🎯 Onboarding Awareness (CHECK BEFORE STARTING)

Before creating a project, AI MUST check user-config.yaml for incomplete onboarding:

Pre-Flight Check (MANDATORY)

# Check learning_tracker.completed in user-config.yaml
learn_projects: false  → SUGGEST 'learn projects' skill FIRST

If learn_projects: false AND this is user's FIRST project:

💡 Before creating your first project, would you like a quick 8-minute tutorial
on how Nexus projects work? It covers:
- When to use projects vs skills (avoid common mistakes)
- Project structure and lifecycle
- How to track progress effectively

Say 'learn projects' to start the tutorial, or 'skip' to create directly.

If user says 'skip': Proceed with project creation but add this note at the end:

💡 Tip: Run 'learn projects' later if you want to understand the project system deeply.

If learn_projects: true: Proceed normally without suggestion.

Recommended Onboarding Sequence

When checking learning_tracker.completed, if user hasn't done core onboarding:

1. setup_goals: false → Consider suggesting (but don't block project creation)
2. learn_projects: false → Suggest before FIRST project (high priority)

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━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⚠️ CRITICAL EXECUTION REQUIREMENTS ⚠️

WORKFLOW: Structure FIRST, Collaborative Planning SECOND

MANDATORY STEPS (DO NOT SKIP):

1. ✅ Create TodoWrite with ALL steps
2. ✅ Offer project type selection (Build, Research, Strategy, Content, Process, Generic)
3. ✅ Ask project name
4. ✅ RUN init_project.py IMMEDIATELY (creates 4 directories + 3 planning files)
5. ✅ Display created structure
6. ✅ Load overview.md → Fill collaboratively → PAUSE → User confirms
7. ✅ Load plan.md → Apply mental models → Research dependencies → PAUSE → User confirms
8. ✅ Load steps.md → Break down execution → PAUSE → User confirms
9. ✅ Close session

ANTI-PATTERN (DO NOT DO THIS): ❌ Skip project type selection ❌ Skip running init_project.py ❌ Try to create files manually ❌ Generate content before structure exists ❌ Skip mental model questions (Socratic, devil's advocate) ❌ Skip dependency research ❌ Skip pauses between documents ❌ Complete skill in single response

CORRECT PATTERN (DO THIS): ✅ TodoWrite → Offer types → Ask name → RUN SCRIPT → Files created ✅ Then: Load overview.md → Fill collaboratively → PAUSE → Confirm ✅ Then: Load plan.md → Ask Socratic questions → Research dependencies → Add adaptive sections → PAUSE → Confirm ✅ Then: Load steps.md → Break down phases → PAUSE → Confirm ✅ Then: Close session

MENTAL MODELS (MANDATORY): ✅ Socratic Questioning during Approach section ✅ Devil's Advocate during risk assessment ✅ Dependency Research before completing plan.md

SCRIPT RUNS FIRST - ALWAYS! ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Create Project

Collaborative project design with intelligent, adaptive planning and deep thinking frameworks.

Purpose

The create-project skill creates project structure and guides you through collaborative planning. The workflow: Create structure FIRST (via script), THEN fill in the templates with AI-guided depth.

Key Features:

• Script-Generated Structure: 4 directories (01-planning/, 02-resources/, 03-working/, 04-outputs/) + 3 planning files (overview, plan, steps) created immediately
• Adaptive Planning: Templates expand based on project type (Build, Research, Strategy, etc.)
• Deep Thinking: AI applies Socratic questioning and Devil's Advocate models
• Dependency Research: AI proactively finds and links related files/systems
• Mandatory Pauses: Review each document before proceeding
• Separate Session Principle: Project created now, executed later

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Two Modes

This skill operates in two modes based on system state:

1. Workspace Setup Mode

When: 02-projects/ directory doesn't exist Purpose: Create initial workspace folder structure (10-15 min) Workflow: See workflows.md#workspace-setup

2. Project Creation Mode

When: 02-projects/ exists Purpose: Full collaborative project planning (20-30 min) Workflow: See workflows.md#project-creation

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Mode Detection Logic

CRITICAL: Before starting any workflow, detect which mode to use.

1. Check for 02-projects/:

   ls -d 02-projects/ 2>/dev/null
   

   • IF exists → PROJECT_CREATION mode
   • IF not exists → WORKSPACE_SETUP mode (System not initialized)

Decision Tree:

02-projects/ exists?
├── YES → PROJECT_CREATION mode
└── NO → WORKSPACE_SETUP mode

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Quick Start

The One True Workflow: Intelligent Planning

There is only ONE way to create projects - always run the script first, then collaboratively plan with depth:

Step 1: Initiation (< 1 minute) ⚡

• Offer project types (Build, Research, Strategy, etc.)
• Run scripts/init_project.py "Project Name" --path 02-projects
• Auto-generates 4 directories: 01-planning/, 02-resources/, 03-working/, 04-outputs/
• Auto-generates 3 planning files in 01-planning/: overview.md, plan.md, steps.md

Step 2: Collaborative Planning (15-30 minutes) 🤔

• overview.md: Define purpose and success criteria
• plan.md:
  • AI suggests adaptive sections based on type
  • AI asks Socratic questions to test assumptions
  • AI researches dependencies and populates links
  • AI plays Devil's Advocate to identify risks
• steps.md: Break down execution into phases

Step 3: Save & Execute Later 💾

• Close session to save progress
• Execute project in a separate session with clean context

Workflow Steps

1. Detect mode using logic above
2. Offer project types from project-types.md
3. Run init_project.py to create structure immediately
4. Display created structure
5. Load workflow from workflows.md
6. Follow workflow step-by-step with mandatory pauses
7. Close session to save state

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⚠️ MANDATORY: Mental Models Selection

CRITICAL: Do NOT skip this step, even if you know which models to use from memory!

During the plan.md phase, AI MUST run select_mental_models.py script FIRST, then offer 2-3 relevant options to user.

Required Workflow (DO NOT SKIP):

1. Run script FIRST (before applying ANY models):

   python 00-system/mental-models/scripts/select_mental_models.py --format brief
   

2. Review script output: JSON array with all available mental models (59 models across 12 categories)

3. Offer 2-3 relevant models to user based on project type/context with brief (3-7 words) descriptions

4. Wait for user selection: User chooses which models to apply (or none)

5. Load the specific model file only after user selects:

   # Individual model files are in: 00-system/mental-models/models/{category}/{model-slug}.md
   # Example: 00-system/mental-models/models/cognitive/first-principles.md
   

6. Apply questions from selected models to fill plan.md collaboratively

DO NOT:

• ❌ Skip running select_mental_models.py script
• ❌ Apply models from memory without offering choice
• ❌ Auto-select models without user confirmation
• ❌ Skip user selection step

Example Offer:

Now let's dive into planning. I've reviewed the mental models catalog and recommend for your Build/Create project:

1. **First Principles** – Strip assumptions, find fundamental truths
   Best for: Novel projects, challenging assumptions

2. **Pre-Mortem** – Imagine failure modes before implementation
   Best for: High-stakes projects, risk mitigation

3. **Stakeholder Mapping** – Identify all affected parties and interests
   Best for: Multi-party projects, organizational work

Which approach(es) sound most useful? Or we can combine them!

Loading Pattern:

User picks: "First Principles + Pre-Mortem"

AI loads individual model files:
→ Read: 00-system/mental-models/models/cognitive/first-principles.md
→ Read: 00-system/mental-models/models/diagnostic/pre-mortem.md
→ Apply questions from both models to fill plan.md

Benefits:

• ✅ Proactive - AI always loads mental-models, shows what's available
• ✅ User choice - User picks which models (or none) to apply
• ✅ Efficient metadata - Brief (3-7 words) but descriptive
• ✅ Individual files - Each model has its own file with full details
• ✅ Script-parseable - YAML frontmatter for programmatic access
• ✅ Maintainable - Update one model file, all skills benefit

See: mental-models framework for full catalog and offering guidance

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Dependency Research

Before finalising plan.md, the AI will automatically:

• Scan the codebase for files that reference the same domain (using codebase_search).
• Look for existing skills that could be reused (e.g. lead-qualification).
• Identify external system configurations (MCP servers, Airtable schemas, Slack channels).
• Populate the Dependencies & Links section with concrete file paths and system names.

Example auto‑generated section:

## Dependencies & Links
**Files Impacted**:
- `03-skills/lead-qualification/SKILL.md` – main workflow definition
- `04-workspace/airtable-schemas/leads.json` – lead data schema

**External Systems**:
- Airtable Base: "Leads" – source of lead data
- Slack Workspace: #sales – notification destination

**Related Projects**:
- Project 03: CRM Integration – shares Airtable connection

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Example Interaction Flow

AI: "What would you like to name your project?"
User: "Lead qualification workflow"

AI: "Great. This looks like a **Build/Create** project. I’ll add sections for Technical Architecture, Implementation Strategy, and Integration Points. Does that sound good?"
User: "Yes, go ahead."

AI: (runs init_project.py) → creates files.

AI: "Your project structure is ready. Let’s start with **overview.md**. What problem are you solving?"
User: "We lose leads because manual qualification takes too long."

AI: (fills purpose) → asks Socratic questions:
"What assumptions are you making about the current qualification time?"
User: "We estimate 30 minutes per lead based on recent logs."

AI: (adds to success criteria) → moves to **plan.md**.
AI: "I’ll now ask a few Socratic questions about your approach and then run a quick dependency scan."
... (continues) ...

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Resources

scripts/

• init_project.py: ⚡ Quick project template generator
  • Auto-generates project structure with 4 directories (01-planning/, 02-resources/, 03-working/, 04-outputs/)
  • Auto-assigns next available project ID
  • Creates 3 planning files in 01-planning/: overview.md, plan.md, steps.md from templates
  • Usage: python scripts/init_project.py "Project Name" --path 02-projects

references/

• project-types.md: Guide for offering project types and adaptive planning
• workflows.md: Complete interactive planning workflows for both modes
• mental-models.md: Full mental models catalog
• project-schema.yaml: YAML frontmatter schema documentation

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Error Handling

Invalid Project ID/Name

• Explain validation rule clearly
• Show example of correct format
• Suggest correction

Project Already Exists

• Inform user project exists
• Offer options: different name, different ID, or load existing

Memory Files Missing

• Warn user: "Memory files not initialized"
• Suggest: "Please run 00-setup-memory project first"
• DO NOT create project

User Abandons Mid-Creation

• Save partial work to temp file
• Inform: "Progress saved. Say 'continue project creation' to resume."

User Skips Review

• Remind: "It's important we get this right!"
• Gently insist on review before proceeding

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Why This Design?

Why Interactive?

• Quality over speed: Thoughtful planning prevents rework
• User ownership: Collaborative design ensures buy-in
• Learning: Mental models teach strategic thinking
• Accuracy: Pauses catch issues early

Why Mandatory Pauses?

• Validation: User confirms understanding before proceeding
• Iteration: Catch issues before they cascade
• Ownership: User feels involved, not just spectator
• Quality: Better planning = smoother execution

Why Separate Session?

• Context management: Clean boundaries between planning and execution
• Focus: Execution session loads only execution context
• Memory: close-session properly saves state between phases
• UX: Matches natural work rhythm (plan now, execute later)

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Integration:

• close-session automatically updates project-map.md every session
• validate-system checks project structure integrity
• Skills can reference project outputs in their workflows

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Remember: This is a COLLABORATIVE DESIGN SESSION, not a quick generation tool. The time invested in thorough planning pays dividends during execution!