groundwork

Skill: groundwork

Lays the groundwork every other skill stands on: the per-project configuration (${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/shared/workflow-context.md). Runs once per project; rerunning updates the existing config instead of duplicating it. groundwork writes config as its job — the "offer to persist" write-back protocol governs the other skills when they resolve roles ad hoc. Respond in the conversation language (docs/agents/language.md; not yet configured → mirror the user's language).

Load before acting: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/shared/workflow-context.md (the config this skill writes) and ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/shared/guardrails.md — this skill writes project files; the loading contract applies.

Process

1 — Detect (silent, no questions yet)

Run the capability detection from ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/shared/workflow-context.md for all four roles plus validation:

• Tracker: tracker MCPs by capability signature (never by server prefix); git remote -v; gh auth status / glab auth status; existing tasks/ directory.
• Repo: git rev-parse --show-toplevel; remote host; base branch — gh repo view --json defaultBranchRef -q .defaultBranchRef.name, falling back to git symbolic-ref refs/remotes/origin/HEAD, then git ls-remote --symref origin HEAD, then assume main. If the assumed base doesn't exist locally either (fresh git init), record the current local branch instead and flag the mismatch in tracker.md and the handoff.
• Reviewer: .coderabbit.yaml present, or gh pr list --search "reviewed-by:coderabbitai" --state all --limit 5 returning results (swap the login to probe other known bots). Treat a failed command and an empty result the same — both mean "no bot detected" (gh subcommands are inconsistent here: some exit 1, some exit 0 with empty output). Detected bot → watch: on by default; otherwise self-review, no watch.
• Notifier: notifier MCPs by capability signature; otherwise chat.
• Validation: package.json scripts — root and per workspace (monorepo signals: workspaces field, pnpm-workspace.yaml, turbo.json; workspaces declared but empty → record root commands and note it). Makefile; commands declared in CLAUDE.md/AGENTS.md. PR size budget: grep guideline files (CLAUDE.md, GUIDELINES.md, CONTRIBUTING.md) for a declared max-PR-size rule; not found → this is always asked in step 2 (recommended option: "500 changed production lines") — never silently omitted.
• Labels: gh label list (or tracker equivalent); scan .github/workflows/*.yml for jobs that fail on missing labels — those labels become the required set in labels.md.
• Observability: dependencies and config files (newrelic, datadog, @sentry/*, prom-client, OpenTelemetry SDKs, winston/pino); dashboards-as-code in infra/; guideline files. Not detected → leave for lazy resolution (create-tasks asks the first time a card needs it).
• Guardrails (Layer 2): guideline files (CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, GUIDELINES.md, CONTRIBUTING.md) for stated conventions; generated-code markers ("do not edit" headers, codegen output dirs) → propose protected entries.
• Language: the language the user has been writing in this session — becomes the recommended answer for the conversation-language question in step 2; never silently assumed into config.