Initializer

Set up a project for long-running Claude agent implementation with environment scripts, feature tracking, and progress logging.

When to Use

• Starting a new implementation project
• Setting up an existing codebase for Claude-assisted development
• After spec2impl generates the implementation harness
• Beginning a feature implementation sprint

Input Modes

The Initializer works with three types of input:

1. Specification Documents

Input: docs/ directory with Markdown specs
Output: Feature list extracted from specifications

2. Existing Codebase

Input: Project with package.json, src/, etc.
Output: Feature list inferred from code structure

3. High-Level Prompt

Input: User description (e.g., "E-commerce site with user auth")
Output: Feature list generated from requirements

Workflow

Step 1: Analyze Input

Determine input mode and gather information:

// Check for specification docs
const hasSpecs = await Glob("docs/**/*.md")

// Check for existing project
const hasProject = await Glob("{package.json,requirements.txt,go.mod,Cargo.toml}")

// Determine tech stack
const techStack = detectTechStack(hasProject)

Step 2: Generate Feature List

Create

docs/features.json

// See references/feature-list-format.md for schema
const features = {
  project: { name: projectName, generatedAt: new Date() },
  features: extractOrGenerateFeatures(input),
  summary: { total: N, pending: N, ... }
}

Write("docs/features.json", JSON.stringify(features, null, 2))

Feature Granularity Guidelines:

• Small projects (< 10 features): Fine-grained, one feature per endpoint/component
• Medium projects (10-50 features): Group related functionality
• Large projects (50+ features): High-level feature groups, use subtasks for details

Step 3: Create Environment Files

Generate

init.sh

# Run the initialization script
python3 .claude/skills/spec2impl/initializer/scripts/init_project.py \
  --tech-stack "${techStack}" \
  --project-name "${projectName}"

See

references/init-templates.md

Step 4: Initialize Progress Log

Create

claude-progress.txt

# Claude Progress Log
# Project: {project-name}
# Generated: {date}

## Current Session
- Started:
- Current Task:

## Completed Tasks
(none yet)

## Notes

Output Files

docs/features.json

init.sh

claude-progress.txt

Resources

scripts/

• init_project.py

  - Generates init.sh and claude-progress.txt based on tech stack

references/

• feature-list-format.md

  - Schema and examples for features.json

• init-templates.md

  - Tech-stack-specific templates for init.sh