Init Workspace

SkillDev tools

Adapt the workflow scaffold to a new repository or add only missing substrate blocks to an existing install. Every install, hook, and overwrite needs explicit consent. Triggers: "init-workspace", "set up agentic workflow", "upgrade workflow scaffold".

Available today. Use it from your connected AI after setup.

Connect ahel once, and every AI you use reads what you have installed.

Then ask your AI: use the Init Workspace skill

What this skill tells your AI

The instructions your AI receives, as published by gtrabanco/agentic-workflow in skills/init-workspace/SKILL.md and read by ahel’s review.

Turn an empty or existing repo into one that works with the agentic workflow: copy the generic scaffold, then tailor it to this project instead of leaving raw placeholders.

Turn contract — verify before ending the turn

✓ The adapted scaffold and repository-state ledger are written (or the merge/abort decision was asked) and remaining placeholders are listed
✓ Nothing was installed or overwritten without an explicit yes
✓ Artifact language: explicit user instruction > the project's declared docs language > English. The CONVERSATION language never decides — a Spanish prompt still produces English PRs/issues/commits/SPECs unless one of the first two says otherwise
✓ The closing `→ Next:` block is printed as the ABSOLUTE last output

About to end the turn with any box unchecked? The turn is NOT done — complete the missing box first (weak models drop end-of-document duties; this list is first on purpose).

When to use

  • Setting up a repo to use these skills and you want the documentation substrate (CLAUDE.md + docs/ map + templates) adapted to the project, not just copied.
  • Prefer this over a static npx degit gtrabanco/agentic-workflow/template when you want the gate commands, architecture, and doc domains filled in by interview.

Step 0 — Discover the project (always first)

Inspect the target dir ([target-dir], default cwd) before touching anything:

  • Existing CLAUDE.md / AGENTS.md / docs/ / .github/? If so, do not clobber — check first whether it's an agentic-workflow scaffold (marker: CLAUDE.md present and either docs/features/ROADMAP.md or a docs/workflow/ dir). If both markers are present, offer upgrade as the default action, alongside merge / adapt-in-place / abort — see Upgrade mode below. If CLAUDE.md/docs/ exist but the markers are absent (a foreign scaffold), stay in bootstrap and ask merge / adapt in place / abort as before.
  • Detect the stack from manifests (package.json, pyproject.toml, go.mod, Cargo.toml, Gemfile, …) to propose gate commands and naming conventions.
  • Note the git state (is it a repo, what's the default branch, and the remote URL → forge: github.com → GitHub/gh, gitlab → GitLab/glab, else ask).

Progressive loading — bootstrap or upgrade, never both

The reference allowlist is exactly the four linked paths below. Never invent or read another references/ path. Step 0 selects exactly one route:

Hard rule for an existing Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, or OpenCode scaffold: LOAD exactly references/UPGRADE.md. A missing committed safety adapter is upgrade work, not a missing vendor primitive. Do not load bootstrap or portability unless the runtime platform has no named adapter at all.

  • Bare/foreign repository: read bootstrap discovery, complete its interview, then read bootstrap write.
  • Existing agentic-workflow scaffold: read upgrade only. Its additive-only rule is absolute; do not replay bootstrap.
  • No named adapter exists for the detected runtime platform: add portability only for that fallback. Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, and OpenCode are named supported adapters; a missing adapter file is repaired by upgrade and does not trigger portability.

All resources are one hop from this file. Existing files, hook consent, installation consent, and residual reporting are fixed contracts. Missing template/migration evidence is reported by the selected route, never filled by guessing. An existing OpenCode scaffold with only its safety adapter missing loads exactly upgrade and skips bootstrap plus portability.

Guardrails

  • Never overwrite an existing CLAUDE.md or docs/ without explicit consent.
  • Additive-only, never clobber (upgrade mode). Upgrade mode only adds blocks the project lacks and fills raw placeholders — it never rewrites or deletes a block the project already tailored, even if the current template changed that block too. A genuine re-tailor is a separate, explicitly requested bootstrap adapt-in-place run, never something upgrade mode does on its own. The urgency label seeding is additive-only the same way: create a missing urgent/fix-next label, never touch one that already exists (name, color, or description a project already customized).
  • Never redefine the urgency label vocabulary here. skills/triage-issue /SKILL.md is the sole owner of the urgent/fix-next names, colors, and apply rules — this skill only seeds those two labels into the repo; it never invents a third label or changes what the two mean.
  • Docs-only scaffolding; no app code, no dependencies installed unprompted.
  • Architecture-agnostic: record the project's pattern, don't impose one.
  • Honest placeholders over invented specifics; flag what's left to fill.
  • Honor the project's Workflow conventions once present; on an existing repo, don't work on its default branch and never commit/push unless asked.

Normalized Repository State

Seed docs/workflow/REPOSITORY_STATE.md from the template. Explain that discovery freezes evidence before planning and only the resolver updates facts.

Architectural invariants

Offer docs/architecture/ARCHITECTURAL_INVARIANTS.md as an optional project contract for long-lived architectural rules. Its entries must name a stable ID, repository evidence, and the authority that can change the rule. Do not infer a rule from the implementation or a feature SPEC. A project without this document remains compatible; record n/a: no project invariants declared in later workflow artifacts rather than creating one silently.

Portability

The scaffold is vendor-neutral; only hook activation differs. When the detected agent has no named adapter, follow portability and keep it as an explicit residual. A supported Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, or OpenCode adapter does not load this fallback.

Relationship to other skills

  • npx degit gtrabanco/agentic-workflow/template — the static copy this skill adapts. Use that when you want the raw scaffold and will fill it yourself.
  • docs/workflow/PORTABLE_PROMPT.md — regenerates the skills adapted to a project (behavior). This skill adapts the substrate (docs). Complementary.
  • After init: discover-repository-statedesign-featureplan-featureexecute-phase; run audit-docs to confirm the scaffold is coherent.

Done when

  • A tailored CLAUDE.md + docs/ scaffold + .github/ templates exist in the target, unused folders pruned, residual placeholders flagged, the platform's companion review skills are recorded (and offered), and the urgent/ fix-next labels are seeded (scaffold) or additively reconciled (upgrade), and every accepted safety adapter is active and fixture-tested — or explicitly listed as a residual when its hook API/dependency was unavailable.

  • The closing → Next: block is printed (plus the offer to install the skills):

    → Next: /discover-repository-state — freeze repository evidence before planning
      · raw idea → /design-feature "<idea>" after discovery
      · next roadmap entry → /plan-feature --next after discovery
      · confirm the scaffold is coherent → /audit-docs
    

Signals

GitHub stars
21
Forks
3
Last commit
Sep 2026
Advanced
Catalog kind
skill
Gateway key
init-workspace
Source
github.com/gtrabanco/agentic-workflow