| name | import-claude |
| description | Import selected Claude sessions, skills, hooks, policies, repos, and plans into HQ. |
| allowed-tools | Read, Write, Edit, Bash, Glob, Grep, AskUserQuestion, Task |
/import-claude — Adopt Prior Claude Footprint into HQ
Hydrate a fresh HQ install from the user's existing Claude Code footprint. Discovers artifacts on disk, infers work ontology from prior /plan outputs, and guides a per-category import — creating missing companies and synthesizing workers on demand.
Ships via the hq-core release pipeline. Core changes are made in the hq-core staging repo and reach the public indigoai-us/hq-core release through promotion.
Preflight
Before any scan, verify all gates. Each is a hard stop.
1. Plan-Mode Guard
If the session is in Plan Mode (active instructions restrict edits to a single ~/.claude/plans/*.md file), STOP and print verbatim:
/import-claude writes to workspace/imports/, companies/, and core/workers/ — paths Plan Mode forbids. Exit plan mode (Shift+Tab) and re-run, or review the approved plan at ~/.claude/plans/ first.
Do not degrade. Do not redirect writes. Exit the skill.
2. HQ Root + Setup Check
HQ_ROOT="$(pwd)" (or resolve from settings). Confirm .claude/ and companies/manifest.yaml exist.
- If
manifest.yaml is missing: print /import-claude requires /setup to have been run first — run /setup and retry. and exit.
3. Self-Protection (Scope Sanity)
For every --scope=<dir> flag (and for the default allowlist), resolve with realpath. Abort if any resolves to a path that starts with $HQ_ROOT — the scanner refuses to re-import HQ into itself.
4. Active-Run Guard
Read workspace/orchestrator/active-runs.json. If the current repo is claimed by another run, refuse. /import-claude writes to registries — it cannot share the repo.
Flags
Parse $ARGUMENTS:
| Flag | Effect |
|---|
--dry-run | Scan + ontology inference + report; no imports, no manifest writes, no worker.yaml creation |
--scope=<dir> | Add a custom parent dir to scan (repeatable; additive to default allowlist) |
--ontology-only | Scan + ontology inference; skip every artifact triage |
--cluster-min-skills=<N> | Minimum skills in a cluster to trigger worker-synthesis prompt (default: 2) |
Phase 1: Scan
Announce: Scanning for Claude artifacts… this is read-only and takes ~5s on the default allowlist.
SCAN_ID="$(date -u +%Y%m%dT%H%M%SZ)"
SCAN_DIR="workspace/imports/${SCAN_ID}"
mkdir -p "$SCAN_DIR"
bash .claude/skills/import-claude/scan.sh \
--hq-root="$HQ_ROOT" \
--output="$SCAN_DIR/report.json" \
${SCOPE_FLAGS[@]/#/--scope=}
Confirm report.json parses as JSON (jq -e '.categories' "$SCAN_DIR/report.json" >/dev/null). If not, surface the scanner's stderr and abort.
Check discovery status (jq -r '.discovery.ok' "$SCAN_DIR/report.json"). The scanner records whether discovery actually completed, so a failed scan is never mistaken for an empty one. If .discovery.ok is false, do not treat any zero counts as authoritative — surface the failure loudly, e.g.:
⚠️ Discovery did not complete — the counts below may be UNDER-reported.
The scanner could not read part of the scope (see .discovery.errors in the report).
This is "could not look", not "nothing to import". Fix the access issue (or
re-run with a narrower --scope) before concluding there is nothing to migrate.
Print the contents of .discovery.errors and let the user decide whether to continue, rather than silently reporting zeros.
Redact the report before anything touches user-visible surfaces:
bash .claude/skills/import-claude/redact.sh --json-fields "$SCAN_DIR/report.json" > "$SCAN_DIR/report.redacted.json"
mv "$SCAN_DIR/report.redacted.json" "$SCAN_DIR/report.json"
Phase 2: Overview
Read $SCAN_DIR/report.json. Print a counts-per-category summary:
Scan complete. Found:
plans {N}
mcp_servers {N}
settings_fragments {N}
commands {N}
skills {N}
hooks {N}
policies {N}
claude_md {N}
knowledge_dirs {N}
claude_repos {N}
agents {N}
Report: workspace/imports/{scan_id}/report.json
If all counts are zero and .discovery.ok is true: No Claude artifacts found in scanned scope. Exiting. Stop. (If .discovery.ok is false, do not print this — discovery failed; surface the errors per the discovery-status check above instead of claiming nothing was found.)
If --dry-run: print Dry-run complete. No imports performed. and exit.
AskUserQuestion — one call, one item:
question: "How would you like to proceed?"
header: "Import flow"
multiSelect: false
options:
Ontology first — "Infer companies from prior plans, then triage artifacts"
Artifacts first — "Skip ontology, go straight to per-category triage"
Review report — "Open report.json in your editor first, then decide"
Exit — "Write the report and stop"
On Review report: open -e "$SCAN_DIR/report.json" and re-ask after user continues.
On Exit: print report path and stop.
Phase 3: Ontology Inference
Skip if user chose Artifacts first and --ontology-only is NOT set.
Build the corpus:
PLANS_COUNT=$(jq '.categories.plans | length' "$SCAN_DIR/report.json")
If PLANS_COUNT == 0: print No plan files found — skipping ontology inference. and continue to Phase 4.
Otherwise, spawn a Task sub-agent:
- Prompt: contents of
.claude/skills/import-claude/ontology.md (verbatim) followed by the appended inputs:
- Plan index — all plan filenames + first-line headings from the report
- Plan corpus — for ≤50 most-recent plans, read the first 200 lines each, pipe through
redact.sh, and embed
- Existing HQ companies — the top-level slug list from
companies/manifest.yaml
- Scan context — the counts block from Phase 2
Cap the corpus at 50 plans. For older plans include filename only (as the ontology template instructs).
Write the sub-agent response verbatim to $SCAN_DIR/ontology.md.
Parse ## Inferred Companies table. For each row:
-
Skip if slug already exists in companies/manifest.yaml.
-
AskUserQuestion (one per row):
question: "Create HQ company {slug}? ({signal_strength} signal — {rationale})"
header: "Ontology"
options:
Create {slug} — "Runs /newcompany {slug} and seeds core/knowledge/context.md"
Adjust slug — "Rename before creating" (follow-up free-text prompt)
Defer — "Skip for now; revisit later"
Reject — "Don't create; ontology call was wrong"
-
On Create: inline-invoke /newcompany {slug} via Skill tool. On return, write the row's suggested knowledge seed to companies/{slug}/knowledge/context.md (seed a fresh file; prepend frontmatter per knowledge-ontology spec).
Routing safety. /newcompany is the enforcer that scaffolds all company content under companies/{slug}/ — import-claude delegates company/worker creation to it rather than writing those paths itself. Do not hand-place imported policies, workers, or knowledge into core/; company-scoped artifacts belong under the created companies/{slug}/ tree (see core/policies/hq-customizations-live-in-personal-or-company.md and hq-company-scoped-writes-verify-company.md).
If user chose --ontology-only: after this phase, print summary and exit with report + ontology locations.
Phase 4: Per-Category Triage
Order (empties skipped): mcp_servers → settings_fragments → commands → skills → hooks → policies → agents → claude_md → knowledge_dirs → claude_repos.
Plans are intentionally excluded — they stay at ~/.claude/plans/.
For each non-empty category:
AskUserQuestion — category-level gate:
question: "{N} {category} found. How to proceed?"
header: category name
options:
Review each — "Decide per item"
Import all safe — "Auto-import items with no conflicts + no redactions"
Skip category — "Leave these untouched"
Review each
Batch items in groups of 5. For each batch, one AskUserQuestion with 5 items (one per artifact), multiSelect: false:
question: "{source_path} — {suggested_destination}"
header: artifact name (basename)
options:
Keep — "Import to suggested destination"
Merge — "Merge with existing file at destination (will show diff)" (only if conflict.exists && !hash_match)
Rename — "Keep both (adds .imported-{scan_id} suffix)" (only if conflict)
Skip — "Don't import this item"
Assign to company — "Scope to a company not yet guessed"
On Assign to company: follow-up with company picker (options = current manifest slugs + New company…). On New company… with a provided slug: inline-invoke /newcompany {slug} before continuing.
On Merge: show unified diff via diff -u source dest and ask overwrite / keep-both / skip.
Redaction confirm — if the item has non-empty redacted_fields, before importing ask:
question: "{filename} contains {N} credential pattern(s). Import redacted?"
options:
Import redacted — "Replace with <REDACTED:*> tokens"
Skip file — "Don't import at all"
Include raw — "Copy verbatim with credentials (only if you know what you're doing)"
Import all safe
Auto-import items where conflict.exists == false AND redacted_fields == []. Everything else falls through to the Review loop.
Import step (per item)
After every per-item decision resolves to Keep/Merge/Rename:
- Run redactor on source:
bash .claude/skills/import-claude/redact.sh "$source" > "$tmp"
- Copy
$tmp → resolved destination (respecting Rename suffix)
- Update
workspace/imports/index.json with {sha256: {destination, scan_id, timestamp}} — idempotency store
Phase 5: Registration (per-category, after its batch completes)
Update registries immediately after each category finishes — limits blast radius if a later phase fails.
| Category | Registration step |
|---|
| mcp_servers | Merge into .claude/settings.json#mcpServers via structured jq write |
| settings_fragments | Field-level merge into .claude/settings.json (never replace file) |
| commands | File-presence only |
| skills | Copy to .claude/skills/{name}/; if worker.yaml sibling exists → route to worker synthesis (Phase 6) |
| hooks | Copy to .claude/hooks/; add matcher to settings.json#hooks[]; verify hook-gate.sh --list shows it |
| policies | Validate frontmatter against core/knowledge/public/hq-core/policies-spec.md; place at core/policies/ or companies/{co}/policies/ |
| agents | Copy to .claude/agents/ |
| claude_md | Merge into nearest-root CLAUDE.md (show diff, confirm before write) |
| knowledge_dirs | Create repo symlink per pattern choice; register the knowledge dir in the relevant company knowledge tree |
| claude_repos | Per-repo prompt: Symlink / Move / Skip; update manifest.yaml company repos: array on adoption |
No null fields — every manifest.yaml company entry and every worker.yaml must include all required fields from the schema. If a field is unknown, ask before writing. (core/workers/registry.yaml is auto-generated — no direct writes.)
Phase 6: Worker Synthesis
Runs after skills + knowledge_dirs triage completes. Reads imported items from index.json.
Cluster detection
A cluster is any group of imported artifacts where:
- ≥
--cluster-min-skills skills share a domain keyword (filename stem, SKILL.md description first word, or parent dir basename), OR
- ≥1 skill + ≥1 knowledge dir imported from the same source repo/parent, OR
- ≥1
agents/*.md file with both tool list + instructions (worker-shaped)
Per-cluster prompt
For each detected cluster, AskUserQuestion:
question: "Cluster {keyword}: {N} skills + {M} knowledge dirs. Synthesize as a worker?"
header: "Worker synthesis"
options:
Create worker — "Inline /newworker with skills + knowledge pre-filled"
Keep loose — "Leave as individual skills/knowledge"
Split cluster — "I'll pick which items belong to the worker"
Skip — "Ignore this cluster"
On Create worker
Registration order is strict — violate this and the worker's knowledge pointers won't resolve:
- Verify knowledge dirs from Phase 5 are in place (symlinks resolve,
companies/{co}/knowledge/ is populated)
- Inline-invoke
/newworker with pre-filled fields:
name: inferred from dominant keyword
scope: company-scoped if cluster maps to a known slug, else core/workers/public/
skills: paths of imported skill dirs
knowledge: paths of imported knowledge dirs (must already be registered)
description: synthesized from SKILL.md frontmatter (user edits in the /newworker flow)
/newworker writes worker.yaml; core/workers/registry.yaml regenerates automatically via reindex.
- Record the cluster in
$SCAN_DIR/synthesized-workers.json.
Shared vs company default
If the cluster has no clear company anchor and the user picks Create worker without specifying scope: default to loose skills (do not auto-promote to core/workers/public/). Synthesis into shared scope requires explicit accept. This is the conservative default per the approved plan's unresolved-question #5.
Phase 7: Reindex & Summary
After all phases finish:
qmd update 2>/dev/null || true
Write $SCAN_DIR/summary.md:
# Import Summary — {scan_id}
## Companies
- Created: {slugs or "none"}
- Seeded from ontology: {slugs or "none"}
## Imports (by category)
| category | imported | skipped | conflicts |
|---|---|---|---|
| ... | | | |
## Workers Synthesized
{table: name | scope | skills | knowledge}
## Repos Adopted
{table: source | destination | mode (symlink/move)}
## Credentials Redacted
{count per pattern name}
## Next Steps
- Run `/cleanup --audit` to validate no broken state
- Review `workspace/imports/{scan_id}/ontology.md` for deferred ontology rows
- Review `workspace/imports/{scan_id}/report.json` for skipped items
Print the summary path + git status diff preview (not commit — user commits).
AskUserQuestion — post-run:
options:
Run /cleanup --audit — "Validate nothing landed broken"
Run /learn — "Capture insights from this import"
Commit now — "Stage + commit the new state"
End — "Done for now"
Rules
- Plan Mode refuse — Preflight halts before any scan. No silent degrade.
- Self-exclusion — scanner never reads inside
$HQ_ROOT. Verified via realpath in scan.sh.
- Read-only scan — scan.sh never writes outside
$SCAN_DIR. Confirmed by scan.sh's lack of any write paths other than --output.
- Redact before display — every preview/prompt/report.json the user sees has been through
redact.sh. Raw source file content is never shown verbatim without explicit Include raw choice.
- Idempotent — re-runs check
workspace/imports/index.json by sha256 and skip already-imported items silently. Different destination for same source → surface as duplicate source.
- Conflict decision required —
conflict.exists && !hash_match cannot be auto-resolved. User picks.
- AskUserQuestion only — every user-facing choice goes through AskUserQuestion. Never markdown numbered lists.
- Inline scaffolding — unknown company slugs invoke
/newcompany inline; worker clusters invoke /newworker inline. No deferred "you should run X later" hand-waves.
- Registry completeness — every write to
manifest.yaml and every new worker.yaml fills all required schema fields. No nulls. If a field is unknown, ask. core/workers/registry.yaml is a generated artifact — never written directly.
- Generic-user safety — report.json and summary.md substitute literal
$HOME for $HOME/ prefixes. Scanner's sub_home() enforces this.
- Plans are never imported — they stay at
~/.claude/plans/. Only feed ontology inference.
- Per-repo prompt — every claude-bearing repo gets its own prompt. No batch-adopt.
- Registration-order discipline (worker synthesis) — knowledge before worker.yaml. Always.
- No execution — this command mutates HQ structure only. It does not run imported skills, execute worker tasks, or invoke any other work.
- Checkpoint after write — if any Phase 5 registration succeeds, the Auto-Checkpoint PostToolUse hook fires. Do not race it.
Files this skill touches
Reads: companies/manifest.yaml, core/workers/registry.yaml, workspace/imports/index.json, user's disk (per scope).
Writes: workspace/imports/{scan_id}/ (report, ontology, summary, synthesized-workers), workspace/imports/index.json, .claude/{commands,skills,hooks,policies,agents}/, .claude/settings.json, companies/{co}/{knowledge,policies,repos,workers}/, companies/manifest.yaml, core/workers/public/{id}/worker.yaml (registry auto-regenerates), CLAUDE.md (on user confirm).
Never touches: ~/.claude/plans/ (read-only for ontology), ~/.ssh/, ~/.aws/, ~/.gnupg/, .env, any shell rc file (per HQ deny lists).
See also
- Scanner:
.claude/skills/import-claude/scan.sh
- Redactor:
.claude/skills/import-claude/redact.sh
- Ontology prompt:
.claude/skills/import-claude/ontology.md
- Command stub:
.claude/commands/import-claude.md
- Plan file (archive):
~/.claude/plans/<plan-name>.md