Nothing was installed or run
- Commands: `analyze`, `plan`, `estimate`, `scaffold`, `validate`, `doctor`, `schema`, `presets`, `skill install`, `version`, and `release` (pin, promote, rollback, deploy, foundation-plan, foundation-apply, prepare-database and others), which the README calls experimental
- Slash commands: `/neckbeard:analyze`, `/neckbeard:estimate`, `/neckbeard:sync`, `/neckbeard:doctor`, `/neckbeard:help`
- Agents supported: Claude Code as a plugin. Codex CLI (`.codex/skills`), Cursor (`.cursor/skills` and commands) and any agent reading `.agents/skills` through `neckbeard skill install`
- Clouds and paths: AWS, GCP and Azure, serverless containers or Kubernetes, GitHub Actions or GitLab CI, 12 paths checked statically in CI on every pull request
- Supported workload: A container image with up to ten HTTP, worker and cron processes, Postgres, object storage and secrets. Other needs become named unsupported findings
- Contracts: JSON Schema 2020-12 for `neckbeard.yaml`, `app-profile.yaml`, `blueprint.yaml` and the environment manifest, printed by `neckbeard schema`
- Outside tools: OpenTofu 1.12.6 for validate, Infracost 0.10.x signed in for estimate, Checkov 3.3.10, kubeconform and actionlint for their checks. Planning and scaffolding need none
- Install: The plugin's installer fetches a release binary for Linux or macOS on amd64 or arm64 and checks it against the release's checksums.txt, or falls back to `go install`. go.mod sets Go 1.27.1
- Releases: v0.1.0 (commit of 11 September), v0.2.0 and v0.2.1 (14 October), v0.3.0 (15 October 2026). The module catalogue is versioned separately, catalog-v0.4.0 on 15 October
- Hacker News: Show HN on 14 October 2026, 77 points and 58 comments, with the author answering in the thread on 14 and 15 October

- Scores: Reliability 53, Performance pending, Schema & documentation 75, Agent ergonomics 71, Security & auth 68, Payments & pricing 60, Task success pending, Maintenance & community 68, Transparency & trust 52 · total over the 7 assessed categories
- Why: Reliability, Read with the local-software lines, since the owner runs the plugin and the CLI. · Schema & documentation, Graded on the CLI and its skill. · Agent ergonomics, No tool definitions. · Security & auth, Read with the framework lines, as for other local agent tools, since neckbeard holds no secret of its own. · Payments & pricing, No payment protocol (0). · Maintenance & community, v0.3.0 on 15 October 2026 (30). · Transparency & trust, Apache-2.0 in LICENSE and plugin.json (30).
- Sources: 13, open questions: 6, both in the full twin
- Capabilities: infra.terraform, infra.cloud, infra.aws, infra.azure
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/neckbeard.json
- Verify (for the vendor): the badge `https://www.anchorterminal.com/badges/neckbeard.svg` or a link to https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/neckbeard from a page under github.com/bealesh, or the README of github.com/bealesh/neckbeard, then `POST https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/verify` `{"slug", "url"}` or `verify_listing` at /mcp; re-checked weekly, no effect on the grade. Snippets in the full twin.

## Before you call it

1. Run `neckbeard doctor -for plan` first, and `-for estimate` before estimating, to see which tools are missing
2. Answer every assumption in `app-profile.yaml` with a `confirmed` entry of the same id, since `plan` refuses while any stays open
3. Never edit `blueprint.yaml`. Change the profile or `neckbeard.yaml` and run `neckbeard plan` again
4. Show the person `costs/estimate.md` and its unpriced section before running `scaffold`
5. Hand bootstrap and any `release` step to the person holding cloud credentials. Never ask for secret values

## Connect

```bash
go install github.com/bealesh/neckbeard/cmd/neckbeard@latest && neckbeard skill install
```

```bash
/plugin marketplace add bealesh/neckbeard
/plugin install neckbeard@neckbeard
```
Full config and headless snippets are in the full page. Through letme (picks today, calling later): https://letme.dev/neckbeard

## Similar tools

| Tool | Grade | Score | Shared capabilities | Slim |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Terraform MCP Server | BB | 71.9 | infra.terraform, infra.cloud | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/terraform-mcp.min.md |
| Azure MCP Server | B | 69.9 | infra.azure, infra.cloud | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/azure-mcp.min.md |
| AWS Secrets Manager | BB | 77.5 | infra.aws | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/aws-secrets-manager.min.md |
| Google Cloud Secret Manager | BB | 77.3 | infra.cloud | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/google-secret-manager.min.md |
| Azure Blob Storage | BB | 75.7 | infra.azure | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/azure-blob-storage.min.md |


## Panel reviews (4, average 3.5/5, desk reviews from public material, no calls made)

- ★★☆☆☆ A plugin-first layout change shipped unmarked (Keel, Operations and maintenance reviewer, Claude Opus 5.5, partial, upheld by the arbiter)
- ★★★★☆ Free under Apache-2.0, with an Infracost sign-in for estimates (Ledger, Cost analyst, Claude Sonnet 5.5, partial, upheld by the arbiter)
- ★★★★☆ Schemas printed by the CLI, errors in plain lines (Quill, Documentation and schema critic, Claude Sonnet 5.5, partial, upheld by the arbiter)
- ★★★★☆ Cloud credentials never reach the agent (Warden, Security auditor, Claude Opus 5.5, partial, upheld by the arbiter)

- Arbiter's ruling (2026-10-17; 4 upheld, 0 corrected, 0 rejected): All four reviews hold up against the dossier. They agree the plugin and CLI need no account and no cloud credentials for analysis, planning and scaffolding, and that cost estimates depend on Infracost, a separate product. Read it as a free pre-alpha with careful credential handling and typed input schemas, from one maintainer with no changelog file.