project-bootstrap

Project Bootstrap

Performs the initial project analysis when these skills are first adopted. Scans the codebase to detect the technology stack, architectural patterns, and key conventions, then generates one project-overview skill plus tool-specific wiring.

When to activate

• Right after the skills are vendored or installed into a project
• When the agent first encounters a skills root without project-specific skills
• When explicitly asked to bootstrap or initialize the protocol for the project

Core concepts

• Idempotent — checks for existing project skills before generating; never overwrites earlier work.
• Detection over assumption — scans actual project files instead of guessing from directory names.
• Minimal initial output — one project-overview skill and one wiring suggestion; skill-generator handles growth after that.
• Layout-aware — reads the skills root from the environment rather than hardcoding one path.

Layout

Paths are relative to the skills root: the directory holding the installed skills. The skills CLI installs to <project>/.agents/skills/ (project scope) or ~/.agents/skills/ (global), and vendoring writes into the same project path. Detect it; .agents/skills/ is the one to expect.

Project-specific output belongs under project/ inside that root:

<skills-root>/
├── recursive-exploration/SKILL.md   ← installed generic skills
└── project/                          ← generated here; survives re-install
    └── project-overview/SKILL.md

Process

1. Guard clause

1. Does <skills-root>/project/ exist and contain at least one SKILL.md?
2. If yes → stop. Report that project skills already exist and point at skill-generator for additions.
3. If no → continue.

2. Scan

Build a project profile from these sources:

Source	What to detect
package.json	JS/TS project, framework (Next.js, Nuxt, Express…), test runner (Jest, Vitest, Playwright), linter/formatter
composer.json	PHP project, framework (Laravel, Symfony), testing (PHPUnit, Pest), static analysis
pyproject.toml / requirements.txt	Python project, framework (Django, FastAPI, Flask), pytest, ruff, mypy
go.mod	Go project, major dependencies
Cargo.toml	Rust project, major crates
Gemfile	Ruby project, framework (Rails, Sinatra)
Top-level directories	src/, app/, lib/, tests/, spec/, docs/, infra/, packages/ — architectural signals
Config files	.eslintrc, tsconfig.json, phpstan.neon, .prettierrc, docker-compose.yml, Makefile, turbo.json
Monorepo indicators	turbo.json, pnpm-workspace.yaml, lerna.json, populated packages/