$ca-init — first-run scaffold

Stand up the root-level .codearbiter/ project-state store that opts a repo into arbiter management. This is the v2 replacement for vendoring/init-vendor: no symlinks, no shims, no dual root. It writes the activation flag and the empty state files, then hands off to the populator.

.codearbiter/CONTEXT.md frontmatter arbiter: enabled is the single activation flag — it gates the SessionStart persona injection. The scaffolded CONTEXT.md is a stub (no initialization sentinel), so after scaffolding the project still needs populating before normal operation.

Explicit population strategies

--greenfield selects the exact skills/ca-decompose/SKILL.md workflow.

--brownfield selects the exact skills/ca-create-context/SKILL.md workflow.

The two flags are mutually exclusive and neither may combine with --check. --stage N may accompany one only while .codearbiter/CONTEXT.md is absent: scaffold at that stage, then enter the selected workflow. When an uninitialized stub already exists, skip the refusing scaffolder and enter the selected workflow directly. An initialized marker or source-shape mismatch retains the selected legacy workflow's BLOCK. Without an explicit strategy, continue with the unchanged auto-detection procedure below.

Procedure

1. Run the scaffolder against the repo's git toplevel (resolved by the script):

   python "${PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/init-codearbiter.py"
   

   It is idempotent and refuses if .codearbiter/CONTEXT.md already exists — it never overwrites state. Pass --stage N to set the initial maturity value (default 1). Use --check to report state without creating anything.

2. It creates .codearbiter/ with: CONTEXT.md (arbiter: enabled, stage: N, stub body), open-tasks.md, open-questions.md, overrides.log (audit header), and last-checkpoint (0).

3. Then route to the populator — the stub is not yet usable:

   • Source code already exists in the repo → route to $ca-create-context (brownfield: scouts read the codebase and synthesize the full context, writing the initialization sentinel).
   • Greenfield (no meaningful source) → route to $ca-decompose (layered interview).

   The populator is mandatory, not optional: it authors tech-stack.md, coding-standards.md, and security-controls.md (and writes the initialization sentinel). The pipeline gates BLOCK on reading those files — writing-plans and tdd need tech-stack.md, the security gates need security-controls.md — so $ca-feature run on a freshly-scaffolded stub will STOP at pre-flight until the populator has run. session-start surfaces this as NOT INITIALIZED every session.

4. Report what was created and which populator you are routing to.

When NOT to use

• .codearbiter/ already scaffolded → the scaffolder refuses; run $ca-create-context or $ca-decompose to populate, or $ca-status to see state.
• You only want to re-check detection state → run the scaffolder with --check.

Hard gate

MUST NOT hand-author .codearbiter/CONTEXT.md frontmatter — the scaffolder is the sanctioned path so the activation flag and state-file shapes match what the hook parses. MUST NOT mark a stub initialized; only the populator writes the initialization sentinel.