A command that prepares a new developer to work on a project by examining the codebase, explaining the setup, and creating initial tasks.

Use it to create an onboarding guide, identify prerequisites and environment variables, map the architecture, and suggest first tasks.

It reduces the time a newcomer spends figuring out the technology, project structure, required access, and local setup.

onboard-dev — Command for Claude Code by alphaaiservice/cortex

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

Clone the repo

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/alphaaiservice/cortex

Made for: Claude Code.

Or install cortex, the plugin that ships this one along with the rest of its 43 commands, 1 MCP server.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

README.md

[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/commands/alphaaiservice/cortex/onboard-dev/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/commands/alphaaiservice/cortex/onboard-dev)

Your own site

<a href="https://agentmods.dev/commands/alphaaiservice/cortex/onboard-dev"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/commands/alphaaiservice/cortex/onboard-dev/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

Your own site · 80×15

<a href="https://agentmods.dev/commands/alphaaiservice/cortex/onboard-dev"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/commands/alphaaiservice/cortex/onboard-dev.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>

Per session 29 Only the description is in the session, so the agent can decide to use it. The body loads when it is invoked.

When invoked 857 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.

Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.

Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.

Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

Model	Per session	Once invoked
Fable 5.1	$0.00029	$0.00857
Opus 5.5	$0.00012	$0.00343
Sonnet 5.5	$0.00006	$0.00171
Haiku 4.5	$0.00003	$0.00086

Measured 1mo ago against content hash 4d7a0da5a810, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-10-07, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

onboard-dev scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 1mo ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

commands/onboard-dev.md · 94 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 94 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Developer Onboarding Automation

You are an expert developer onboarding assistant. Your job is to onboard a new developer ($ARGUMENTS) to this project by executing a comprehensive, structured onboarding workflow.

Phase 1: Project Discovery

Read the project structure — Scan the entire repo tree, README, CONTRIBUTING.md, package.json / pyproject.toml / Cargo.toml / go.mod, and any existing CLAUDE.md or .claude/ config.
Identify the tech stack — Languages, frameworks, databases, cloud services, CI/CD tools, package managers.
Map the architecture — Identify entry points, core modules, API layers, database models, shared utilities, and external service integrations.

Phase 2: Environment Setup Guide

Generate a comprehensive ONBOARDING.md file in the project root with:

Prerequisites

Required software versions (Node.js, Python, Docker, etc.)
Required accounts and access (cloud providers, package registries, etc.)
Environment variables needed (create a .env.example if missing)

Setup Steps

Lead with the one-command path if the project follows the Cortex local-dev standard (LOCAL_DEV.md / commands/references/LOCAL_DEV_STANDARD.md): git clone → cp .env.example .env → make dev → open the app, then make verify to confirm a healthy boot. Link LOCAL_DEV.md rather than re-documenting — and if it's missing, generate it (it's the single source for ports, seed creds, and the Troubleshooting matrix).
Otherwise: step-by-step commands to clone, install dependencies, configure, run locally
Database setup / migration commands
How to run the development server
How to run tests
Common troubleshooting tips (reuse the LOCAL_DEV.md Troubleshooting matrix)

IDE Configuration

Recommended VS Code extensions or IDE settings
Linting / formatting setup
Debugging configurations

Phase 3: Codebase Walkthrough Document

Generate ARCHITECTURE.md covering:

High-level architecture diagram (as ASCII/Mermaid)
Directory structure explained — What each top-level folder does
Key files and entry points — Where to start reading code
Data flow — How a typical request moves through the system
Dependency map — Key internal and external dependencies
Design patterns used — Patterns, conventions, and coding standards
API endpoints (if applicable) — Key routes/endpoints with brief descriptions

Read the full file on GitHub · 94 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

1mo ago First seen · 94 lines · 29 tokens per session scan A 4d7a0da5a810

Subscribe to this mod's changes

onboard-dev is a command published in the GitHub repository alphaaiservice/cortex (1 stars, last pushed 2mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 29 tokens to every session and 857 once invoked, about $0.0001 per session on Opus 5.5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-31.

Productivity Project management automation claude-code-plugin sdlc

scout-meta-review

Run an interactive Scout meta-review — a system-level audit that sits above the individual session types. Checks whether sessions are running, mistake audit is trending well, proposals are flowing, KB files are healthy, and data-source coverage is consistent across session types. Runs in the current conversation.

Raven-Scout/Scout · 61 tokens

onboard-dev

Getting it into your agent

Wrote this? Show the measurements

What it costs to keep this loaded

Grade A, and why

Nothing flagged

How it starts

Developer Onboarding Automation

Phase 1: Project Discovery

Phase 2: Environment Setup Guide

Prerequisites

Setup Steps

IDE Configuration

Phase 3: Codebase Walkthrough Document

What this file has done since we first saw it

Other commands, from other repositories

scout-meta-review

scout-work

_docs_vivas

progress

sync-github

pause