uw-start

name	uw-start
description	Start here. The entry point for reverse-engineering a codebase with Unwind — orients you, checks prerequisites, handles restart vs update, then runs the rebuild pipeline (scan → analyze → plan → dashboard) with a checkpoint at each phase. Use when beginning Unwind on a repo, or when unsure which uw- skill to run first.
allowed-tools	["Read","Glob","Bash(git:*, ls:*, node:*, pnpm:*, source:*)"]

Start Here — Unwind

The front door. This skill orients the user and drives the pipeline by delegating to the phase skills — it does not re-implement them. Each phase ends with its own continue/pause gate, so you stay in control.

What Unwind does (say this to the user)

Unwind reverse-engineers this codebase into a rebuild spec — enough to rebuild it in a different stack while preserving the data model, API contracts, and business logic. Every documented item is tagged [MUST] / [SHOULD] / [DON'T], and completeness is verified by set arithmetic (scan − docs), not asserted.

Pipeline: scan → analyze → plan → dashboard. We checkpoint at each phase.

Step 1: Preconditions

git rev-parse --is-inside-work-tree 2>/dev/null && echo "git: yes" || echo "git: no (local mode — source links degrade, still works)"
command -v node >/dev/null && command -v pnpm >/dev/null && echo "node+pnpm: yes" || echo "node/pnpm: missing (falls back to the legacy pure-LLM flow)"
pwd   # confirm this is the repo to analyze

• git is recommended (drives link_format for source links); without it Unwind runs in local mode with degraded links.
• node + pnpm enable the deterministic scanner (@unwind/core). If missing, every skill degrades gracefully to the pure-LLM flow.
• Confirm pwd is the project root you intend to analyze.

Step 2: Fresh run or existing analysis?

ls docs/unwind/layers/*/ >/dev/null 2>&1 && echo "EXISTING analysis found" || echo "fresh run"

• Fresh run → continue to Step 3.
• Existing analysis → tell the user one exists. The restart-vs-update decision is handled by uw-analyze (its Step 0 pre-gate): Update (refresh, non-destructive) or Restart from scratch (deletes prior docs, requires explicit confirmation). Don't delete anything here — let uw-analyze own that gated decision.

Step 3: Choose the run mode

Use AskUserQuestion to ask how they want to proceed:

• Step through with checkpoints (recommended) — run one phase at a time; at each phase's gate, the user decides whether to continue or pause.
• Run straight to the dashboard — proceed scan → analyze → plan → dashboard without pausing at the gates. Still honor the restart-from-scratch confirmation (never auto-delete) and stop on any error.

Step 4: Kick off

Invoke the first phase now — unwind:uw-scan — and then follow the pipeline:

Phase	Skill	Produces
1. Scan	unwind:uw-scan	architecture.md + .cache/scan-manifest.json
2. Analyze	unwind:uw-analyze	layers/** (seeded, verified to 100%)
3. Plan	unwind:uw-plan	REBUILD-PLAN.md (interviews you about target stack, re-use & phasing)
4. Dashboard	unwind:uw-dashboard	builds rebuild-graph.json + launches the viewer
5. Build (optional)	unwind:uw-build	executes the rebuild in the target stack + a source→target verification graph measuring completeness

• Step-through mode: invoke unwind:uw-scan, then act on each phase's continue/pause prompt as the user answers it.
• Run-to-dashboard mode: invoke each phase in turn, auto-continuing at the gates, until the dashboard launches — pausing only for the restart confirmation, the plan interview (target stack and re-use are user decisions; uw-plan lets you one-shot them via "accept all recommended defaults"), or errors.

unwind:uw-graph is an optional export (raw rebuild-graph.json without a server, for static deploy / CI / sharing) — not a required phase; the dashboard builds the graph itself.

Notes

• Executing the rebuild: after the plan (and a review of the graph), run unwind:uw-build to actually rebuild the codebase in the target stack. It interviews you about scope/order, dispatches technology-agnostic per-layer builder agents, holds its progress in docs/unwind/.cache/rebuild-state.json, and maintains a source→target verification graph measuring completeness. It can run step-by-step or, via the /loop skill (/loop /uw-build), loop until the measured completeness hits target.
• After code changes later, run unwind:uw-refresh (incremental) or just re-open unwind:uw-dashboard (it rebuilds the graph from the current scan + docs).
• For the full skill index, see unwind:uw-help.