setup-pathmode-workflow

Interview the user about their development workflow and capture the answers as durable context. Use when starting a new project with Pathmode, onboarding a teammate to an existing project, or when int

SKILL.md

GitHub
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Walk the user through the workflow questions below. Ask ONE question at a time. For each question, propose your best-guess answer based on what you can see in the repo (package.json scripts, CI config, README, existing PRs). The user accepts or corrects.

Questions to cover (in order):

  1. Primary agent: Which AI coding agent does the user primarily work with? (Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Copilot, mixed)
  2. Issue tracker: Where do tickets live? (Linear, Jira, GitHub Issues, none yet)
  3. Test command: What does the user run to prove code works locally? (e.g., npm test, pytest, pnpm vitest)
  4. Build/typecheck command: What does the user run to prove code compiles? (e.g., npm run build, tsc --noEmit)
  5. PR conventions: How does code get reviewed before merge? (draft PR + review, trunk-based, solo)
  6. Status mapping: What concrete event marks an intent as shipped? As verified? (merge to main, deploy to prod, metric hold for 1 week)
  7. Implementation note convention: Where should agent decisions get captured? (Pathmode log_implementation_note, ADR file, commit messages, PR descriptions)

When all questions are answered, output a single self-contained block the user can paste into their CLAUDE.md file (or the equivalent for their agent). Format:

## Pathmode Workflow Conventions

- Primary agent: [answer]
- Issue tracker: [answer]
- Test: `[command]`
- Typecheck/build: `[command]`
- PR conventions: [answer]
- Status mapping: shipped = [event]; verified = [event]
- Implementation notes: [convention]

If PATHMODE_API_KEY is set and the repository's intent.md carries a cloud id, also call log_implementation_note on that intent so the conventions show in the Pathmode audit trail. Be honest about reach: that note rides only that one intent's future prompts — there is no workspace-level convention record yet. CLAUDE.md is what every agent session actually inherits, which is why the paste step above is the one that matters.

Do NOT write to a .pathmode/ directory in the repo. The canonical conventions live in CLAUDE.md (visible to every agent session) and in the Pathmode workspace (visible to PMs). The repo is a consumer of intent, not where intent fossilizes.

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Why these questions

Each question maps to a real friction point in agent-assisted development:

  • Primary agent → tells Claude which other agents will read the same conventions (different agents have different config file conventions)
  • Issue tracker → tells split-intent-to-issues where to format output for
  • Test command → tells review-against-intent how to check that outcomes are actually delivered
  • Build/typecheck → same; the fastest feedback loop is usually typecheck
  • PR conventions → tells handoff-intent whether decisions go in PR descriptions or somewhere else
  • Status mapping → tells handoff-intent when to propose update_intent_status to shipped vs verified
  • Implementation note convention → tells every skill where decisions persist

Without these answers, every skill has to re-ask the same questions every session. Capturing them once makes downstream skills feel native.

Inferring from the repo

Before asking, look at the repo:

  • package.json scripts field → likely test/build/typecheck commands
  • .github/workflows/ → likely CI commands the team trusts
  • CONTRIBUTING.md, CODEOWNERS, PR templates → PR conventions
  • .linear/, .jira/, .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/ → likely issue tracker
  • Existing CLAUDE.md, .cursorrules, .windsurfrules → likely primary agent

For each inference, propose it as the best-guess answer ("Looks like you use Linear — there's a .linear/ directory. Is that right, or are tickets actually in [other place]?").

Mode behavior

  • Local mode (no API key) — Output goes to CLAUDE.md only. The user paste-edits it themselves. The skill does not write files.
  • Team mode (PATHMODE_API_KEY set) — Same CLAUDE.md output, PLUS a log_implementation_note call so the conventions are visible in the Pathmode workspace (on that one intent; CLAUDE.md remains the surface every session inherits).

What this skill does NOT do

  • Does not write to .pathmode/ or any repo subdirectory beyond CLAUDE.md
  • Does not run npm install, set up CI, or modify the repo's tooling
  • Does not connect to Linear/Jira/GitHub APIs — only captures the user's intent for which tracker they use

It is an interview, not an installer.

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