Bootstrap

Value: Communication -- establish shared understanding of environment,
capabilities, and workflow before any work begins.

Purpose

Single entry point for configuring the SDLC workflow on any harness. Detects
the project environment and harness capabilities, configures TDD mode
(guided or automated), generates harness-appropriate instruction files, and
recommends skills. Never silently installs or modifies anything.

Practices

Step 1: Detect the Environment

Gather project context silently before asking questions:

!test -f package.json && echo "js" || true
!test -f Cargo.toml && echo "rust" || true
!test -f pyproject.toml && echo "python" || true
!test -f go.mod && echo "go" || true
!test -f mix.exs && echo "elixir" || true
!git rev-parse --is-inside-work-tree 2>/dev/null && echo "git" || true
!ls skills/*/SKILL.md 2>/dev/null | sed 's|skills/||;s|/SKILL.md||' || true

Record: languages detected, git available, skills already installed.

Step 2: Detect Harness Capabilities

Probe for delegation primitives. See references/capability-detection.md
for the full detection procedure.

Capability	How to detect	Implication
Skill chaining	Always available	Guided TDD mode works
Subagents	Task tool present	Serial subagent strategy works
Agent teams	TeamCreate tool present	Ping-pong pairing works

Step 3: Detect Harness Type

Identify the harness to generate the correct instruction files:

Signal	Harness
CLAUDE.md convention, Claude Code tools	Claude Code
AGENTS.md convention, Codex tools	Codex
.cursor/rules directory	Cursor / Windsurf
None of the above	Generic (AGENTS.md only)

Step 4: Configure TDD Mode

Recommend based on detected capabilities:

• Subagents or teams available: Recommend automated mode (/tdd).
• No delegation primitives: Recommend guided mode (/tdd red, /tdd green, etc.).
• Let the user override. Record the choice.

If Claude Code is detected and the user wants maximum enforcement, offer
to install optional hook templates from skills/tdd/references/hooks/.

Step 4b: Detect Factory Mode

Check if the pipeline skill is installed (skills/pipeline/SKILL.md exists). If detected, factory pipeline mode is available and Step 5 includes an additional question.

Step 5: Ask the User

Question 1: What are you trying to do?

• "Start a new project" -- recommend Understand + Decide + Build phases
• "Add a feature or fix a bug" -- recommend Build + Ship phases
• "Set up team workflow" -- recommend all phases plus ensemble team

Question 2: How much process structure?

• "Minimal" -- recommend tdd, domain-modeling
• "Standard" -- recommend core + ship skills
• "Full" -- recommend all skills (include factory pipeline skills when pipeline is detected)

Question 3 (only when pipeline skill is detected): What autonomy level?

• "Conservative" (default for new projects) -- human approval at every gate
• "Standard" (established projects) -- human approval at PR and deploy gates only
• "Full" (mature projects with comprehensive tests) -- human approval at deploy gate only

When this question is answered, generate .factory/config.yaml with the chosen autonomy level and sensible defaults (e.g., max rework cycles, slice timeout, audit trail path).

See references/skill-recommendations.md for the full skill list by phase.

Step 6: Generate Instruction Files

Generate harness-appropriate files. For Claude Code, CLAUDE.md uses
@AGENTS.md references instead of symlinks or content embedding to keep
a single source of truth and avoid duplication. See
references/agents-md.md for AGENTS.md best practices (small routing
document, progressive disclosure, managed markers) and
references/harness-files.md for harness-specific generation rules.

Step 7: Optional Ensemble Team

If the user selected "Set up team workflow" or "Full" process structure,
offer to invoke the ensemble-team skill for AI team formation. Present
the three presets (solo-plus, lean, full). If accepted, invoke the skill
and record the preset in configuration.

Step 8: Commit and Display

Stage generated files, commit with a descriptive message, and display:

• What was configured (harness, TDD mode, skills recommended)
• Next steps (/tdd to start a TDD cycle, or phase-specific commands)
• If ensemble team was configured, note the preset and member count

Enforcement Note

This skill is purely advisory. It generates configuration and instruction
files but cannot install skills or modify harness settings without user
confirmation.

Verification

• Environment was detected before asking questions
• Harness capabilities were probed (not assumed)
• No more than 2-3 questions were asked
• TDD mode recommendation matched detected capabilities
• Generated files use managed markers for safe re-runs
• Nothing was installed without user confirmation

Dependencies

This skill works standalone. It recommends but does not require other skills.
It generates configuration that references the tdd skill for TDD workflow.