Harness init

Harness Init

Core Rule

Scaffold the docs/ structure additively — never overwrite an existing file. Every directory and file is created only if missing.

Kit Context

Before starting this skill, ensure you have completed session boot:

1. Read CODEBASE_MAP.md for project understanding
2. Read CLAUDE.project.md if it exists for project-specific rules
3. Read tasks/lessons/_index.md for accumulated corrections

If any of these haven't been read in this session, read them now before proceeding.

When to Use

Invoke with /harness-init when:

• A project has outgrown a single CLAUDE.md and you want to switch to a docs/ harness layout (per OpenAI's harness engineering pattern)
• You're starting a new project and want the harness scaffold from day one
• You're migrating from a .claude/-only setup and want a more durable knowledge base alongside the agent rules

Not for:

• Fresh kit installs where you haven't decided yet — just run the default install.sh; the harness pattern is opt-in
• Projects where docs/ already exists with a different convention — manually merge instead of running this skill

Scope Rules

• Idempotent: every file/directory is created only if missing. Existing content is never touched.
• Operates only on docs/ and its children, plus an optional one-line section addition to CLAUDE.md (only if the project's CLAUDE.md doesn't already reference docs/)
• Never modifies files under tasks/, agent_docs/, or .claude/

Process

Phase 1: Inventory

1. Check whether docs/ already exists at the project root
2. Check whether CLAUDE.md references docs/ (grep for "Harness Docs" or "docs/ARCHITECTURE.md")
3. List which of the target files already exist (so the report is honest about what was new vs. preserved)

Phase 2: Scaffold

Create the following structure. For every entry, check if it exists first; skip if present. Use the seed content from .claude/skills/harness-init/templates/ when available, otherwise inline the minimal stub shown below.

docs/
├── README.md                  # Top-level index — what's in docs/ and how to navigate it
├── ARCHITECTURE.md            # System architecture: services, boundaries, data flow
├── DESIGN.md                  # UI/UX design tokens, principles, links to design system
├── PLANS.md                   # Current product/eng plans — pointer to exec-plans/active/
├── QUALITY_SCORE.md           # Rolling code-quality score (auto-updated by /quality-audit when CLA-13 lands)
├── RELIABILITY.md             # SLOs, incidents, on-call runbooks
├── design-docs/
│   ├── index.md               # List of design docs in this folder
│   └── core-beliefs.md        # Stable opinions about the system (rarely change)
├── exec-plans/
│   ├── active/                # In-flight plans, one folder or file per initiative
│   │   └── .gitkeep
│   ├── completed/             # Shipped plans (archive)
│   │   └── .gitkeep
│   └── tech-debt-tracker.md   # Standing list of known debt
├── generated/                 # Auto-generated docs (db-schema, openapi, etc.). Add to .gitignore if desired.
│   └── .gitkeep
├── product-specs/
│   └── index.md               # Index of product specs
└── references/                # 3rd-party library refs in *-llms.txt format (see /references-sync skill, CLA-14)
    └── .gitkeep

Phase 3: CLAUDE.md pointer

If CLAUDE.md doesn't already contain a "Harness Docs" section, propose adding one near the bottom (after ## HTML Artifacts if that section exists, otherwise after ## Knowledge Wiki or ## Design System):

## Harness Docs

If `docs/ARCHITECTURE.md` exists, the project uses the harness pattern: CLAUDE.md is a thin index and the structured knowledge lives in `docs/`. Read the relevant doc on-demand:

- `docs/ARCHITECTURE.md` — system architecture, boundaries, data flow
- `docs/DESIGN.md` — UI/UX design system (this overlay supplements the kit's top-level DESIGN.md template)
- `docs/PLANS.md` + `docs/exec-plans/active/` — current and active initiatives
- `docs/QUALITY_SCORE.md` — rolling code-quality status
- `docs/RELIABILITY.md` — SLOs, incidents, on-call
- `docs/design-docs/core-beliefs.md` — stable opinions about the system
- `docs/references/*-llms.txt` — 3rd-party library references (see `/references-sync`)

Apply this addition only after explicit user confirmation. Editing CLAUDE.md is a kit-managed change; the agent must not silently rewrite it.

Phase 4: Report

Print the compact summary documented in ## Output Format below.

Output Format

Harness scaffold report
=======================
Created   (12)  docs/, docs/ARCHITECTURE.md, docs/DESIGN.md, ...
Preserved (2)   docs/PLANS.md (existed), docs/README.md (existed)
CLAUDE.md       proposed addition (pending user confirmation)

Next:
  - Fill in docs/ARCHITECTURE.md with your system's actual architecture (the template is just a skeleton)
  - Move any pre-existing planning docs into docs/exec-plans/active/
  - Run /references-sync (when CLA-14 lands) to populate docs/references/

The report has three rows (Created / Preserved / CLAUDE.md status) plus a Next: block. Counts in parentheses reflect actual filesystem state, not what the skill would have created.

Run Mode

This skill supports interactive (default) and headless modes — see .claude/skills/_shared/blocks/mode-detection.md.

Headless detection: presence of mode:headless in arguments.

Decision point	Interactive	Headless
CLAUDE.md modification	Propose, ask y/n	Skip — the addition is queued in tasks/todo.md > ## Harness CLAUDE.md addition for human review
Conflict on a file	Ask whether to skip or merge	Always skip (idempotent contract)
Output	Full summary + next-steps callout	Compact report only

Notes

• The scaffold is intentionally opinionated — it mirrors OpenAI's published harness layout (ARCHITECTURE/DESIGN/PLANS/QUALITY_SCORE/RELIABILITY + design-docs/exec-plans/references). If your project's conventions differ, treat this as a starting point and rename/restructure post-scaffold.
• docs/generated/ is intended for auto-produced artefacts (db-schema dumps, OpenAPI specs, etc.). If you treat it as throwaway, add docs/generated/ to your project's .gitignore. The skill does NOT touch .gitignore.
• docs/references/*-llms.txt is populated by the /references-sync skill (CLA-14). Until that ships, the directory stays empty (only .gitkeep).
• docs/QUALITY_SCORE.md is updated by the /quality-audit skill (CLA-13). Until that ships, it stays as the seed template.