Onboard workflow skill. Use this skill when a repository handoff, maintainer transition, or first-contribution onboarding effort must preserve upstream workflow, copied support files, provenance, access expectations, and review safety before merge or transfer.
Onboard workflow skill. Use this skill when a repository handoff, maintainer transition, or first-contribution onboarding effort must preserve upstream workflow, copied support files, provenance, access expectations, and review safety before merge or transfer.
This skill preserves the intent of the upstream onboarding workflow while making it operational for repository-based DevOps, engineering handoff, and first-contribution work.
Use it when a new contributor, maintainer, reviewer, or inheriting team must become productive without losing repository context, workflow provenance, copied support files, or review safety.
This is not a generic employee welcome checklist. It is a review-oriented onboarding workflow for repositories, infrastructure, and delivery systems where access, ownership, environment setup, and handoff completeness must be checked before merge or transfer.
When to Use
Activate this skill when most of the following are true:
A repository, service, or environment is being handed off to a new owner or contributor.
The operator must preserve the upstream workflow and copied support files rather than replacing them with a new process.
There is risk of losing context about ownership, review routing, branch policy, release steps, or environment setup.
The new contributor needs enough context to make a safe first change or review a pending PR.
Access, approvals, or local/dev-container bootstrap may block onboarding.
The handoff must leave clear provenance showing what came from upstream and what was added locally.
Do not use this skill as the primary workflow when:
The task is only HR onboarding, culture introduction, or meeting scheduling.
The repository already has a complete, validated onboarding runbook and the operator only needs to follow it.
The operator is changing product architecture, repository structure, or governance policy rather than onboarding into the existing process.
The request is purely to fix a broken CI pipeline or incident unrelated to handoff or onboarding readiness.
Workflow
Confirm onboarding scope and success criteria
Identify whether this is first contribution, maintainer transition, repository adoption, or temporary review coverage.
Define the minimum successful outcome, such as: “new maintainer can review PRs safely,” “new contributor can open a compliant PR,” or “handoff receiver can bootstrap the environment and locate ownership rules.”
Record time constraints, sensitive environments, and whether merge authority is included.
Inventory artifacts and preserve provenance
List the upstream workflow documents, copied support files, templates, examples, and any local additions.
Preserve original intent before editing or reorganizing anything.
Note where provenance is tracked, such as ORIGIN.md, metadata.json, imported notes, or copied examples.
Separate inherited material from newly curated guidance so reviewers can audit changes.
Check repository governance and access expectations
Verify who owns review approval, merge decisions, environment secrets, and release authority.
Identify CODEOWNERS, branch protections, repository rulesets, PR templates, issue templates, and required status checks if they exist.
Confirm whether the onboarded person has the minimum required access for cloning, branching, reviewing, CI visibility, and deployment observation.
If access is missing, stop short of telling the operator to bypass controls. Document the exact missing permission and the owner who must grant it.
Validate local or reproducible setup path
Determine the supported setup path: native local tooling, containerized workflow, or dev container.
Confirm the minimum bootstrap commands, expected services, environment variables, and any non-obvious prerequisites.
Prefer reproducible, documented setup paths over machine-specific tribal knowledge.
If setup instructions are incomplete, capture the gap explicitly instead of inventing missing steps.
Map the first safe contribution or review path
Identify one bounded task the onboarded person can complete safely.
Define the expected workflow from branch creation to PR submission or review completion.
Include review routing, template use, test expectations, and any required evidence such as screenshots, logs, or plan notes.
Choose a task small enough to expose the workflow without granting unnecessary risk.
Create the handoff package
Deliver a concise onboarding summary covering ownership, access state, setup method, first-task recommendation, open blockers, and provenance notes.
Link to the exact source artifacts rather than paraphrasing everything into one long document.
Call out unresolved items clearly: missing access, stale docs, unowned services, ambiguous reviewers, or unverified setup instructions.
Run a readiness review before merge or transfer
Check whether a reviewer could understand what was preserved, what changed, and what still needs follow-up.
Verify that the onboarded person can identify: where to start, how to ask for review, what controls apply, and who owns escalation.
Repository: infra-deploy
Scenario: Original maintainer is leaving. New maintainer must review PRs and supervise releases.
Known materials: README, CONTRIBUTING.md, .github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md, CODEOWNERS, devcontainer.json
Problem: Release authority is unclear and local setup only works on one existing maintainer's laptop.
Expected output
Handoff summary:
- Scope: Maintainer transition for infra-deploy
- Provenance preserved: upstream README, CONTRIBUTING, PR template, CODEOWNERS, devcontainer config
- Ownership findings: CODEOWNERS covers app/, but release tagging authority is undocumented
- Access findings: new maintainer can review PRs but cannot access release secrets
- Setup findings: dev container exists but was not verified against current branch; local manual setup is incomplete
- First safe task: review and merge a docs-only PR using existing template and required checks
- Blockers: release authority owner unknown; secret access pending; setup validation needed
- Recommendation: do not transfer release responsibility until bootstrap and secret-access path are verified
Example 2: First-contribution onboarding
Input
Repository: service-api
Scenario: New contributor must make a small bug fix and open a compliant PR.
Known materials: CONTRIBUTING.md, issue template, CI checks
Problem: Contributor can clone the repo but does not know branch naming, test scope, or reviewers.
Expected output
Onboarding summary:
- Scope: first safe contribution
- Workflow: create feature branch, run unit tests, open PR with template, request review from API owners
- Governance: CI checks required before merge; CODEOWNERS routes review to backend team
- Setup status: local bootstrap works; test command verified
- First task: fix a labeled good-first-issue in request validation
- Open questions: none blocking first PR
Do preserve provenance. Keep a clear line between imported upstream material and local edits.
Do define a minimum successful outcome. “Finish onboarding” is vague; “new reviewer can approve a low-risk PR safely” is testable.
Do verify ownership paths. If review, release, or environment ownership is unclear, treat that as a handoff risk.
Do prefer reproducible setup. Use documented local setup, containers, or dev containers when available.
Do choose a bounded first task. The first task should exercise the workflow without requiring broad production authority.
Do stop and escalate on missing permissions. Record the missing access and the responsible owner instead of suggesting workarounds.
Do link to source artifacts. Point operators to the exact files that govern contribution and review behavior.
Do not rewrite the upstream process unless the request explicitly includes process redesign.
Do not hide uncertainty. Missing reviewers, stale docs, or unverified setup should remain visible in the handoff.
Do not assume merge or deployment rights. Verify them explicitly.
Do not compress setup validation into “works on my machine.” Capture the tested path and its limits.
Do not assign ownership without evidence from repository controls or existing practice.
Troubleshooting
Symptoms: The new contributor can clone the repository but cannot determine who must review the PR.
Solution: Check CODEOWNERS, PR templates, repository rules, team docs, and recent merged PRs. If routing is still ambiguous, document the gap as an onboarding blocker and identify the maintainer who must confirm reviewer ownership.
Symptoms: Setup instructions exist, but the environment fails to start or differs from current CI behavior.
Solution: Prefer the documented reproducible path such as a dev container or containerized bootstrap if one exists. Record the exact failing step, expected result, and branch used for validation. Do not invent missing environment variables or secret values.
Symptoms: The onboarded person can review code but cannot complete merge or release tasks.
Solution: Separate review capability from merge or release authority in the handoff summary. List the exact missing permission, the governing control, and the owner required to grant access.
Symptoms: Handoff notes are long, but reviewers still do not know what changed from upstream.
Solution: Add a concise provenance section that distinguishes preserved upstream artifacts from local curation, unresolved gaps, and newly added instructions.
Symptoms: The first task is too large or touches sensitive systems.
Solution: Reduce the task to a narrow, observable change that still exercises the target workflow, such as docs, tests, or a low-risk bug fix with standard review checks.
Additional Resources
references/review-criteria.md — Open this when you need a compact review checklist for access, ownership, provenance, setup validation, and handoff completeness.
examples/review-example.md — Open this when you need a worked example showing strong versus weak onboarding review outcomes.
Related Skills
No confirmed related local skills were provided in the source context.
