Onboard

When to use it

Run $onboard in Codex or /onboard in Claude Code immediately after installing Blueprint into a new or early application. Google Antigravity also uses /onboard. In GitHub Copilot or OpenCode, ask the agent to run the onboard skill.

What it inspects

• Framework, language, package manager, and project layout
• Existing build, development, lint, and test commands
• Existing Verify commands, GitHub workflows, and other automatic checks
• Coding and styling conventions
• Existing blueprint/config.json settings and validity
• Adapter folders and ignore rules
• Whether workflow files should be committed or kept local

What it writes

Onboarding can update AGENTS.md, the Claude project title, coding standards, AI interaction rules, selected project configuration values, ignore rules, project README cleanup, and adapter recommendations. It asks before changing workflow preferences and tells you what remains to fill in before overview.

New projects default to one review packet after implementation and no step checkpoint prompts. Onboarding explains the settings separately: choosing stepReview: "every" restores per-step approval, while matching the previous workflow also requires checkpointCommits: "enabled". Both choices retain the final code walkthrough option.

Independent review defaults to when-sensitive for regular and Continuous work, so sensitive or unusually broad changes receive review without adding it to every small feature. Review execution defaults to automatic, which uses an isolated reviewer when the active adapter can prove fresh context, exact identity and model, and completion. Onboard can instead set execution to manual when you always want a fresh-session handoff. Either choice changes review execution only and never grants commit or merge permission.

Onboarding asks for an Implementation style:

• Efficient (recommended) writes feature plus disabled and ends with one review packet and a code walkthrough option.
• Guided writes every plus enabled, adding per-step approvals and checkpoint prompts before the same final walkthrough option.
• Custom asks for the two values separately.

The labels are onboarding presets only. Blueprint stores no implementationStyle field, and the two low-level settings can be changed at any time.

Codex, GitHub Copilot, and Google Antigravity share .agents/. OpenCode can reuse that tree or .claude/, which Claude Code uses directly. Onboard reads the installer manifest and keeps its exact adapter selection without asking the user to choose again. For legacy installations without valid adapter metadata, it explains that .agents/ alone cannot show which compatible tools were selected and asks which tools the user actually uses.

It reports the existing test gate and CI state. When equivalent automatic checks are missing, it points to $ci or /ci as an optional follow-up. Onboarding does not create CI itself.

First Git commit

If the repository has no commits yet, Onboard shows the safe scaffold-only candidate and asks once before creating chore: scaffold application. It establishes the default branch, returns to the setup branch, and continues onboarding in the same run. It never pushes.

If a first commit already exists, Onboard continues normally whether that commit contains only the scaffold or already includes Blueprint.

What it never does

It does not scaffold the application, invent the product plan, implement features, or publish. It never commits without explicit approval and never pushes.

Next step

Review the setup. Run $ci or /ci if you want one shared Verify command and matching GitHub checks. Then fill in project-plan.md and build-plan.md directly or through any AI conversation and run $overview or /overview.

Review Project Configuration when you want to change review cadence, branch prefixes, verification requirements, automatic Audit, independent-review, Check, try-guide gates, or Continuous Mode limits.

If you want a guided deep planning conversation, you may run $discovery or /discovery first. It is optional and never runs as part of onboarding.