scaffolding

name	scaffolding
description	Use when generating project structure for new bundle-plugins, adding or removing platform support (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, OpenCode, Gemini CLI, OpenClaw), updating platform manifests, or migrating hooks and configuration between platforms
allowed-tools	Bash(bundles-forge bump-version *)

Scaffolding Bundle-Plugins

Overview

Generate new bundle-plugin projects and manage platform support across their lifecycle. Handles initial project generation (greenfield) and ongoing platform adaptation (add, fix, migrate, remove).

Core principle: Generate only what's needed. Every platform, every file has a reason to exist. This skill generates structure only — it does not run its own scripts. Validation is delegated to bundles-forge:auditing; version checks to bundles-forge bump-version.

Skill type: Hybrid — follow the generation/adaptation process rigidly, but mode selection and component choices are flexible based on user context.

Announce at start: "I'm using the scaffolding skill to [generate your project / add support / remove support / add / remove ]."

Entry Detection

Determine the operation based on context:

1. Design document provided (from bundles-forge:blueprinting) → New Project flow
2. User request + no existing project → New Project flow
3. User request + existing project → Platform Adaptation flow (add / fix / migrate / remove)

New Project: Scaffold Layers

For new projects, first select a mode:

• Design document specifies the mode (minimal or intelligent)
• Direct invocation — choose between:
  • intelligent — recommend architecture based on user description, avoid unnecessary components
  • custom — present the full architecture option set, ask the user about each component

Minimal Mode (quick packaging)

Lean plugin for marketplace distribution:

File	Purpose
.claude-plugin/plugin.json	Plugin identity and metadata
skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md	One directory per skill
README.md	Installation instructions and skill catalog
LICENSE	Default MIT unless specified

No hooks, no bootstrap, no version infrastructure. Add these later by re-running scaffolding in platform adaptation mode.

Intelligent Mode

Core

Generated for all intelligent-mode projects regardless of platform selection:

File	Purpose
package.json	Project identity and version
README.md	Installation per platform, skill catalog
LICENSE	Default MIT unless specified
.gitignore	node_modules, .worktrees, OS files
.version-bump.json	Version sync manifest
skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md	One directory per skill

Platform Adapters (selected platforms only)

Platform	Files
Claude Code	.claude-plugin/plugin.json, hooks/hooks.json, hooks/run-hook.cmd, hooks/session-start
Cursor	.cursor-plugin/plugin.json, hooks/hooks-cursor.json, hooks/session-start
Codex	.codex/INSTALL.md, AGENTS.md
OpenCode	.opencode/plugins/<name>.js, .opencode/INSTALL.md
Gemini CLI	gemini-extension.json, GEMINI.md

For platform-specific wiring details, read references/platform-adapters.md.

Bootstrap (if requested)

File	Purpose
skills/using-<project>/SKILL.md	Meta-skill: instruction priority, skill routing table
skills/using-<project>/references/	Per-platform tool mappings

Optional Components (only if specified)

Component	Files	When to Include
Executables	bin/<tool-name>	Skills reference CLI tools (see references/external-integration.md decision tree)
MCP servers	.mcp.json	Skills need external service integration (see references/external-integration.md decision tree)
LSP servers	.lsp.json	Skills involve language-specific code intelligence (see references/external-integration.md LSP section)
Output styles	output-styles/<style>.md	Custom output formatting (see references/external-integration.md Output Styles section)
Default settings	settings.json	Default agent activation (see references/external-integration.md Default Settings section)
User configuration	userConfig in plugin.json	Skills need user-provided API keys, endpoints, or tokens — Claude Code only (see references/external-integration.md userConfig section)
Marketplace entry	.claude-plugin/marketplace.json	Plugin targets marketplace distribution — declares plugin metadata for the marketplace index

New Project: Generation Process

Minimal mode:

1. Create plugin manifest from assets/platforms/claude-code/plugin.json template
2. Generate skill directories — one per skill
3. Generate README + LICENSE
4. git init + initial commit; validate manifest JSON

Intelligent mode:

Phase 1 — Load context:

1. Read template index — load references/scaffold-templates.md
2. Read templates — load from assets/ (infrastructure, docs, bootstrap)
3. Read platform templates — load from assets/platforms/<platform>/
4. Read anatomy — load references/project-anatomy.md

Phase 2 — Generate: 5. Replace placeholders — substitute <project-name>, <author-name>, etc. 6. Generate per-platform — only create files for target platforms 7. Generate skill stubs — one directory per skill 8. Generate bootstrap — if requested, create meta-skill with routing table 10. Generate optional components — only what the design specifies. For MCP servers, use assets/mcp-json.md template and consult references/external-integration.md for transport selection and platform differences. When userConfig is specified, add the userConfig field to plugin.json with appropriate sensitive flags. When marketplace distribution is specified, generate .claude-plugin/marketplace.json with plugin metadata. When CI validation is specified, generate .github/workflows/validate-plugin.yml from template

Phase 3 — Finalize: 11. git init + initial commit; run bundles-forge bump-version --check

Platform Adaptation: Existing Projects

Adding a Platform

1. Detect current platforms — scan for existing manifests (see detection table in references/platform-adapters.md)
2. Identify target — read references/platform-adapters.md for wiring details
3. Generate adapter files — from assets/platforms/<platform>/, replace <project-name> placeholders
4. Update version sync — add version-bearing manifests to .version-bump.json
5. Update hooks — if platform uses session hooks, ensure session-start (Bash) handles its JSON format via run-hook.cmd. For custom hooks beyond SessionStart, read references/hooks-configuration.md
6. Update documentation — add install section to README; create platform-specific docs if needed
7. Verify — validate manifests, bundles-forge bump-version --check, test hooks

Removing a Platform

1. Delete manifest files — remove the platform's manifest directory or file
2. Update .version-bump.json — remove entries for deleted manifests
3. Clean hooks — delete platform-specific hook files; simplify session-start if branches removed
4. Update documentation — remove install section from README and platform-specific docs
5. Verify — bundles-forge bump-version --check; run inspector validation

Adding Optional Components

Add MCP servers, CLI executables, LSP servers, userConfig, output styles, or default settings to an existing project:

1. Determine component type — read references/external-integration.md decision tree to choose the right integration level
2. Generate component files — create the corresponding file(s) at their default location (.mcp.json, .lsp.json, output-styles/, settings.json, or userConfig in plugin.json)
3. Update plugin manifests — add component declarations to plugin.json for platforms that require explicit paths (Cursor). For Claude Code, convention-based discovery handles most components automatically
4. Update skill references — add allowed-tools frontmatter for new CLI/MCP tools, add ${user_config.KEY} references where skills need user-provided values
5. Update README — add setup instructions for the new component (especially MCP server config for non-Claude Code platforms, LSP binary installation)
6. Verify — run inspector validation to confirm structural integrity

Removing Optional Components

Remove MCP servers, CLI executables, or LSP servers from an existing project. Read references/external-integration.md "Optional Component Removal" section for step-by-step instructions covering:

• Removing MCP servers (.mcp.json, plugin.json mcpServers, skill references, README)
• Removing CLI executables (bin/, allowed-tools, skill body)
• Removing LSP servers (.lsp.json, README)
• Downgrading MCP to CLI (replace MCP with lighter CLI alternative)

Post-Action Validation

Step 1 — Deterministic checks (script): Run bundles-forge audit-skill <target-dir> to verify structure, manifests, version sync, and frontmatter. Review any critical or warning findings before proceeding.

Step 2 — Semantic inspection (agent): Dispatch the inspector agent (agents/inspector.md) for semantic validation that scripts cannot cover (template quality, hook logic coherence, design alignment). The inspector adjusts scope based on context:

• New project → full inspection (template quality, optional components, hook semantics, design coherence)
• Platform adaptation → focused inspection (hook semantics and template quality for affected platforms)

If subagent dispatch is unavailable: Ask — "Subagents are not available. Run validation inline?" If confirmed, read agents/inspector.md and follow its instructions within this conversation, then report PASS/FAIL.

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Fix
Generating all platforms regardless of design	Only create files for selected platforms
Forgetting .version-bump.json entries	Every version-bearing manifest needs an entry
Hardcoding author in templates	Pull from git config or ask
Missing session-start or run-hook.cmd in hook config	Claude Code uses run-hook.cmd session-start; Cursor runs ./hooks/session-start directly; both require bash
Bootstrap skill > 200 lines	Keep lean — extract to references/
Wrong hook format (PascalCase vs camelCase)	Claude Code: SessionStart, Cursor: sessionStart
Copying template without customizing	Replace every <project-name> placeholder
Using intelligent mode infrastructure for minimal	Minimal mode avoids over-engineering
Using MCP when CLI suffices	Consult references/external-integration.md decision tree — prefer CLI for stateless, single-shot tools
Using ../ paths to reference files outside the plugin	After marketplace install, plugins are cached — ../ paths break. Keep all files within the plugin root
Writing persistent data to ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}	PLUGIN_ROOT changes on each update. Use ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_DATA} for caches, installed dependencies, and generated state

Inputs

• design-document (optional) — from bundles-forge:blueprinting with project mode, name, platforms, skill inventory, bootstrap strategy, and components
• project-directory (optional) — existing bundle-plugin project root for platform adaptation
• target-platform (optional) — platform to add or remove

Outputs

• scaffold-output — generated project structure or adapted platform files. Consumed by the orchestrating skill (blueprinting or optimizing) for subsequent phases
• inspector-report (optional) — validation report in .bundles-forge/blueprints/

Integration

Called by:

• bundles-forge:blueprinting — Phase 1 of the new-project pipeline
• bundles-forge:optimizing — Platform Coverage routing for adding new platforms
• User directly — for platform adaptation or ad-hoc project generation

Pairs with:

• bundles-forge:releasing — version infrastructure and sync