auto-init

name	auto-init
description	Detect when the user wants to start a new CoPaper paper project or initialize a workspace, run `copaper --root . init` when needed, then inspect the current workflow phase and immediately begin the appropriate next phase work.

Auto Init

This skill initializes a CoPaper project when the user expresses intent to start a new paper or workspace.

Input Files

File	Required	When Used	Purpose
.agents/state.json	Optional	Before and after initialization	Detect project state and inspect the current workflow phase
paper.md	Optional	Before initialization	Detect existing scaffolded paper content
storyline.md	Optional	Before initialization	Detect existing scaffolded storyline content
.git/	Optional	After initialization	Detect whether the current folder is already a Git repository

Triggers

Use this skill when the user asks to start or initialize a CoPaper paper project, including phrases such as:

• "start working"
• "start writing paper"
• "new paper"
• "initialize project"
• "开始工作"
• "开始写论文"
• "新建论文"
• "初始化项目"

Workflow

1. Check whether the current directory already looks initialized by looking for .agents/state.json, paper.md, or storyline.md.
2. If it is already initialized, skip initialization and continue with the phase continuation workflow below.
3. If it is not initialized, collect the project name and research domain from the user request.
4. If either value is missing, ask the user for the missing value before running the command.
5. Run:

copaper --root . init --name "<project_name>" --domain "<domain>"

6. After initialization succeeds, tell the user where the scaffold was created.
7. If git is installed and the current folder is not already inside a Git work tree, initialize Git:

command -v git
git rev-parse --is-inside-work-tree
git init

Only run git init when command -v git succeeds and git rev-parse --is-inside-work-tree reports that the folder is not a Git work tree. If git is not installed, skip this step and continue. 8. Continue immediately by checking status:

copaper --root . status --json

9. Read current_phase from the JSON output and begin that phase's work without waiting for another user command.

Phase Continuation

After copaper --root . status --json, use this routing:

Current Phase	Begin This Work
storyline	Start storyline-helper: help the user build or refine storyline.md section by section
literature	Start relatedwork-finder: identify, import, download, summarize, or index related work as appropriate
discussion	Start socratic-discussion: examine the research idea, risks, claims, and checker-aligned dimensions
experiments	Start experiment-analyzer: inspect experiment plans, code, results, or missing evaluation artifacts
writing	Start writing-orchestrator: inspect paper completion and begin writing the next needed section
latex_review	Start markdown2latex or submission review work depending on whether LaTeX output already exists

If the phase requires information the user has not provided, ask only for the missing information needed to proceed in that phase.

Constraints

• Do not reinitialize an existing project without explicit user confirmation.
• Keep --root before the init subcommand.
• Use the CLI for initialization instead of manually creating .agents/state.json.
• Do not run git init when the current folder is already inside an existing Git work tree.
• Do not require Git; if it is unavailable, continue the CoPaper workflow.
• Do not stop after initialization when status can be read; continue into the current phase workflow.