| name | create-workspace |
| description | Create a new book project workspace from the Claude-Book-Workspace-Template repository, or scaffold one locally. Use when starting a new book, or when the user asks to set up a book project. |
Creating a book workspace
A book project lives in its own repository, instantiated from the template. It is
separate from this plugin because the two run on different clocks: the plugin is
replaced wholesale on /plugin update, and a book project lives for months and
diverges from the template forever.
1. Establish what is being made
Ask only what you cannot infer: a project name, and whether there is existing
material here to build from. Glob for manuscript/, chapters/, *.md before
asking — if the user is standing in a directory of notes, say so.
Do not run the intake interview here. That is the definition team's job and it
happens after the workspace exists.
2. Confirm before creating
Creating a repository is outward-facing. Show the exact command and state what
the repository will hold, so a --public choice is made knowingly:
gh repo create <name> --template danielrosehill/Claude-Book-Workspace-Template --private --clone
Private by default. A book in progress usually should be. Ask; do not infer
from the fact that another repository nearby is public.
gh handles the template instantiation race internally — no wait loop is needed.
The result is a squashed initial commit with no upstream link, so the project
never receives template changes afterwards. That is intended.
If gh is unavailable, copy ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/template/ into the target
directory and git init. Say that the GitHub repository was not created.
3. Mark it
Write .book-writing at the workspace root:
created: <YYYY-MM-DD>
template: danielrosehill/Claude-Book-Workspace-Template
template_version: 1.0.0
backing: github
repo: <owner>/<name>
workspace_root: .
Every other skill finds the workspace by searching the current directory and then
upward for this file. Never assume the enclosing git repository is the workspace.
4. Make it this project's repository
- Replace the template's
README.md with a status page for this book.
- Leave
CLAUDE.md alone. It is the directive layer and it applies unchanged.
- Commit and push.
5. Then hand off
Report the path and say that the next step is recording the brief — /book-brief,
which records what the user wants without asking them anything.
Do not begin the intake yourself, and do not start proposing chapters.
