Onboard - Project Discovery & Ledger Creation

Analyze a brownfield codebase and create an initial continuity ledger.

When to Use

• First time working in an existing project

• User says "onboard", "analyze this project", "get familiar with codebase"

How to Use

Spawn the onboard agent:

Use the Task tool with subagent_type: "onboard" and this prompt:

Onboard me to this project at $CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR.

1. Create required directories if they don't exist: mkdir -p thoughts/shared/handoffs/<project-name> .claude

2. Explore the codebase using available tools:

   • Try: tldr tree . && tldr structure .
   • Fallback: find . -type f -name ".py" -o -name ".ts" -o -name "*.js" | head -50

3. Detect tech stack (look for package.json, requirements.txt, Cargo.toml, go.mod, etc.)

4. Ask the user about their goals using AskUserQuestion

5. Create a YAML handoff at thoughts/shared/handoffs/<project-name>/onboard-<date>.yaml:

   date: <ISO date> type: onboard status: active

   goal: <user's stated goal> now: Start working on <first priority> tech_stack: [list of detected technologies] key_files:

   • path: <important file> purpose: <what it does> architecture: <brief description> next:
   • <suggested first action>

Why an Agent?

The onboard process:

• Requires multiple exploration steps

• Should not pollute main context with codebase dumps

• Returns a clean summary + creates the handoff

Output

• Directories created: thoughts/shared/handoffs/<project>/ , .claude/

• YAML handoff created (loaded automatically on session start)

• User has clear starting context

• Ready to begin work with full project awareness

Notes

• This skill is for BROWNFIELD projects (existing code)

• For greenfield, use /create_plan instead

• Handoff can be updated anytime with /create_handoff