init-harness

Initialize AI Engineering Harness

When to Use This Skill

Activate when the user:

• Runs /init_harness
• Asks to "initialize the harness" / "set up the harness" / "set up context engineering"
• Wants to prepare a repository for AI-assisted development workflows

What This Skill Does

1. Runs the built-in /init command to generate AGENTS.md
2. Creates the thoughts/ directory structure for context engineering
3. Adds a ticket template for consistent ticket creation
4. Provides guidance on next steps

Core Process

Step 1: Check Current State

test -f AGENTS.md && echo "AGENTS.md exists" || echo "AGENTS.md not found"
test -d thoughts && echo "thoughts/ exists" || echo "thoughts/ not found"
test -d .git && echo "Git repo" || echo "Not a git repo"

Step 2: Run /init Command

If AGENTS.md doesn't exist (or the user wants to regenerate), invoke the built-in /init command. It analyzes the codebase structure, identifies key components and patterns, and writes AGENTS.md with codebase context. Then confirm:

test -f AGENTS.md && echo "AGENTS.md created successfully"

Step 3: Create Thoughts Directory Structure

mkdir -p thoughts/shared/{tickets,plans,research}
mkdir -p thoughts/global

Directory purposes:

thoughts/
├── shared/           # Team-shared documents
│   ├── tickets/      # Feature requests, bugs, task definitions
│   ├── plans/        # Implementation plans (via /create_plan)
│   └── research/     # Research documents and investigations
├── global/           # Cross-repository concerns and docs
└── {username}/       # Personal notes (optional, Step 6)

Step 4: Add Ticket Template

Create thoughts/shared/tickets/ticket-template.md if it doesn't already exist:

test -f thoughts/shared/tickets/ticket-template.md || echo "Creating ticket template..."

Write the template using the structure in the ticket template — a markdown skeleton with Problem Statement, Desired Outcome, Context & Background, Requirements, Acceptance Criteria (automated + manual verification), Technical Notes, and a Meta block.