init-project

name	init-project
description	Use at the start of a product, AI Agent, MVP, or enterprise delivery repo, or when a repo lacks harness.yaml, docs, rules, evals, and CLAUDE.md project memory. Creates a complete local harness scaffold.
argument-hint	[target-path] [--profile generic|jb-finai|financial-ai|internal-tool]

Initialize Harness Project

Use when

• New project needs a repeatable agent operating system
• Existing repo has code but no harness artifacts
• Team wants Claude/Codex/Gemini to converge on the same structure

Do not use when

• Repo already has a mature harness and user asked only for validation

Inputs to inspect

• Project root
• Existing README/package files
• User-stated domain and stage

Files to create or update

• harness.yaml
• CLAUDE.md
• docs/00_source-log.md through docs/12_handoff.md
• rules/*.md
• evals/*.md

Operating sequence

1. Inspect root before writing.
2. Detect profile: generic, jb-finai, financial-ai, internal-tool.
3. Copy missing templates only; do not overwrite unless user requested.
4. Fill obvious project metadata in harness.yaml.
5. Add a source log entry recording scaffold date and profile.
6. Run or offer scripts/validate_project.py.
7. Report created/existing files.

Practical Init Modes

Safe init

Create only missing files. Use this by default.

Adoption init

If a repo already has docs, create docs/harness-migration-map.md mapping old docs to harness artifacts instead of replacing them.

Competition init

For hackathon/competition projects, prioritize 02_cps, 08_feature-spec, 09_flow, 10_eval-plan, and 11_change-log.

Optional Script

Ask before running:

python3 ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../scripts/scaffold_project.py . --profile generic
python3 ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../scripts/validate_project.py .

Quality gates

• No user file is overwritten silently.
• The scaffold passes structure validation.
• The generated CLAUDE.md tells future agents how to use the harness.

Stop conditions

Stop and route backward when prerequisite artifacts are missing, when the requested action would erase user work, or when a high-risk workflow lacks evidence, approval, audit, or fail-closed handling.

Example invocation

/harness-engineering:init-project

Apply this skill to the current repository. Inspect existing artifacts first, update only what is necessary, and report files changed, decisions, assumptions, validation, risks, and next skill.

Shared completion and integrity

End with the completion report in ../../references/common-completion-report.md and follow ../../references/common-integrity-rules.md.