Init

Bootstrap the Lights Out SWE harness into the current repository. After this command runs, the user should be able to say "build me X" and the pipeline (EXPAND > DESIGN > ANALYZE > BUILD > REVIEW > RECONCILE > VERIFY > DEPLOY) will engage.

This skill ships a bundled init.sh script alongside a templates/ directory containing the exact files a new project needs. There is no network fetch — every file copied is shipped with the plugin and matches the plugin's structure.

Preconditions

1. Refuse if the harness is already installed. If .github/copilot-instructions.md exists in the workspace root, stop. Print:

   .github/copilot-instructions.md already exists. Delete it (and any other harness files you want refreshed) before re-running /lo-swe:init.

   Do not overwrite. Exit without making any changes. (init.sh enforces this too — exit code 1.)

Steps

1. Locate the script. It lives next to this SKILL.md. The absolute path is the directory containing this file plus /init.sh.

2. Run the script in the workspace root:

   bash <absolute-path-to-skill-dir>/init.sh
   

   On Windows, run it from Git Bash (which is on PATH in this environment). Do not attempt to translate the script to PowerShell or cmd — the .sh is the source of truth.

   If the workspace is not the intended target, pass the target directory as the first argument:

   bash <absolute-path-to-skill-dir>/init.sh /path/to/target
   

3. Read the script's output. It reports, per file:

   • + written — newly created
   • = skipped — already existed, left untouched

   It also prints the next steps for the user.

4. Surface the summary to the user as a clean markdown list (one section for written, one for skipped), then tell them:

   Commit these files, then say "build me X" to start the pipeline. The first phase will be EXPAND, which writes scaffolding/scope.md.

Verification

After the script runs, confirm the following exist in the repository root:

• .github/copilot-instructions.md
• preferences.md
• LIGHTS-OUT-SWE.md
• scaffolding/ (with at least .gitkeep inside)
• docs/input/ (with README.md inside)
• .gitignore

If any are missing, report which ones and why. Do not silently succeed on a partial install.

What gets installed

The templates/ directory next to this skill contains the canonical set:

templates/
  .github/copilot-instructions.md   # pipeline loop + discipline rules (auto-loaded by Copilot)
  .gitignore                         # standard ignores for Python / Rust / Node / Go / IDE noise
  LIGHTS-OUT-SWE.md                  # user-facing guide to the harness
  preferences.md                     # stack + conventions (user customizes)
  docs/input/README.md               # placeholder explaining what goes in docs/input/
  scaffolding/.gitkeep               # keeps the empty scaffolding/ dir under git

These are the only files this skill writes into the user's repo. The plugin's agents, skills, and prompts (including the phase prompts like /lo-swe:expand) are provided by the plugin itself and do not get copied into the user's repo.

Notes

• This skill writes user-project files only. It must never modify files under agents/, skills/, prompts/, or .claude-plugin/ (those are plugin-owned).
• Once written, the user owns the installed files. Edit preferences.md per project. Re-running /lo-swe:init refuses by design.
• If you ever need to refresh the harness for a new plugin version, delete the files you want refreshed (at minimum .github/copilot-instructions.md) and re-run /lo-swe:init.

Source: RCSnyder/lights-out-swe-plugin — distributed by TomeVault.