| name | clarc-onboarding |
| description | Staged learning path for clarc — Day 1 survival commands, Week 1 workflow integration, Month 1 advanced agents. Includes solo, team, and role-specific paths. |
When to Use
Use this skill when:
- A developer is new to clarc and needs a staged learning path
- Onboarding a team to clarc for the first time
- Starting clarc on a new project type
- Helping someone understand which clarc components matter for their role
The Three Phases
Day 1 — Survive (Core 5 Commands)
Get value within the first 30 minutes. Learn exactly these commands in order:
| Command | Why first |
|---|
/quickstart | Interactive setup — installs the right rules for your stack |
/context | See which clarc components matter for your project |
/plan | Turn a feature request into a concrete plan |
/code-review | Immediate code quality feedback |
/tdd | Write your first feature the right way |
Day 1 goal: Complete one real task (a small feature or bug fix) using /plan → /tdd → /code-review in sequence.
Week 1 — Grow (Workflow Integration)
Integrate clarc into your daily workflow. Add these:
| Command/Agent | When to use it |
|---|
/guide <task> | Any time you start a new task — get the right workflow |
/security-review | Before every PR that touches auth, APIs, or user data |
/e2e | For any feature with a critical user flow |
code-reviewer agent | After every significant code change (or use the nudge hook) |
/doctor | Weekly — verify clarc installation is healthy |
Week 1 goal: Run /guide <task> for every task this week. Notice which skills get recommended.
Month 1 — Master (Advanced Agents)
Unlock the full workflow OS. Add these:
| Component | When it pays off |
|---|
/orchestrate | Complex tasks needing 3+ independent analyses |
architect agent | Any architectural decision |
tdd-guide agent | For disciplined TDD on complex features |
/debt-audit | Monthly — identify where to invest refactoring time |
/instinct-report | See what clarc has learned about your codebase |
/skill-create | Extract patterns from your git history into skills |
Month 1 goal: Have a personal set of project-local instincts in ~/.clarc/instincts/.
Solo Developer Path
Priority order:
/plan + /tdd + /code-review — your core loop/security-review — catch vulnerabilities before they reach production/guide <task> — get the right tool for every job/instinct-report — review what clarc has learned after 30 sessions
What to skip initially:
- Multi-agent orchestration (overkill for solo work)
/team-sync (no team to sync with)- CI/CD integration (do this in Month 2)
Team Path
Week 1 team setup:
- One person runs
/quickstart and commits .clarc/ config to the repo
- Everyone installs:
npx github:marvinrichter/clarc in the project root
- Run
/onboard to generate CONTRIBUTING.md and setup scripts
- Add
/setup-ci to wire clarc into the CI pipeline
Shared conventions to establish:
- Which hooks are disabled for this project (
.clarc/hooks-config.json)
- Whether to commit
.clarc/skills/ for project-local skills
- Who owns the
/doctor health check (runs weekly)
Team commands that matter:
| Command | Team value |
|---|
/code-review | Consistent review quality across all PRs |
/security-review | Security standards enforced on every PR |
/e2e | Shared E2E test suite that everyone runs |
/onboard | New hires set up independently in < 5 minutes |
/agent-stats | See which agents the team uses most |
Role-Specific Paths
Frontend Developer
Start with: /context → /e2e → /a11y-audit → /web-perf
Key skills: frontend-patterns, state-management, accessibility-patterns, e2e-testing
Example session — frontend developer, Day 1:
User: /context
clarc: Detected React + TypeScript project. Relevant skills: frontend-patterns, state-management, e2e-testing.
User: /e2e add checkout flow test
clarc: [e2e-runner] Generated Playwright test: checkout-flow.spec.ts — 3 critical paths covered.
User: /a11y-audit
clarc: [design-system-reviewer] Found 2 issues: missing aria-label on cart button, colour contrast ratio 3.2:1 (min 4.5:1).
User: /web-perf
clarc: [performance-analyst] LCP 3.8s (target <2.5s) — ProductImage not lazy-loaded. Fix: add loading="lazy".
Backend Developer
Start with: /context → /tdd → /database-review → /security-review
Key skills: api-design, auth-patterns, database-migrations, observability
DevOps / Platform Engineer
Start with: /context → /iac-review → /gitops-review → /finops-audit
Key skills: kubernetes-patterns, terraform-patterns, gitops-patterns, observability
Tech Lead / Architect
Start with: /plan → /explore → /arc42 → /debt-audit
Key agents: architect, planner, modernization-planner
Common Mistakes in Week 1
| Mistake | Fix |
|---|
Using /help instead of /guide <task> | /guide gives you a workflow, /help gives you a list |
Running /code-review on every line | Use the code-review-nudge hook — it suggests automatically |
| Ignoring the TDD guard nudge | The nudge fires for a reason — write the test first |
| Not reading the suggested skill | Skills contain the patterns Claude will use — read them |
Using /orchestrate for simple tasks | Reserve it for tasks needing 3+ independent analyses |
Quick Reference Card
New task? → /guide <task description>
New project? → /context
Implementing? → /plan → /tdd → /code-review
Before PR? → /security + /code-review
Architecture? → /explore → /arc42
Build broken? → say "fix the build" (build-error-resolver auto-triggers)
Performance issue? → /profile
Stuck? → /clarc-way
Example: First Session Transcript
A new developer joining a Python/FastAPI project:
# Day 1 — first 30 minutes
User: /quickstart
clarc: Detected Python project (FastAPI). Installing rules/python/ and core skills.
Nudge hooks enabled. Run `/context` next to see what matters for this codebase.
User: /context
clarc: Found 3 relevant skills for this project:
- fastapi-patterns (FastAPI routing, dependency injection, Pydantic v2)
- python-patterns (PEP 8, type hints, dataclasses)
- postgres-patterns (async SQLAlchemy, migrations)
Run /plan before implementing, /tdd to write tests first.
User: /plan add user authentication with JWT
clarc: [planner agent] Breaking down: JWT token generation, login endpoint,
dependency for protected routes, refresh token flow...
Task list created in TODO.md.
User: /tdd implement the login endpoint
clarc: [tdd-guide agent] Writing test first:
test_login_returns_jwt_on_valid_credentials
test_login_returns_401_on_wrong_password
RED: tests fail. Now implement login_router.py...
User: /code-review
clarc: [python-reviewer agent] Found 2 issues:
HIGH: Password compared without constant-time comparison (timing attack)
MEDIUM: JWT secret read directly from os.environ — use pydantic Settings instead.
What happened: 30 minutes, one real feature shipped, two security issues caught before PR.
