existing-project-onboarding

name

existing-project-onboarding

description

Use when an existing or legacy codebase needs to enter the agentic-engineering workflow but has no chain documents (or only scattered legacy docs — README, wiki, design notes). Triggers on "onboard this repo", "migrate this project to agentic-engineering", "reverse-engineer the docs", "adopt this workflow on an existing codebase", "we already have a codebase, set up the docs", "document what we already built", or pointing the suite at a brownfield project. Reverse-engineers the code into an as-built documentation chain; changes docs, never code.

Existing Project Onboarding — Reverse-Engineer the Chain

Core constraint: Reconstruct, don't fabricate. Read the code and the legacy docs, fold them into the as-built chain, and mark every inference as an inference. Onboarding produces documents, never code changes — and the user, who knows the real history, confirms the reconstruction before it locks.

Quick Reference

Use when	A brownfield/legacy codebase needs the chain, but has no docs (or only scattered legacy ones)
Skip when	Greenfield with no code yet (→ [[project-kickoff-prd]]), or the chain already exists and is current
Output	The as-built chain: AGENTS.md + reconstructed docs/prd.md, docs/spec/*.md, docs/adr/*.md, a forward docs/plans/implementation-plan.md, and a seeded docs/status.md
Sequence	Step 0 for brownfield — replaces the greenfield kickoff, then feeds the normal chain for forward work