Init

/substrate:init

Scaffold a new substrate project from an empty directory through the start of stage 1.

When to run

• The current directory is empty (or contains only .git/, CLAUDE.md, .DS_Store, README.md).
• The user wants to start a new full-stack product with substrate.

When to REFUSE

Detect stage by filesystem. If ANY of these exist, STOP and redirect the user instead of scaffolding over their work:

Workflow

Step 1. Confirm the directory is scaffold-ready

Run ls -la and inspect. Ignore .git, CLAUDE.md, .DS_Store, README.md (these are fine to preserve). If anything else is present, stop and ask the user whether to proceed anyway or move to a fresh directory.

Step 2. Locate the substrate plugin + check CLI prerequisites

2a. Locate the substrate plugin. scaffold.sh lives in the substrate plugin's scripts/ directory. Resolve SUBSTRATE_ROOT by searching known install paths:

for candidate in \
  "$HOME/.claude/plugins/substrate" \
  "$PWD/.claude/plugins/substrate" \
  "${SUBSTRATE_ROOT:-}"; do
  if [ -n "$candidate" ] && [ -f "$candidate/scripts/scaffold.sh" ]; then
    echo "FOUND: $candidate"
    break
  fi
done

If no path is found, ask the user where the substrate plugin repo lives on their machine (e.g. ~/code/substrate) and use that as SUBSTRATE_ROOT.

2b. Check CLI prerequisites. With SUBSTRATE_ROOT resolved, run the prerequisites script:

bash "$SUBSTRATE_ROOT/scripts/prerequisites.sh"

The script checks for git, node (≥ 20), pnpm (≥ 10), npx, and gh (+ auth). macOS + Linux only.

If the script exits non-zero (critical failure — missing node or pnpm, wrong version, etc.), STOP and surface the output to the user. Do NOT proceed to scaffolding until they install the missing tools — scaffold.sh will fail in step 6 otherwise, wasting their time.

Warnings (yellow ⚠) are OK at this stage. gh + gh auth are warn-only because they're only needed at step 8 (GitHub push), which is optional.

Step 3. Socratic Q&A — project basics

Ask the user these two (in one turn). End every question with the default-escape suffix [type 'default' to let me decide sensible defaults]:

1. Project slug (used for folder name, package.json name, GitHub repo, Vercel slug). Kebab-case, e.g. gravy-app. Default: the current directory's basename, or substrate-app if that's unusable.
2. One-line description (for the README and Vercel project description). Default: A substrate project.

Step 4. Socratic Q&A — product details

Focus on the product, not the technology. The user is non-technical — skip jargon. Walk through these, 1–2 per turn, probing when answers are vague. End every question with [type 'default' to let me decide sensible defaults]. If the user picks default, pick a bland-but-valid value that keeps the pipeline moving and summarize defaults chosen before scaffolding so they can course-correct:

1. Product name — the user-facing name (may differ from the slug: e.g. "Gravy" vs gravy-app).
2. One-line pitch — what does it do in plain language? (e.g. "A marketplace to discover, list, and review poutine stores across Canada.")
3. Primary users (personas) — 1–3 roles. Who uses it and why?
4. Primary user flows — 3–5 numbered flows end-to-end. ("1. Land on feed. 2. Browse map. 3. Submit review.")
5. Core entities — 3–6 nouns with a few key fields each. ("User {id, handle}, PoutineStore {id, name, address, gallery}, Review {id, rating, body}.")
6. Key pages — 4–8 top-level pages.
7. Look & feel — 2–3 adjectives plus a reference if any. ("Warm, food-forward, brutalist cards, Canadian-neutral voice.")
8. AI features — yes/no. If yes:
   • List 2–5 AI capabilities (e.g. "moderate reviews, draft store descriptions, power semantic search").
   • Note the desired tone for AI-generated output (e.g. "grounded, never overclaim, Grade 8 reading level").

Keep each turn tight. Don't dump all eight questions at once.

Step 5. Run scaffold.sh

With SUBSTRATE_ROOT resolved and project basics in hand, invoke the scaffold script:

SUBSTRATE_ROOT="<resolved path>" bash "$SUBSTRATE_ROOT/scripts/scaffold.sh" "<project-slug>" "<one-line-description>"

This performs:

• Template tree copy into the current directory
• docs/doctrine/ populated from substrate's references/doctrines/
• docs/protocol/sdd/ populated from substrate's references/sdd-protocol/
• {{PROJECT_NAME}} / {{PROJECT_DESCRIPTION}} substituted in package.json, README.md, index.html
• pnpm install + pnpm app:compile + pnpm app:test

If the script exits non-zero, STOP and report the error. Do not proceed to step 6. Common failure modes:

• pnpm not installed → tell the user to install pnpm first.
• Network timeout during pnpm install → retry is safe.
• Test failure → surface the test output; this is a bug in the substrate templates, not user error.

Step 6. Fill the product prompt templates

The scaffold leaves two files with {{...}} tokens for product-specific content. Fill them using the Q&A answers via the Edit tool:

docs/product/ai-studio-prompt.md (the Gemini Build prompt):

• {{PRODUCT_NAME}} — user-facing name
• {{ONE_LINE_DESCRIPTION}} — the pitch
• {{PERSONA_DESCRIPTION}} — 1–2 sentences per persona
• {{USER_FLOWS}} — numbered list (markdown)
• {{ENTITIES_AND_FIELDS}} — entity list with key fields
• {{KEY_PAGES}} — bulleted list
• {{UI_STYLE_NOTES}} — short paragraph

docs/product/system-prompt.md (runtime AI persona):

• {{PRODUCT_NAME}}, {{ONE_LINE_DESCRIPTION}} — same values as above
• {{AI_CAPABILITIES}} — short one-line summary
• {{PERSONA_BULLET_LIST}} — bulleted, indent two spaces (nested inside <primary_users> XML)
• {{ENTITY_BULLET_LIST}} — bulleted, same indent
• {{CAPABILITIES_LIST}} — bulleted
• {{TONE_NOTES}} — bulleted

If the user said no AI features, add a note at the top of system-prompt.md:

> This file is a placeholder. The project does not currently include AI
> assistant features. Delete this file or fill in the tokens if you add
> AI features later.

Leave the {{...}} tokens in place (unfilled) for the no-AI case.

Step 7. Offer GitHub push

Ask: "Want to push to GitHub now? (y/n, default y)"

If yes, ask for visibility (public or private, default private). Run:

bash "$SUBSTRATE_ROOT/scripts/init-github.sh" "<project-slug>" "<visibility>"

Report the returned repo URL. If no, skip — the user can run the script themselves later.

Step 8. Print handoff instructions

End with a message the user can act on immediately. Format it exactly like this:

✔ Substrate project initialized.

Kernel: green (domain/ + test/ + docs/doctrine/ + docs/protocol/sdd/)
Repo:   <GitHub URL if pushed, else "not pushed yet">

Your AI Studio scaffolding prompt is at:
  docs/product/ai-studio-prompt.md

Next steps:
  1. Open https://aistudio.google.com/ and click the "Build" tab.
  2. Copy the contents of docs/product/ai-studio-prompt.md (everything below the --- line).
  3. Paste into the Build description box.
  4. Iterate in the AI Studio UI until the look is right.
  5. Download the project as a ZIP.
  6. Unzip it. You'll get a folder named after your product (e.g. `<project-slug>/`).
     Drag that folder INTO `/prototype/` (which already exists in this repo).
     Final layout should look like:
         /prototype/<project-slug>/package.json
         /prototype/<project-slug>/src/
         /prototype/<project-slug>/vite.config.ts
         ...
  7. Return here and run /substrate:migrate.

Doctrine note: the three baseline doctrines are discovered by glob (no manifest yet).
When the doctrine tree grows, /substrate:add-doctrine can bootstrap the manifest —
in adopted repos it also generates ambient doctrine skills (.claude/skills/doctrine-*/)
so every session self-loads relevant doctrine.

Then show the contents of docs/product/ai-studio-prompt.md in-line so the user can copy without opening a second file.

Constraints

• MUST NOT proceed if the directory is not scaffold-ready (see §"When to REFUSE").
• MUST invoke scaffold.sh via Bash rather than copying files individually. Copying via many Write calls wastes tool budget and risks drift from the canonical template tree.
• MUST NOT invent product details. If the user skips a question, either ask it again once, or write a placeholder and flag it in the final summary so they know to revisit.
• MUST NOT commit or push to GitHub unless the user explicitly agrees in step 7.
• MUST NOT alter files outside the current project directory.
• MUST print the full handoff instructions (step 8) even if the scaffold succeeded silently — the user needs the Gemini AI Studio next-step.
• SHOULD keep Q&A tight — 1–2 questions per turn, conversational, probing when answers are vague.
• SHOULD skip jargon (no "Convex mutation", no "TanStack Router route") unless the user signals comfort with it.
• MUST offer the default-escape suffix [type 'default' to let me decide sensible defaults] on every Socratic question. When the user picks default, choose a reasonable value and summarize the defaults chosen before scaffolding so the user can course-correct.
• MUST run scripts/prerequisites.sh at step 2b and halt on non-zero exit. Critical tools missing = scaffold.sh will fail later; fail fast and point the user at the fix instead. Warnings are informational only and must not halt.