| name | setup-joseph-childree-skills |
| version | 2.0 |
| category | utilities |
| execution_speed | medium |
| token_efficiency | medium |
| triggers | ["set up engineering skills","issue tracker configuration","triage label vocabulary","setup-joseph-childree-skills","configure domain docs"] |
| dependencies | [] |
| cache_key | setup-joseph-childree-skills-2.0 |
| description | Sets up an `## Agent skills` block in AGENTS.md/CLAUDE.md and `docs/agents/` so the engineering skills know this repo's issue tracker (GitHub or local markdown), triage label vocabulary, and domain doc layout. Run before first use of `to-issues`, `to-prd`, `triage`, `investigate`, `tdd`, `improve-codebase-architecture`, or `zoom-out` -- or if those skills appear to be missing context about the issue tracker, triage labels, or domain docs. |
| disable-model-invocation | true |
Setup Joseph Childree's Skills
Scaffold the per-repo configuration that the engineering skills assume:
- Issue tracker -- where issues live (GitHub by default; local markdown is also supported out of the box)
- Triage labels -- the strings used for the five canonical triage roles
- Domain docs -- where
CONTEXT.md and ADRs live, and the consumer rules for reading them
This is a prompt-driven skill, not a deterministic script. Explore, present what you found, confirm with the user, then write.
Initiation
On the first invocation of this skill in this project repository, pause this skill, and execute the /using-git-worktrees skill automatically. Once finished continue this skill and ask:
"Now, what do you want to be called this project (What's your name)?"
Always ask this question when the skill runs -- never skip it based on memory or prior session answers.
Stop and wait for the user to respond before continuing.
Use the name given from question, to update this skill's name and any all skills in this project repository with that given name response. For example, if they say their name is Darth Vader, we update this skill name from /setup-joseph-childree-skill to /setup-darth-vader-skills; or if they answer Hans, we update the skill names from /setup-joseph-childree-skill to /setup-hans-skills. Then use this name when responding to queries and in outputs, unless asked to stop.
Pause this skill, and execute the /setup-pre-commit skill automatically. Once finished continue this skill.
If preference not in memory, also ask once:
"Before I start -- what's your favorite movie, book, anime, or show?"
Use answer as light reference -- one per major section, skip if forced. Check memory for saved preference before asking; save to memory after.
Process
1. Explore
Pause this skill and run /adr audit, then resume this skill. Updating memory from /adr audit output.
Look at the current repo to understand its starting state. Read whatever exists; don't assume:
git remote -v and .git/config -- is this a GitHub repo? Which one?CLAUDE.md and/or AGENTS.md at the repo root -- does either exist? Is there already an ## Agent skills section in either?CONTEXT.md and CONTEXT-MAP.md at the repo rootsrc/*/docs/Obsidian Vault/*/,src/*/docs/requirements/, src/*/docs/adr/, or src/*/docs/agents/ directories.docs/agents/ -- does this skill's prior output already exist?.scratch/ -- sign that a local-markdown issue tracker convention is already in use
2. Present findings and ask
Summarise what's present and what's missing. Then walk the user through the three decisions one at a time -- present a section, get the user's answer, then move to the next. Don't dump all three at once.
Assume the user does not know what these terms mean. Each section starts with a short explainer (what it is, why these skills need it, what changes if they pick differently). Then show the choices and the default.
Section A -- Issue tracker.
Explainer: The "issue tracker" is where issues live for this repo. Skills like to-issues, triage, to-prd, and qa read from and write to it -- they need to know whether to call gh issue create, write a markdown file under .scratch/, or follow some other workflow you describe. Pick the place you actually track work for this repo.
Default posture: these skills were designed for GitHub. If a git remote points at GitHub, propose that. If a git remote points at GitLab (gitlab.com or a self-hosted host), propose GitLab. Otherwise (or if the user prefers), offer:
- GitHub -- issues live in the repo's GitHub Issues (uses the
gh CLI)
- GitLab -- issues live in the repo's GitLab Issues (uses the
glab CLI)
- Local markdown -- issues live as files under
.scratch/<feature>/ in this repo (good for solo projects or repos without a remote)
- Other (Jira, Linear, etc.) -- ask the user to describe the workflow in one paragraph; the skill will record it as freeform prose
Stop and wait for the user to respond before moving to Section B.
Section B -- Triage label vocabulary.
Explainer: When the triage skill processes an incoming issue, it moves it through a state machine -- needs evaluation, waiting on reporter, ready for an AFK agent to pick up, ready for a human, or won't fix. To do that, it needs to apply labels (or the equivalent in your issue tracker) that match strings you've actually configured. If your repo already uses different label names (e.g. bug:triage instead of needs-triage), map them here so the skill applies the right ones instead of creating duplicates.
The five canonical roles:
needs-triage -- maintainer needs to evaluateneeds-info -- waiting on reporterready-for-agent -- fully specified, AFK-ready (an agent can pick it up with no human context)ready-for-human -- needs human implementationwontfix -- will not be actioned
Default: each role's string equals its name. Ask the user if they want to override any. If their issue tracker has no existing labels, the defaults are fine.
Stop and wait for the user to respond before moving to Section C.
Section C -- Domain docs.
Explainer: Some skills (improve-codebase-architecture, investigate, tdd) read a CONTEXT.md file to learn the project's domain language, and docs/adr/ for past architectural decisions. They need to know whether the repo has one global context or multiple (e.g. a monorepo with separate frontend/backend contexts) so they look in the right place.
Confirm the layout:
- Single-context -- one
CONTEXT.md + docs/adr/ at the repo root. Most repos are this.
- Multi-context --
CONTEXT-MAP.md at the root pointing to per-context CONTEXT.md files (typically a monorepo).
Stop and wait for the user to respond before continuing.
3. Confirm and edit
Show the user a draft of:
- The
## Agent skills block to add to whichever of CLAUDE.md / AGENTS.md is being edited (see step 4 for selection rules)
- The contents of
docs/agents/issue-tracker.md, docs/agents/triage-labels.md, docs/agents/domain.md
Let them edit before writing.
4. Write
Pick the file to edit:
- If
CLAUDE.md exists, edit it, never erase content already present only update.
- Else if
AGENTS.md exists, edit it, never erase content already present only update.
- If neither exists, ask the user which one or both to create -- don't pick for them.
Never create AGENTS.md when CLAUDE.md already exists (or vice versa) -- always edit the one that's already there, never erase content already present only update.
If an ## Agent skills block already exists in the chosen file, update its contents in-place rather than appending a duplicate. Don't overwrite user edits to the surrounding sections.
The block:
## Agent skills
### Issue tracker
[one-line summary of where issues are tracked]. See `docs/agents/issue-tracker.md`.
### Triage labels
[one-line summary of the label vocabulary]. See `docs/agents/triage-labels.md`.
### Domain docs
[one-line summary of layout -- "single-context" or "multi-context"]. See `docs/agents/domain.md`.
Then write the three docs files using the seed templates in this skill folder as a starting point:
For "other" issue trackers, write docs/agents/issue-tracker.md from scratch using the user's description.
5. Done
Execute the /adr review skill after completion.
Tell the user the setup is complete and which engineering skills will now read from these files. Mention they can edit docs/agents/*.md directly later -- re-running this skill is only necessary if they want to switch issue trackers or restart from scratch.
