| name | coordinator-init-mode |
| description | The complete two-phase Init Mode protocol the Squad coordinator runs when no team exists yet in the current repo. Phase 1 = propose the team (no files created, wait for user confirm). Phase 2 = create .squad/ scaffolding, casting state, .gitattributes for merge drivers, and the always-on built-ins (Scribe, Ralph, Rai, Fact Checker). Loaded on demand when the coordinator detects no .squad/team.md exists. |
| allowedTools | [] |
| confidence | high |
| domain | squad-internals |
| source | Extracted from squad.agent.md as part of the slimming effort (bradygaster/squad#1308). Behaviour unchanged — coordinator loads this satellite skill when init mode is detected (no .squad/team.md present). |
Load this skill when: you detect that no .squad/team.md exists in the resolved team root — that means this is a fresh repo or a repo that has never been squadified, and Init Mode is the right path. The short stub in squad.agent.md tells you to load this skill; the full two-phase protocol lives here.
⚠️ Eager-execution exception: Init Mode is the ONE exception to the eager-execution / parallel-fan-out doctrine. Phase 1 MUST end with a user confirmation before any file is created. Do not bypass.
Phase 1: Propose the Team
No team exists yet. Propose one — but DO NOT create any files until the user confirms.
- Identify the user. Run
git config user.name to learn who you're working with. Use their name in conversation (e.g., "Hey {user}, what are you building?"). Store their name (NOT email) in team.md under Project Context. Never read or store git config user.email — email addresses are PII and must not be written to committed files.
- Ask: "What are you building? (language, stack, what it does)"
- Cast the team. Before proposing names, run the Casting & Persistent Naming algorithm (see the canonical Casting reference at
.squad/templates/casting-reference.md):
- Determine team size: pick 4–5 cast (user-domain) agents, then add the 4 always-on built-ins (Scribe + Ralph + Rai + Fact Checker — see their dedicated sections in
squad.agent.md). A typical fresh squad has 8–9 total roster entries, not 4–5.
- Determine assignment shape from the user's project description.
- Derive resonance signals from the session and repo context.
- Select a universe. Allocate character names from that universe.
- Scribe is always "Scribe" — exempt from casting.
- Ralph is always "Ralph" — exempt from casting.
- Rai is always "Rai" — exempt from casting.
- Fact Checker is always "Fact Checker" — exempt from casting (same pattern as Scribe / Ralph / Rai).
- Propose the team with their cast names. Example (names will vary per cast):
🏗️ {CastName1} — Lead Scope, decisions, code review
⚛️ {CastName2} — Frontend Dev React, UI, components
🔧 {CastName3} — Backend Dev APIs, database, services
🧪 {CastName4} — Tester Tests, quality, edge cases
📋 Scribe — (silent) Memory, decisions, session logs
🔄 Ralph — (monitor) Work queue, backlog, keep-alive
🛡️ Rai — (background) RAI awareness, content safety
🔍 Fact Checker — (verifier) Verification + Devil's Advocate
- Use the
ask_user tool to confirm the roster. Provide choices so the user sees a selectable menu:
- question: "Look right?"
- choices:
["Yes, hire this team", "Add someone", "Change a role"]
⚠️ STOP. Your response ENDS here. Do NOT proceed to Phase 2. Do NOT create any files or directories. Wait for the user's reply.
Phase 2: Create the Team
Trigger: The user replied to Phase 1 with confirmation ("yes", "looks good", or similar affirmative), OR the user's reply to Phase 1 is a task (treat as implicit "yes").
If the user said "add someone" or "change a role," go back to Phase 1 step 3 and re-propose. Do NOT enter Phase 2 until the user confirms.
- Create the
.squad/ directory structure (see .squad/templates/ for format guides or use the standard structure: team.md, routing.md, ceremonies.md, decisions.md, decisions/inbox/, casting/, agents/, orchestration-log/, skills/, log/, rai/).
Casting state initialization: Copy .squad/templates/casting-policy.json to .squad/casting/policy.json (or create from defaults). Create registry.json (entries: persistent_name, universe, created_at, legacy_named: false, status: "active") and history.json (first assignment snapshot with unique assignment_id).
Seeding: Each agent's history.md starts with the project description, tech stack, and the user's name so they have day-1 context. Agent folder names are the cast name in lowercase (e.g., .squad/agents/ripley/). The Scribe's charter includes maintaining decisions.md and cross-agent context sharing. Rai's charter is seeded from the Rai-charter.md template, and .squad/rai/policy.md is seeded from rai-policy.md. Fact Checker's charter is seeded from fact-checker-charter.md and .squad/fact-checker/policy.md is seeded from fact-checker-policy.md.
Team.md structure: team.md MUST contain a section titled exactly ## Members (not "## Team Roster" or other variations) containing the roster table. This header is hard-coded in GitHub workflows (squad-heartbeat.yml, squad-issue-assign.yml, squad-triage.yml, sync-squad-labels.yml) for label automation. If the header is missing or titled differently, label routing breaks.
Merge driver for append-only files: Create or update .gitattributes at the repo root to enable conflict-free merging of .squad/ state across branches:
.squad/decisions.md merge=union
.squad/agents/*/history.md merge=union
.squad/log/** merge=union
.squad/orchestration-log/** merge=union
.squad/rai/audit-trail.md merge=union
The union merge driver keeps all lines from both sides, which is correct for append-only files. This makes worktree-local strategy work seamlessly when branches merge — decisions, memories, and logs from all branches combine automatically.
-
Say: "✅ Team hired. Try: '{FirstCastName}, set up the project structure'"
-
Post-setup input sources (optional — ask after team is created, not during casting):
- PRD/spec: "Do you have a PRD or spec document? (file path, paste it, or skip)" → If provided, follow PRD Mode flow.
- GitHub issues: "Is there a GitHub repo with issues I should pull from? (owner/repo, or skip)" → If provided, follow GitHub Issues Mode flow.
- Human members: "Are any humans joining the team? (names and roles, or just AI for now)" → If provided, add per Human Team Members section.
- Copilot agent: "Want to include @copilot? It can pick up issues autonomously. (yes/no)" → If yes, follow Copilot Coding Agent Member section and ask about auto-assignment.
- These are additive. Don't block — if the user skips or gives a task instead, proceed immediately.
