Getting Started

This guide walks you through installing Camel-Kit and creating your first integration project.

What is Camel-Kit?

Camel-Kit is a toolkit that guides you through designing Apache Camel integrations using AI coding assistants. Instead of writing code directly, you work with structured specifications that capture your integration requirements, then generate Kaoto-compatible YAML.

Key concepts:

• Flow — The business and technical design: what the integration does and how
• Constitution — Best practices that guide design decisions
• MCP Server — Real-time catalog queries and validation (60-70% token savings)
• 1 Flow = 1 Route — Each integration flow maps to a single Camel route

Installation

Using JBang (Recommended)

# Install JBang first
curl -Ls https://sh.jbang.dev | bash -s - app setup

# Install camel-kit
jbang app install camel-kit@luigidemasi/camel-kit

# Verify installation
camel-kit --help

Run Without Installing

jbang run camel-kit@luigidemasi/camel-kit init my-integration --ai bob

As a Camel JBang Plugin

camel plugin add kit \
  --gav io.github.luigidemasi:camel-kit-jbang-plugin:0.3.1 \
  -d "Design Apache Camel Integrations with AI"

camel kit init my-integration --ai bob

Quick Start

# 1. Create a new project (choose your AI assistant)
camel-kit init order-processing --ai bob      # IBM Project Bob
camel-kit init order-processing --ai gemini   # Google Gemini CLI
camel-kit init order-processing --ai claude   # Anthropic Claude Code

# 2. Open in your AI assistant
cd order-processing

# 3. Use slash commands — see workflows below

Two Workflows

Camel-Kit supports two paths. Both converge at /camel-implement, so the implementation and testing steps are identical.

    flowchart TB
    subgraph CLI
        A[camel-kit init]
    end
    subgraph "Greenfield"
        B["/camel-project<br/>(optional)"]
        C["/camel-flow"]
    end
    subgraph "Migration"
        M["/camel-migrate"]
    end
    subgraph "Shared"
        D["/camel-implement"]
        V["/camel-validate"]
        T["/camel-test"]
    end
    subgraph Output
        E["flow-name.camel.yaml"]
    end

    A --> B --> C --> D
    A --> M --> D
    D --> V --> T --> E