| name | init-project |
| description | Use at the start of a product, AI Agent, MVP, or enterprise delivery repo, or when a repo lacks harness.yaml, docs, rules, evals, and CLAUDE.md project memory. Creates a complete local harness scaffold. |
| argument-hint | [target-path] [--profile generic|jb-finai|financial-ai|internal-tool] |
Initialize Harness Project
Use when
- New project needs a repeatable agent operating system
- Existing repo has code but no harness artifacts
- Team wants Claude/Codex/Gemini to converge on the same structure
Do not use when
- Repo already has a mature harness and user asked only for validation
Inputs to inspect
- Project root
- Existing README/package files
- User-stated domain and stage
Files to create or update
harness.yamlCLAUDE.mddocs/00_source-log.md through docs/12_handoff.mdrules/*.mdevals/*.md
Operating sequence
- Inspect root before writing.
- Detect profile: generic, jb-finai, financial-ai, internal-tool.
- Copy missing templates only; do not overwrite unless user requested.
- Fill obvious project metadata in
harness.yaml.
- Add a source log entry recording scaffold date and profile.
- Run or offer
scripts/validate_project.py.
- Report created/existing files.
Practical Init Modes
Safe init
Create only missing files. Use this by default.
Adoption init
If a repo already has docs, create docs/harness-migration-map.md mapping old docs to harness artifacts instead of replacing them.
Competition init
For hackathon/competition projects, prioritize 02_cps, 08_feature-spec, 09_flow, 10_eval-plan, and 11_change-log.
Optional Script
Ask before running:
python3 ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../scripts/scaffold_project.py . --profile generic
python3 ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../scripts/validate_project.py .
Quality gates
- No user file is overwritten silently.
- The scaffold passes structure validation.
- The generated CLAUDE.md tells future agents how to use the harness.
Stop conditions
Stop and route backward when prerequisite artifacts are missing, when the requested action would erase user work, or when a high-risk workflow lacks evidence, approval, audit, or fail-closed handling.
Example invocation
/harness-engineering:init-project
Apply this skill to the current repository. Inspect existing artifacts first, update only what is necessary, and report files changed, decisions, assumptions, validation, risks, and next skill.
Shared completion and integrity
End with the completion report in ../../references/common-completion-report.md and follow ../../references/common-integrity-rules.md.
