Repository builder

Repository builder

Turns the user's working folder into a scalable monorepo and advances their version-control stage. Defaults: pnpm + Turborepo, with a layout ready to grow into a full app:

my-design-system/
├── design-system.json        (the manifest, already here)
├── package.json              (workspace root)
├── pnpm-workspace.yaml
├── turbo.json
├── .gitignore
├── .env.example
├── packages/
│   ├── tokens/               (synced token output lands here — skill 6)
│   └── ui/                   (components / Storybook live here — skill 7)
└── apps/                     (empty, ready for a Next.js app later)

Calibrate first

Read user.codingLevel from the manifest and ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/references/coding-level.md. Everything below describes the actions, which are identical for every user. How much you explain each concept scales with the level — new gets plain- language teaching of repos, env files, and secrets; comfortable gets terse action statements. The hard secret-safety rules never scale.

The folder → local-git → github progression

Scope check first. If the user is bringing an existing app to retrofit or migrate (not scaffolding a clean monorepo) — or the repo work is entangled with a larger re-architecture — that has outgrown this skill. Follow ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/references/scaling-up-handoff.md: surface risks and major parts, confirm scope, and brainstorm/plan first (handing off to Superpowers if available, else planning natively — never required). For a normal scaffold-from-scratch, continue here.

The user is at one of three workspace.stage values. This skill advances them one step at a time, introducing each concept only when its payoff is concrete. Read the current stage from the manifest and pick up where they are.

Stage A → scaffold the monorepo (still just a folder)

Create the workspace files (root package.json, pnpm-workspace.yaml, turbo.json, packages/tokens, packages/ui, apps/, a sensible .gitignore, and a .env.example). Record repo.packageManager = pnpm, repo.monorepo = turborepo.

For new users, explain in one line what this is: "A monorepo is just one folder that holds several related projects together — here, your tokens and your components, with room to add an app later." For comfortable users, just state what you scaffolded.

Checkpoint: show the structure, let the user look before committing anything.

Stage B → add local version history (git init)

This is the soft-nudge seam from the design: the moment code exists, version history earns its keep. If workspace.stage is still folder, offer it:

• new: "Right now your folder has no 'history' — if something breaks there's no undo. Git gives your folder a memory: every change is saved as a checkpoint you can see and roll back. Want me to turn that on? It's one step and stays entirely on your computer — nothing goes online yet."
• comfortable: "Want me to git init and make the first commit?"

If yes: git init, ensure .gitignore covers node_modules, .env, build output; make an initial commit. Set workspace.stage and repo.stage to local-git. Confirm the user can see they now have version history.

Do not force git. A user can stay in folder if they insist, but most will want it once there's code. The token-sync skill needs at least local-git, so it will re-offer this if skipped.

Stage C → connect to GitHub (remote, PRs, CI)

Only when the user wants what GitHub provides — backup, PRs for token-sync review, CI for Storybook/Chromatic. Frame it as "push what you already have somewhere safe and shareable," not "make an empty repo and figure out what goes in it" — they already have a working local repo.

Detect gh (the GitHub CLI):

• If gh is present and authenticated: offer to run gh repo create — but show the exact command and what it will do first, and get approval before running. A new user may not know what that command does to their account, so explain: "This creates a repository on your GitHub account and connects your local folder to it." Never create the repo, set branch protection, or change settings silently.
• If gh is absent: first recommend installing it. It's the single thing that turns repo creation from a fiddly multi-step browser chore into one automated command — exactly the friction this plugin exists to remove. Say so plainly and offer to guide a quick one-time setup:
  • Install: macOS brew install gh; Windows winget install GitHub.CLI; Linux via the system package manager (or cli.github.com). Then authenticate with gh auth login — walk new users through the browser prompts.
  • Never install software silently — show the command, explain what it does, get a yes first. Once installed and authenticated, proceed with the gh path above (show the gh repo create command, get approval, then run it).
  • If they decline or can't install: fall back to the manual browser path with the exact click path. For new users be maximally explicit: go to github.com, click New repository, name it, leave it empty (don't initialize with a README), Create, then copy the commands GitHub shows for "push an existing repository" and run them. Verify the push succeeded.

On success, set workspace.stage and repo.stage to github and record repo.remote. Append repository-builder to completedSkills.

Adopt the documentation store

The folder-resident documentation store at design-system/docs/ (canonical *.doc.json records plus the generated index.json + llms.txt) already exists from the Figma phase. Bring it under version control as-is — do not relocate it (the path is stable across folder→repo, and every manifest doc.path points at it). Ensure it is committed (not git-ignored).

Wire the documentation drift gate into the repo's verification so it runs in CI alongside tokens:validate: add a docs:check step (the docs-check.mjs script is installed by storybook-chromatic-builder; if code hasn't been set up yet, note that the gate comes online with the Storybook step). docs:check exits non-zero on drift; Figma surfaces report edit-unverified and are checked in a Figma session.

Secrets: the part most people have never done

This is where users with low coding experience get stuck — many have never made an env file or added a secret to a "vault." Handle it with care, scaled to codingLevel, but with the hard rules constant. There are two distinct homes for a secret, and conflating them is a common mistake — make the distinction explicit for new/some users:

1. Local development → a .env file. A plain text file in the repo root holding KEY=value lines, used when running things on your own computer. It must be gitignored so it never gets committed. The repo ships a .env.example (no real values, just the key names) as a template — explain that new users copy it to .env and fill in real values.
2. Production / CI → the host's secrets store. GitHub Actions has its own encrypted secrets vault (Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions). CI can't read your local .env, so any secret CI needs (e.g. CHROMATIC_PROJECT_TOKEN) must be added there separately.

The hard rules, regardless of level:

• The secret value never passes through this chat. Don't ask the user to paste it to you. Tell them the key name and exactly where the value goes; they place it themselves.
• Secrets never get committed. .env is gitignored; only .env.example (key names, no values) is committed.
• Claude never types a secret into a web form or creates a GitHub secret on the user's behalf — it gives the click path and the key name.

For new users, teach the why once ("a secret key is like a password for a service; if it's committed to code, anyone who sees your repo can use it — that's why it lives in a gitignored file locally and an encrypted vault in production"). Then give the literal steps. Verify: after they add a secret, have them confirm it's set (e.g. re-run the workflow and check CI goes green), because a beginner who pastes it wrong has no other signal.

This skill itself usually only sets up .env.example and the .gitignore. The actual secret values (Chromatic, etc.) get added when the skill that needs them runs (Storybook/Chromatic in skill 7) — but explain the env-file concept here so it's familiar by then.

Hand off

Tell the user what's unlocked at their new stage. If they came here heading toward token sync, point them to it ("now we can turn your Figma tokens into real code files in packages/tokens"). Don't auto-run the next skill.

What this skill must NOT do

• Never commit a .env or any secret value.
• Never create a GitHub repo, branch protection, or secret silently — always show the command/path and get approval.
• Never enter a secret into a web form or accept a secret value in chat.
• Never force git on a user who declines (but explain what they're deferring).
• Never give a beginner a lesser setup — only less explanation is fine, never fewer capabilities.