Overview
Sets up new projects or improves existing projects with development best practices, tooling, documentation, and workflow automation.
When to Use
- "set up a new project"
- "bootstrap this project"
- "add best practices"
- "improve project structure"
- "set up development tooling"
- "initialize project properly"
What It Sets Up
1. Project Structure
- Standard directories (docs/, .github/, .cursor/, .claude/)
- Logical file organization
- Structure improvements
2. Git Configuration
- Comprehensive
.gitignore
.gitattributes for line endings/diffs- Git hooks (pre-commit, commit-msg)
- Branch protection patterns
3. Documentation
- Comprehensive
README.md
CONTRIBUTING.md- Code documentation (JSDoc, docstrings)
CHANGELOG.md structure- Architecture docs if complex
- MIT License file
4. Testing Setup
- Identify/suggest testing framework
- Test structure and conventions
- Example/template tests
- Configure test runners
- Coverage reporting
- Testing scripts/commands
5. Code Quality Tools
- Linters (ESLint, Pylint, etc.)
- Formatters (Prettier, Black, etc.)
- Type checking (TypeScript, mypy, etc.)
- Pre-commit hooks for quality
- Editor configs (.editorconfig)
- Code quality badges
6. Dependencies Management
- Package manager configuration
- Organize dependencies
- Check security vulnerabilities
- Set up dependency updates (Dependabot, Renovate)
- Create lock files
- Document dependency choices
7. Development Workflow
- Useful npm scripts / Makefile targets
- Environment variable templates (.env.example)
- Docker configuration if appropriate
- Development startup scripts
- Hot-reload / watch modes
- Document development workflow
8. CI/CD Setup
- GitHub Actions / GitLab CI config
- Automated testing
- Automated deployment (if applicable)
- Status badges
- Release automation
- Branch protection
Approach
Discovery Phase
Ask clarifying questions:
- Project type: New or existing?
- Primary purpose: Web app, library, CLI tool?
- Language/framework: JS/TS, Python, Go, etc.?
- Collaboration: Personal or team?
- Deployment target: Server, cloud, mobile, desktop?
- Preferences: Specific tools/frameworks?
- Scope: Full setup or specific areas?
Implementation Phase
- Analyze existing structure (if existing project)
- Create plan based on answers
- Show plan and get approval
- Implement systematically (one area at a time)
- Verify completeness
- Provide handoff documentation
Customization
Adapts to:
- Language ecosystem: Node.js vs Python vs Go vs Rust
- Project size: Small script vs large app
- Team size: Solo vs collaborative
- Maturity: Startup speed vs enterprise standards
Tools Used
- AskUserQuestion: Gather requirements
- Write: Create configuration files, documentation
- Edit: Update existing files
- Bash: Initialize tools (git init, npm init)
- Read: Analyze existing structure
- Glob: Find files to update
Success Criteria
- All standard files present and configured
- Clear and complete documentation
- Documented development workflow
- Automated quality tooling (pre-commit hooks)
- Easy test execution
- Follows language/framework conventions
- Quick developer onboarding
- No obvious best practices missing
Templates
- Node.js/TypeScript web app
- Python CLI tool
- Python web API (FastAPI/Flask)
- React/Next.js app
- Go service
- Rust CLI/library
Integration
- feature-planning: For planning custom features
- code-auditor: For validating setup quality
- codebase-documenter: For generating detailed docs
Scope Control
- Full bootstrap: Everything from scratch
- Partial setup: Specific areas only (e.g., "just add testing")
- Improvement pass: Enhance existing project
- Audit + fix: Check what's missing and add it