project-init

name	project-init
description	Scaffold an unconfigured directory into a configured pi project. Interactive, profile-driven: lists project profiles (coding, docs, plus user profiles), asks which to use, previews the planned writes, and on confirmation writes AGENTS.md, .pi/settings.json (with a worktreeInit hook + toolset), and prompt files. Use when a bare directory needs turning into a working pi project, or when the dashboard's "Initialize" button spawns this session.
license	MIT
metadata	{"author":"pi-dashboard","version":"1.0"}

Project Init

Turn the current directory into a configured pi project through a guided, conversational flow. You are running as a first-class interactive session — converse, confirm, and only write files after the user agrees.

Target directory = your current working directory (cwd). All writes land there. All profile/doctrine paths below are relative to THIS skill's directory (the folder containing this SKILL.md); call it <skill>.

Step 1 — Resolve the available profiles

A profile is a directory bundle: profile.json (optional, carries description + dox), AGENTS.md.tmpl, settings.json.tmpl, and prompts/*.md.

Enumerate profiles from two sources, user wins by name:

1. Shipped: <skill>/profiles/*
2. User: ~/.pi/project-profiles/*

ls -1 "<skill>/profiles" 2>/dev/null
ls -1 "$HOME/.pi/project-profiles" 2>/dev/null

Merge: a user profile of the same name fully shadows the shipped one. A directory is only a usable profile when it contains BOTH AGENTS.md.tmpl and settings.json.tmpl. Read each profile.json for its description and dox flag (dox defaults to false when absent or unreadable).

Step 2 — Ask which profile

Use ask_user (select) to present the resolved profiles by name + description. Shipped defaults are coding (TDD/simplicity/surgical, OpenSpec on, npm ci worktree-init) and docs (writing structure, OpenSpec off, no build step).

Step 2b — Resolve the technology stack (stack-aware profiles only)

When the chosen profile's profile.json has "stackAware": true (the shipped coding profile does), its templates carry technology placeholders ({{INSTALL_CMD}}, {{TEST_CMD}}, {{BUILD_CMD}}, {{INIT_GATE}}, {{INIT_COMMAND}}) that must be filled from the project's stack — a coding repo may be Node, Rust, Go, Python, Java, etc.

Auto-detect + confirm:

1. Detect a best guess from marker files in the target directory:

   Marker file(s)	Stack	install / test / build	init gate + run
   pnpm-lock.yaml	pnpm	pnpm install --frozen-lockfile / pnpm test / pnpm build	test ! -d node_modules / pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
   yarn.lock	yarn	yarn install --frozen-lockfile / yarn test / yarn build	test ! -d node_modules / yarn install --frozen-lockfile
   bun.lockb / bun.lock	bun	bun install / bun test / bun run build	test ! -d node_modules / bun install
   package-lock.json / package.json	npm	npm ci / npm test / npm run build	test ! -d node_modules / npm ci
   Cargo.toml	cargo	cargo fetch / cargo test / cargo build	test ! -d target / cargo fetch
   go.mod	go	go mod download / go test ./... / go build ./...	test ! -f go.sum / go mod download
   poetry.lock or pyproject.toml+[tool.poetry]	poetry	poetry install / poetry run pytest / poetry build	test ! -d .venv / poetry install
   requirements.txt / pyproject.toml	pip	venv+pip install / .venv/bin/pytest / python -m build	test ! -d .venv / venv+pip install
   pom.xml	maven	mvn -q dependency:go-offline / mvn test / mvn -q package -DskipTests	test ! -d target / mvn -q dependency:go-offline
   build.gradle(.kts)	gradle	./gradlew dependencies / ./gradlew test / ./gradlew build -x test	test ! -d .gradle / ./gradlew dependencies

   Prefer a JS lockfile over a plain package.json. A bare directory yields no guess.

2. Confirm with the user (ask_user): show the detected stack (or "none detected") and let them confirm or pick a different stack from the table. Never scaffold a stack-aware profile without a resolved stack.

3. Substitute the chosen stack's values for the {{…}} placeholders when writing the templates in Step 4. After writing, verify NO {{…}} placeholder remains in AGENTS.md or .pi/settings.json — an unfilled placeholder means the stack was not resolved; go back and ask.

Step 3 — Ask about optional capabilities, preview, then confirm

3a — Ask about DOX (all profiles)

DOX seeds a directory-level documentation doctrine and wires the kb toolset (see Step 5). It is now an interactive choice on every profile, not a fixed per-profile switch. Ask with ask_user (confirm), pre-selecting the profile's dox value as the DEFAULT answer:

Enable DOX documentation doctrine? Seeds a directory-level AGENTS.md discipline into ./AGENTS.md and enables the kb toolset. (default: <profile.dox>)

Record the answer as DOX_ENABLED. The dox flag in profile.json only sets the default; the user's answer decides. Step 5 gates on DOX_ENABLED, not the raw flag.

3b — Ask about OpenSpec init (coding profile only)

Gate: only when the selected profile is coding (skip for docs / any OpenSpec-off profile), mirroring Steps 4b and 5. Skip the prompt entirely when an openspec/ directory already exists in the target (idempotent — treat as already-initialized). Otherwise ask with ask_user (confirm):

Initialize OpenSpec for this project? Runs openspec init --tools pi, which creates the openspec/ scaffold and wires the OpenSpec commands into pi.

Record the answer as OPENSPEC_INIT. The actual run happens in Step 6.

3c — Preview + confirm

List exactly what you will write, then ask the user to confirm (ask_user confirm). The writes for profile <p> are:

• ./AGENTS.md ← <skill>/profiles/<p>/AGENTS.md.tmpl (substitute {{PROJECT_NAME}} with the directory basename)
• ./.pi/settings.json ← <skill>/profiles/<p>/settings.json.tmpl
• ./.pi/prompts/*.md ← each file in <skill>/profiles/<p>/prompts/

When DOX_ENABLED is true, ALSO name in the preview:

• the DOX doctrine seed appended to ./AGENTS.md (see Step 5)
• the kb toolset flip written to ./.pi/dashboard/knowledge_base.json

When OPENSPEC_INIT is true, ALSO disclose the side effect (see Step 6) — NOT a plain file write:

• runs openspec init --tools pi, scaffolding ./openspec/ and wiring pi

When the chosen profile is coding, ALSO disclose the possible side effect (see Step 4b) — NOT a file write:

• may offer to pi install the eng-disciplines skills user-globally (writes ~/.pi/agent/settings.json). This is machine-wide: the skills become available in all projects on this machine, not just this one. Always opt-in via a separate prompt; never forced. Needs Node/npm on the machine (the install runs pi install npm:…); the scaffolded repo itself gains no dependency.

Idempotency: before writing, check whether ./AGENTS.md or ./.pi/settings.json already exist. If they do, ask before overwriting — never clobber silently.

Step 4 — Write the scaffold

On confirmation, write the files listed above. Substitute {{PROJECT_NAME}} in AGENTS.md.tmpl with the target directory's basename, and — for a stack-aware profile — the stack placeholders resolved in Step 2b.

Validate the hook. After writing ./.pi/settings.json, confirm its worktreeInit is a valid change-A hook: a non-empty gate string plus a run that is either { type: "script", command: "<non-empty>" } or { type: "agent", prompt: "<non-empty>" }. If it is not valid, warn the user — an invalid hook fails open (change-A ignores it) and the Initialize button will loop back to this skill instead of running the hook.

Step 4b — Ensure discipline skills (only when the profile is coding)

The coding template's ## Discipline Skills checkpoint table references the eng-disciplines skills. This step makes those references live. Gate: run only when the selected profile is coding (skip for docs / any OpenSpec-off profile), mirroring how Step 5 gates on dox: true.

Detect (read-only; both forms tolerate a missing pi binary):

pi list 2>/dev/null | grep -q pi-dashboard-eng-disciplines \
  || stat ~/.pi/agent/npm/node_modules/@blackbelt-technology/pi-dashboard-eng-disciplines >/dev/null 2>&1

If pi is not on PATH and the stat misses, treat as ABSENT but do NOT error the init — fall through to the footnote. (Known limit: the stat form only sees the npm: global path; a git:/renamed install is invisible and would re-prompt.)

PRESENT → skills already global. Skip the prompt (idempotent re-run) and write NO activation footnote into ./AGENTS.md. If a prior run left the "not detected" footnote (e.g. the skills were installed after a decline), remove that line before exiting so the file never claims the skills are missing when they are present. Done.

ABSENT → ask_user (confirm):

Install the discipline skills globally? They power the checkpoint table this project's AGENTS.md references, and become available in ALL projects on this machine. Writes ~/.pi/agent/settings.json (user-global, not project-local).

• Yes → run pi install npm:@blackbelt-technology/pi-dashboard-eng-disciplines and verify exit 0. On success, write NO footnote. On non-zero exit (or a missing pi), fall through to the footnote path.

• No / install failed → append ONE line under the ## Discipline Skills table in ./AGENTS.md:

  Discipline skills not detected — run pi install npm:@blackbelt-technology/pi-dashboard-eng-disciplines to activate the checkpoints above.

The footnote is detection-conditional: written only on the absent/declined branch, never on the present/installed path (so a successfully-wired project never carries a false "not detected" line). The install is always user-global and never forced.

Step 5 — DOX doctrine seed (only when DOX_ENABLED is true)

Gated on the user's Step 3a answer (DOX_ENABLED), NOT the raw profile.json dox flag — the flag only supplied the default. Skip this step entirely when the user declined DOX.

The canonical doctrine ships once at <skill>/dox-doctrine.md. Do NOT copy the whole file. Seed a single block into ./AGENTS.md only when it does not already carry the marker <!-- dox-doctrine --> (idempotent — if the marker is present, skip this step entirely).

Compose the seeded block as:

1. The marker line <!-- dox-doctrine -->
2. The WRITE discipline — the text between <!-- dox:write:start --> and <!-- dox:write:end --> in dox-doctrine.md.
3. ONE READ discipline variant:
   • If the kb toolset is wired (this profile writes knowledge_base.json with indexAgentsFiles/directoryLevelAgents), use the text between <!-- dox:read:kb:start --> and <!-- dox:read:kb:end --> (references kb agents / kb_search).
   • Otherwise use the text between <!-- dox:read:manual:start --> and <!-- dox:read:manual:end --> (manual chain-walk; no kb references).

Strip the delimiter comments from the seeded text. Append the block to ./AGENTS.md.

Then write ./.pi/dashboard/knowledge_base.json (when absent) enabling the directory-level AGENTS.md toolset:

{
  "sources": [{ "kind": "filesystem", "ref": "." }],
  "indexAgentsFiles": true,
  "directoryLevelAgents": { "enabled": true }
}

Step 6 — Run OpenSpec init (only when OPENSPEC_INIT is true)

Gated on the user's Step 3b answer (OPENSPEC_INIT); this only becomes true for the coding profile when no openspec/ dir pre-existed. Mirrors Step 4b's side-effect pattern — opt-in, verified, never forced.

Run (always non-interactive so it never hijacks the conversation):

openspec init --tools pi

The --tools pi flag pins the wiring to pi and skips OpenSpec's interactive tool picker. Verify exit 0 and that ./openspec/ now exists. On success, tell the user OpenSpec is wired (the coding AGENTS.md already documents openspec change new <name>). On non-zero exit (or a missing openspec binary), warn the user and point them at openspec init --tools pi to run manually — do NOT error the init; the scaffold is already written.

Idempotent re-run: if ./openspec/ already existed, Step 3b never asked, so OPENSPEC_INIT is false and this step is skipped — no clobber.

Step 7 — Done

Confirm what was written. Writing worktreeInit flips the directory to "configured": the next dashboard Initialize click runs the hook (change-A) instead of re-launching this skill. Tell the user they can click Initialize again to run npm ci (or the profile's hook).