Initialize Harness
Initialize the AI Engineering Harness in this repository.
What This Command Does
- •Runs the built-in
/initcommand to generateCLAUDE.md - •Creates the
thoughts/directory structure for context engineering - •Adds a ticket template for consistent ticket creation
- •Provides guidance on next steps
Instructions
Follow these steps to initialize the harness:
- •
Check the current state of the repository
- •Verify if
CLAUDE.mdalready exists - •Check if thoughts/ directory exists
- •Check if
AGENTS.mdalready exists
- •Verify if
- •
Run /init to generate CLAUDE.md (Claude Code's built-in command)
- •This analyzes the codebase and generates project memory
- •
Update
CLAUDE.mdwith reference toAGENTS.mdifAGENTS.mdexists- •This ensures Claudes default memory file includes reference to AGENTS.md if it exists.
- •
Create the thoughts/ directory structure:
bashmkdir -p thoughts/shared/{tickets,plans,research} mkdir -p thoughts/global - •
Add the ticket template to
thoughts/global/ticket-template.md - •
Optionally create a personal thoughts directory:
- •Check if personal directory exists
- •Check if all directories within personal exist (tickets, plans, research)
bashmkdir -p thoughts/$(whoami)/{tickets,plans,research} - •
Present next steps to the user
Important: The /init command is Claude Code's built-in command that
analyzes the codebase and generates CLAUDE.md (Claude Code's project memory
file). This /init_harness skill wraps that functionality and adds the context
engineering setup.
Note: Claude Code uses CLAUDE.md for project memory.
Quick Reference
After running this command, the repository will have:
CLAUDE.md # Codebase context (from /init) thoughts/ ├── shared/ │ ├── tickets/ # Feature requests, bugs, tasks │ │ └── ticket-template.md # Template for new tickets │ ├── plans/ # Implementation plans │ └── research/ # Research documents └── global/ # Cross-repository concerns
Workflow After Initialization
Ticket → /create_plan → /implement_plan → /validate_plan → /commit