Install Project Understanding

Install Project Understanding

Provisions a project-local copy of the project-understanding skill so it auto-activates in this repo without paying any always-on token cost at the user level.

When this fires

• Slash command: /install-project-understanding
• Equivalent phrasings: "install project understanding here", "set up project memory in this repo", "enable project knowledge base here".

Only run when the user explicitly asked. Do not auto-install.

Steps

1. Confirm you're inside a git repo (the target must have a .git dir at the root). If not, stop and ask the user whether to proceed anyway.
2. Resolve the repo root and target path <root>/.cursor/skills/project-understanding/SKILL.md.
3. If the target already exists:
   • Ask the user: overwrite with the current template, skip, or show a diff first.
   • Only overwrite on explicit confirmation.
4. Read the template at ~/.cursor/skills/install-project-understanding/template/project-understanding.md.
5. Create <root>/.cursor/skills/project-understanding/ (if missing) and write the template to SKILL.md inside it byte-for-byte unchanged.
6. Gitignore hygiene (idempotent):
   • If <root>/.gitignore does not already match .cursor/skills/project-understanding/ (directly or via a broader .cursor/* / .cursor/ pattern without a conflicting negation), append the explicit line under a # Local agent notes (project-understanding skill) header.
   • If it does not already match .cursor_project_understanding/, append that too under the same header.
   • If .gitignore doesn't exist, create it containing just these two entries under that header.
7. Confirm to the user in one line: "Installed. Will auto-trigger on exploration / architecture questions in this repo. Notes will live in .cursor_project_understanding/ (gitignored)."

Do not

• Do not stage, commit, or push the installed skill or the notes folder.
• Do not modify the template when copying — preserve it exactly.
• Do not install outside a git repo without explicit user confirmation.
• Do not propagate anything to user-level settings; the behavior stays project-local.
• Do not mention the installed files in generated commit messages.

Updating an installed project later

Re-run /install-project-understanding and choose "overwrite" when prompted. This pulls the latest template from the user-level installer. No migration is needed for existing .cursor_project_understanding/ contents — the skill body change is independent of the notes.