# Context Forge > Use when starting a brand-new project that needs AI-agent context (CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, skills, rules, MCP, spec workflow) set up from day one. Discusses goals → matches catalog know-how → creates a new GitHub repo with everything wired in. Keywords: harness engineering, bootstrap project, context engineering, scaffold repo, start project, agent-ready repo. - Skill: `glowelephant/context-forge` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add glowelephant/context-forge` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/glowelephant/context-forge/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: AI & ML - Author: glowElephant (https://skillmd.com/u/glowelephant) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/glowelephant/context-forge --- # context-forge Auto-harness-engineering for AI coding agents. Turns a 5-minute project discussion into a fully context-engineered GitHub repository. **Announce at start:** "Using context-forge to bootstrap a harness-engineered repo for your project." (Translate to the user's language — see "Language matching" below.) ## Language matching Detect the user's language from their first message and respond in that language for ALL user-facing output (announce message, fixed questions, free discussion, Phase 3 proposal, Phase 4 prompts, Phase 6 hand-off). Code blocks, file paths, command names, and frontmatter keys stay in English. Catalog entry names (e.g., `gstack-claude-toolkit`) stay as-is. If the user switches language mid-flow, switch with them. If unclear, ask once. The example output blocks in this skill are written in English; translate them when speaking to the user. ## Hard prerequisites Before doing anything else, verify ALL of these. If any fail, ask the user to fix and stop. 1. `gh` CLI is authenticated: ```bash gh auth status ``` Expected: a logged-in account. 2. context-forge is checked out locally with the catalog present. The user should set `CONTEXT_FORGE_PATH` to their clone (default: `C:/Git/context-forge` or `~/code/context-forge`): ```bash test -d "$CONTEXT_FORGE_PATH/catalog" && test -f "$CONTEXT_FORGE_PATH/sources/index.json" ``` If `CONTEXT_FORGE_PATH` is not set, ask the user where their context-forge clone is and persist it for the session. 3. The catalog passes validation: ```bash "$CONTEXT_FORGE_PATH/scripts/validate-catalog.sh" ``` If any step fails: stop and report the exact command that failed. Do NOT proceed. --- ## Phase 1: Fixed questions (always ask, in order) Ask these one at a time. Wait for each answer before asking the next. 1. **Project type?** Multiple choice (single answer): - web (frontend / backend / fullstack) - game-engine (Unity, Unreal, Godot) - mobile (iOS, Android, cross-platform) - cli - library - mcp-server - other (free-text) 2. **Primary language / framework?** Free text (e.g., "Next.js + TypeScript", "Unity 6 / C#"). 3. **Solo or team?** Multiple choice: - solo - small team (2–5) - larger team (6+) 4. **Multi-agent setup needed?** (Claude Code subagents, multi-IDE coordination, etc.) yes / no. After all 4 are answered, **echo the answers back** in a single short summary so the user can correct any. --- ## Phase 2: Free discussion After fixed questions, hold a focused conversation — **one question per turn**. Goal: understand goals, constraints, success criteria, and any domain knowledge that should land in `docs/spec.md`. ### What to extract (do NOT ask all at once — pull out as relevant) - **Goal** — what does "done" look like in 1 sentence? - **Top 3 milestones** — name each in 5–10 words. - **Hard constraints** — deadlines, regulatory, perf budgets, target devices. - **Domain knowledge** — vocabulary, prior incidents, who the users are. - **What to avoid** — past failed approaches, anti-patterns the team rejects. ### Stop condition Stop asking when you can write all five bullets above. If you've asked more than 8 questions and still can't, summarize what you have and ask the user "anything else essential before we move on?" ### Output of Phase 2 Internally produce: ```yaml goal: ... milestones: [..., ..., ...] constraints: ... domain: ... avoid: ... ``` Do NOT show this YAML to the user yet. It feeds Phase 3. --- ## Phase 3: Catalog match Read every `catalog/*/*.md` file's frontmatter from `$CONTEXT_FORGE_PATH/catalog/`. For each entry, decide whether it applies based on: 1. **Domain match** — at least one of `entry.domain` overlaps with the user's project type, OR `domain: [general]` is present. 2. **`when_to_use` semantic fit** — does the entry's `when_to_use` text describe this user's project? Use judgment. 3. **Multi-agent gating** — entries with `category: multi-agent` only apply if Phase 1 Q4 was "yes". 4. **Stack-specific gating** — if entry has `applies_to_files` (e.g., `[".cursorrules"]`) and the user's stack doesn't use those files, skip it. Group results by category. Within each category, pick at most 3 (sort by `priority` field, fall back to alphabetical). ### Present the proposal Show the user a single message structured like this: ``` Based on our discussion, I'll include these from the catalog: CLAUDE.md (claude-md): - karpathy-single-claude-md — Single careful CLAUDE.md - gstack-claude-toolkit — Garry Tan 23-tool stack Skills: - superpowers-skills-pattern — Skills framework - cursor-rules-pattern (you mentioned Cursor) Spec-driven: - github-spec-kit MCP: - mcp-server-bootstrap Prompts: - prompt-engineering-foundations Anything to remove or any category you want me to add? ``` Wait for user response. If they ask to remove items, drop them. If they ask for items in a category that has none matched, search the catalog directly for that category. --- ## Phase 4: Collect repo info Ask in one message (multiple-choice + free-text): - **Repo name?** (free text, kebab-case suggested) - **Public or private?** (default: private) - **Local clone path?** (ask explicitly — never guess. Prefer the directory the user is currently working in.) - **GitHub Issues for milestones?** (default: no — opt-in, since this is destructive in a brand-new repo) --- ## Phase 5: Create repo and populate Run these in order. After each command, confirm the expected output before proceeding to the next. ```bash # 1. Create remote + clone gh repo create "/" --private --clone --add-readme=false # or --public cd "/" # 1b. Normalize local branch to `main` — Windows defaults to `master`, which # mismatches the remote's expected `main` and causes `git push` to fail with # "src refspec main does not match any". Idempotent on macOS/Linux. git branch -M main # 2. Make directory structure mkdir -p docs/know-how .claude/skills .claude/agents .claude/rules # 3. Copy chosen catalog entries # For each in the user-confirmed list: cp "$CONTEXT_FORGE_PATH/catalog//.md" \ "docs/know-how/--.md" ``` Then **synthesize** these top-level files (do not just copy from catalog — these are written from scratch using Phase 2 inputs): - **`CLAUDE.md`** — 30–80 lines. Sections: project goal (Phase 2), high-level architecture (if known), agent guardrails (`avoid` list), references to `docs/know-how/*.md`. - **`AGENTS.md`** — Mirror of CLAUDE.md but tool-agnostic (no `/skill` references, no Claude Code specifics). Used by Cursor / Copilot / Codex. - **`README.md`** — 1-line tagline + Goal + Quick start placeholder + Status section. - **`docs/spec.md`** — Phase 2 YAML expanded into Markdown sections: Goal, Milestones, Constraints, Domain, Avoid. Then add boilerplate (only if `catalog/boilerplate/.md` exists): ```bash # Optional - copy project-type .gitignore etc. if present cp "$CONTEXT_FORGE_PATH/catalog/boilerplate/.gitignore" .gitignore ``` Always-include minimal `.gitignore`: ``` .env .env.local node_modules/ .DS_Store Thumbs.db .vscode/ .idea/ ``` Commit and push: ```bash git add . git commit -m "초기 하네스 셋업 (context-forge)" git push -u origin main ``` Optional — set repo description and topics from Phase 2 goal: ```bash gh repo edit / --description "" # topics: derived from project type and key tech words ``` --- ## Phase 6: Hand off Print a final message in this exact shape: ``` ✅ Done. Your harness-engineered repo: https://github.com// local: / Included from catalog ( entries): Next steps: cd / claude # start a fresh session in the new repo Tip: Edit docs/spec.md as your project evolves; CLAUDE.md/AGENTS.md should stay short. ``` After printing, **stop**. Do not start working in the new repo from this session. --- ## Error handling - **`gh repo create` fails with name collision** — ask user for an alternate name; do not silently rename. - **`cp` fails because catalog file missing** — list the missing files and stop. Either the catalog wasn't synced or the entry name was misspelled. - **`git push` fails** — show the error, do not retry. Common cause: branch protection or repo visibility mismatch. - **User aborts mid-flow** — leave the partially-created repo in place; do not auto-delete.