Onboard Project

Onboard Project

Wires a WordPress plugin project into the Maestro ecosystem in one pass: writes .claude/maestro.json, scaffolds the .ai/ working directory, and prints the next steps. After this skill runs, the project is ready for every Maestro agent and workflow. Podium (the optional dashboard) can be installed separately.

Run from the project root (the plugin repo), not from inside Maestro.

Note: Podium is now optional (Step 5 update)

In earlier versions, Podium hooks were installed as part of onboarding. Podium is now a separate plugin (see Installation section). Step 5 has been simplified.

Step 1 — Guard

ls .claude/maestro.json 2>/dev/null

If .claude/maestro.json already exists, show its contents and ask:

.claude/maestro.json already exists. Overwrite it, or update only missing/null fields?

Stop until the user responds. Do not clobber an existing config silently.

Step 2 — Gather project details

Collect these five values. Infer sensible defaults from the git remote and directory structure first, then confirm with the user — do not invent values you can't verify.

git remote get-url origin 2>/dev/null
basename "$(pwd)"
ls -la
ls *.php 2>/dev/null

Examples of slug → display name: wp-rocket → "WP Rocket", imagify → "Imagify", backwpup → "BackWPup".

Present what you inferred and ask the user to confirm or correct:

Onboarding this project with:

• slug: wp-rocket
• display_name: WP Rocket
• repo: wp-media/wp-rocket
• temp_root: .ai
• base_branch: origin/develop

Confirm, or tell me what to change.

Wait for confirmation before writing anything.

Step 3 — Write .claude/maestro.json

Create the .claude/ directory if needed, then write the config using the confirmed values. Use this exact structure:

{
  "ai": {
    "slug": "wp-rocket",
    "display_name": "WP Rocket",
    "repo": "wp-media/wp-rocket",
    "temp_root": ".ai",
    "base_branch": "origin/develop",
    "architecture_skill": "wp-rocket-architecture",
    "frontend_skill": null,
    "editions": null,
    "rest_namespace": null,
    "html_log": false,
    "e2e": {
      "local_url": null,
      "boot_cmd": null,
      "settings_path": null,
      "ci_integration": false,
      "license_option_key": null
    }
  }
}

Rules for filling it in:

• slug, display_name, repo, temp_root, base_branch → the confirmed values from Step 2.
• architecture_skill → "{slug}-architecture" (e.g. wp-rocket-architecture). This skill may not exist yet — that's expected; flag it in the summary.
• frontend_skill, editions, rest_namespace, e2e.local_url, e2e.boot_cmd, e2e.settings_path → leave null. Later runs or the full deep-analysis onboarding can fill these in. (Agents skip E2E probing while e2e.local_url / e2e.boot_cmd are null.)
• html_log → false (the orchestrator's legacy HTML run log — Podium replaces it).
• e2e.ci_integration → false.

mkdir -p .claude

Write the JSON to .claude/maestro.json.

Step 4 — Create the .ai/ working directory

Use the confirmed temp_root (default .ai).

mkdir -p .ai/issues

• .ai/issues/ — orchestrator run artifacts (one folder per issue).

If the user chose a non-default temp_root, substitute it in the path.

Step 5 — Podium (Optional)

Podium is a separate plugin. If the user wants the agent observer dashboard, they can install it after Maestro is set up:

/plugin marketplace add wp-media/claude-marketplace
/plugin install podium@wp-media
/podium setup

This is optional — Maestro works fine without Podium. Mention it in Step 7 as a suggested next step, but do not install it automatically.

Step 6 — Update .gitignore

Keep generated working files out of version control.

grep -n ".ai/" .gitignore 2>/dev/null

If .ai/ is not already ignored, append it:

printf '\n# Maestro working files\n.ai/\n' >> .gitignore

If .gitignore doesn't exist, create it with the same content. Skip this step entirely if .ai/ already appears in .gitignore.

Step 7 — Print the summary

Print exactly this (substituting the real display name):

✓ Maestro configured for {display_name}
  Config: .claude/maestro.json
  Temp:   .ai/

Next steps:
  /orchestrator issue-N  → run the full delivery pipeline

Optional:
  /plugin install podium@wp-media  → install the agent observer dashboard

If the architecture skill ({slug}-architecture) doesn't exist yet, add one extra line after the next steps:

  Heads up: create .claude/skills/{slug}-architecture/SKILL.md so grooming and
  implementation agents understand this plugin's patterns.