Project Onboarding

Orient in the current project by gathering context from multiple sources: project instructions, version control state, issue tracker, and build system. Produce a concise status briefing and suggest what to tackle next.

Workflow

Execute all steps below. Run independent steps in parallel where possible.

Step 1: Read Project Instructions (MANDATORY)

You MUST read AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, GEMINI.md, and COPILOT.md in the project root. Skip any that don't exist, but read all that do. If a file explicitly instructs you to read another file, read that file too. If both files contain the same content (e.g., one simply redirects to the other), only read it once. When both files exist and their rules conflict, AGENTS.md takes precedence.

Extract from these files:

• Tech stack and language versions
• Project conventions and rules
• Directory structure
• What tools and validators are used

Follow the instructions and rules found in these files during this session.

Step 2: Gather State (run in parallel)

Execute these four checks concurrently:

2a. Git Status Run git status to identify:

• Current branch
• Uncommitted changes (staged and unstaged)
• Untracked files
• Whether the branch is ahead/behind remote

2b. Recent Git History Run git log --oneline --date=short --format="%h %ad %s" -15 to see:

• What was worked on recently
• When the last commits were made
• Whether there are work-in-progress commits

2c. Open Issues Run bd ready to list issues with no blockers that are ready to work on. Also run bd list --status=in_progress to check for any claimed but unfinished work.

If beads is not initialized (command fails), skip this step and note that no issue tracker is configured.

2d. Build System Read the project's justfile (or Makefile if no justfile exists) to identify:

• How to run tests (just test, just ci, etc.)
• How to run the project (just run)
• Available quality gates and CI recipes
• Any project-specific commands

Step 3: Synthesize and Brief

Present a concise status briefing covering:

1. Project — What this project is, tech stack, key conventions
2. Current state — Branch, uncommitted work, last activity date
3. Recent activity — Summary of recent commits (not a raw log dump)
4. Open work — Ready issues and any in-progress items
5. Build commands — How to run tests and CI
6. Suggested next steps — Based on open issues, uncommitted work, or recent activity, suggest what to tackle

Presentation Rules

• Keep the briefing concise — one short paragraph per section, not walls of text
• Lead with what matters: uncommitted work and in-progress issues take priority
• If there is uncommitted work or in-progress issues, call that out prominently
• Do not dump raw command output — synthesize it into human-readable summaries
• End with a clear question: "What would you like to work on?"