Onboard
Onboards humans to a project through architecture tours, topic search, decision archaeology, and structured new-team-member orientation. Read-only — never modifies code; use for questions like "where does auth happen" or "tour this codebase".
Quick start
/ai-onboard tour # architecture overview
/ai-onboard find auth # find where auth happens
/ai-onboard history DEC-003 # decision archaeology
/ai-onboard onboard # structured new-member onboarding
Workflow
Dispatch the ai-onboard agent (.claude/agents/ai-onboard.md) for any
tour / find / history / onboard request touching >= 1 subsystem —
strictly read-only. Mode procedures (§10.7 Clean Code — clarity over
cleverness):
| Mode | Procedure |
|---|---|
tour |
Map dirs/entry points/config; detect stack; ASCII diagram (boundaries, deps, data flow); explain key patterns; git log --oneline for evolution; flag gotchas; suggest next paths. |
find [topic] |
Search source+config+docs; check decision-store.json + .ai-engineering/specs/; present file:line refs + context; answer "where does X happen?". |
history [decision] |
Search decision-store.json, git log --all --grep, specs/; reconstruct what was known + constraints + alternatives; assess current relevance; do NOT recommend — present analysis, let the developer decide. |
onboard |
Map structure; identify stack; discover patterns; find key files; review .ai-engineering/standards/; Socratic checkpoint per phase (max 2 questions); personalize to the developer's interest. |
Pitfalls: never decide for the developer (present tradeoffs); never write code during a tour; cap Socratic questions at 2 per interaction; match teaching to the developer's level (Bloom's cues).
Examples
Example — architecture tour for a new team member
User: "give me an architecture tour of this repo, I'm new"
/ai-onboard tour
High-level overview, module ownership map, key boundaries, ASCII data flow, suggested deeper-dive paths. Read-only.
Integration
Calls: /ai-explain (3-tier depth). Reads: decision-store.json,
framework-events.ndjson, manifest.yml. See also: /ai-start (agent
bootstrap), /ai-explain (code-level), /ai-research (external
evidence).
$ARGUMENTS