Sd Init

sd-init

One-shot setup for SimplerDevelopment portal MCP work. Run once per project; it's idempotent. Writes .sd/config.json so every later content skill (sd-create-page, sd-create-deck, sd-create-email) starts knowing which client, brand profile, and site it's operating against.

What this skill does

1. Verify MCP auth. Calls mcp__simplerdevelopment__whoami. If unauthenticated, walk the user through adding the SD MCP server in their Claude Code config or claude.ai connector. Stop until auth works — every other step depends on it.

2. Resolve the active client + sites. Call mcp__simplerdevelopment__client_get and mcp__simplerdevelopment__sites_list. If there's exactly one site, default to it. If there are multiple, ask the user which site is the "active" one for this project. Record both clientId and defaultSiteId.

3. Resolve the default branding profile. Call mcp__simplerdevelopment__branding_list_profiles. Pick the one with isDefault: true. If none exists, offer to create one with mcp__simplerdevelopment__branding_create_profile using whatever the user can give you (company name + primary color is the absolute minimum). If the user wants to skip this, don't proceed — every later content skill defaults to this profile, and skipping it leads to off-brand output.

4. Pull the brand messaging snapshot. Call mcp__simplerdevelopment__branding_get_messaging for the resolved profile. Capture: companyName, tagline, valueProposition, toneOfVoice, brandPersonality, keyDifferentiators, targetAudience, elevatorPitch, boilerplate. This is the source material future skills lean on; if any of those are empty, flag to the user with a one-line "your brand voice is sparse, content quality will suffer" warning — don't fix it inline (that's a separate workflow).

5. Pull the logo + asset snapshot. From the same branding_get_profile response, capture the logo URLs: logoUrl (wide), logoSquareUrl, logoRectUrl, logoIconUrl, logoText, logoAlt. Skills under sd-create-* use these by default to brand every artifact they produce. If logoUrl is null, surface explicitly: "no wide logo on the brand profile — content will fall back to the wordmark; upload via branding_update_profile to elevate."

6. Audit contrast. Call branding_check_contrast for the brand pairs that will appear on every artifact:

   • textColor vs backgroundColor (body)
   • white (#FFFFFF) vs primaryColor (typical CTA)
   • white (#FFFFFF) vs accentColor (alternate CTA)

   Record the WCAG ratios in .sd/config.json:brand.contrast. If any pair fails 4.5:1 for body text or 3:1 for large/UI text, flag it — the failing pair becomes a learnings.md rule ("never put white on accent — fails contrast; use near-black instead").

7. Inventory reusable assets.

   • mcp__simplerdevelopment__block_templates_list — record { id, name, slug, category, scope } for every published template.
   • mcp__simplerdevelopment__email_templates_list — record { id, name, category } for every email template.
   • Note which categories are present (hero, cta, footer, testimonials, etc.) and which are missing — the create skills check this list before inventing new blocks from scratch.

8. Seed the starter library (only if asked). If the user explicitly says "set me up" or "seed templates", offer to create a starter pack:

   • Block templates: hero, three-column feature grid, CTA band, testimonial, pricing tier, footer.
   • Email templates: welcome, announcement, newsletter.
   • Deck theme: cover, content, section break, closing (as scope: block templates that future deck skills can pull in). Each creation uses *_create with the resolved brand profile applied. Don't seed silently — list what you'd create and confirm.

9. Bootstrap .sd/learnings.md if it doesn't already exist. Use the template from the sd-learn skill (canonical header + ## Active rules + ## Artifact log sections, no entries yet). Skills under sd-create-* will read this file on every run to pick up accumulated user feedback.

10. Write .sd/config.json in the working directory. Shape:

    {
      "version": 1,
      "generatedAt": "2026-05-14T...",
      "client": { "id": 123, "name": "..." },
      "defaultSiteId": 456,
      "brand": {
        "profileId": 789,
        "profileName": "Default",
        "primaryColor": "#0F172A",
        "secondaryColor": "#2563EB",
        "accentColor": "#06B6D4",
        "backgroundColor": "#FFFFFF",
        "textColor": "#0F172A",
        "headingFont": "Inter",
        "bodyFont": "Inter",
        "logos": {
          "logoUrl": "...",
          "logoSquareUrl": "...",
          "logoRectUrl": "...",
          "logoIconUrl": "...",
          "logoText": "...",
          "logoAlt": "..."
        },
        "contrast": {
          "bodyOnBg": 12.6,
          "whiteOnPrimary": 16.1,
          "whiteOnAccent": 2.8,
          "warnings": ["whiteOnAccent fails WCAG-AA (need 4.5, got 2.8) — never use white text on accentColor; use textColor instead"]
        },
        "messaging": {
          "companyName": "...",
          "tagline": "...",
          "toneOfVoice": "...",
          "valueProposition": "...",
          "keyDifferentiators": ["..."],
          "targetAudience": "..."
        }
      },
      "inventory": {
        "blockTemplates": [{ "id": 1, "slug": "hero-default", "category": "section" }],
        "emailTemplates": [{ "id": 1, "name": "Welcome", "category": "welcome" }]
      }
    }
    

    Future skills read this file first so they don't burn tokens re-fetching every run. If it's stale (>14 days), they'll re-call whoami to verify and refresh.

When to re-run

• New site added to the client → refresh inventory + defaultSiteId.
• Brand messaging updated → refresh brand.messaging.
• New block_templates seeded → refresh inventory.blockTemplates.
• API key rotated → re-verify auth.

Re-running with no flag does the full pass and overwrites .sd/config.json. Pass --refresh-inventory to skip the auth/brand prompts and only re-pull the template lists.

Inputs to ask

Only ask if these can't be auto-resolved:

1. Which site is active (if sites_list returns more than one and there's no obvious match).
2. Should I create a default brand profile (if none exists). Default to "no, you do this in the portal first" unless the user pushes.
3. Should I seed the starter library (only if the user asked to "set up everything"). Default to "no" — most projects already have templates.

Failure modes

• whoami returns 401 → MCP server isn't connected. Show the connect-MCP instructions for Claude Code and stop.
• No default brand profile + user declines to create one → write .sd/config.json with brand: null and warn that content skills will use the SimplerDev house defaults instead of a tenant brand.
• Tenant has 0 sites → most likely a setup error in the portal. Stop and tell the user to create at least one site in /portal/websites before running this skill.

Output

A .sd/config.json file plus a 5-line summary printed to the user:

• Client name + id
• Active site name + id
• Brand profile name + key tone descriptors
• Number of block templates + email templates discovered
• Whether starter library was seeded

Install

This skill ships as part of the SimplerDevelopment client skills bundle. Install the full skill bundle in one step from the portal:

https://simplerdevelopment.com/install

macOS, Windows, and Linux installers download the bundle to ~/.claude/skills/. Both Claude Desktop and Claude Code auto-discover skills from that path on next restart.

See CLIENT_QUICKSTART.md (installed alongside this file) for the full setup walkthrough, including the MCP-server config Claude Desktop needs and the one-time sd-init bootstrap.