git:20260925.c945e71 to git:20261009.c9b7d62

---

name: init

description: "Bootstraps a project's ROADMAP.jsonl and .foreman/config.json from the user's goals and the repository, or appends to an existing roadmap. Asks only what the request leaves open — what the project is, its near-term goals, and whether an inferred draft looks right — then writes and commits only the files it changes, leaving every optional behavior at its built-in default. The ledger and checkpoint policy are never asked here; each is asked the first time it could actually matter. Use for Foreman setup or an explicitly requested reinitialization; existing history and settings are preserved unless replacement was authorized."

when_to_use: "Trigger when the user wants to set up Foreman's roadmap for a project, says \"init foreman\", \"set up the roadmap\", \"initialize foreman\", \"start a roadmap\", or invokes /foreman:init. Usually a one-time-per-project action."

argument-hint: "<project description — optional seed>"

allowed-tools: AskUserQuestion, Read, Write, Bash, PowerShell

---

# foreman:init — bootstrap a project roadmap

Foreman runs in Claude Code, Codex and Antigravity. Every step applies to every host unless it names one. Read [the shared runtime](../foreman/runtime.md) first: it covers plugin paths, JSON payloads, questions and authorization for every host.

Creates `ROADMAP.jsonl` and `.foreman/config.json` at the project root. Both

are committed to git — they're a shared project artifact, not personal

state — unless the project git-ignores them to keep a private roadmap; then

init writes both and commits neither (step 4 of the write phase). All

reads/writes go through

`${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/roadmap.js` (see "Write phase" below) — it

enforces the write invariants (id computation, parse-before/after-write)

mechanically, so you don't have to. Run it as

`roadmap.js <subcommand> --help` (for example `roadmap.js add --help`) for

that subcommand's shape; read the **Fields** section of [the schema](../../roadmap-schema.md)

(`${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/roadmap-schema.md`) if you need field semantics

beyond what's obvious from the names (`why`/`what`/`depends_on`/`planned_touches`).

---

<!-- [Foreman: 209] -->

**Trial log.** Setup is one of the flows no script can see from outside, so

these lines are the only record it left. A valid call records nothing unless

the project set `trialLog`, so it needs no check first; a malformed one fails

in every project. Either way it never blocks the flow.

At the **first question actually put to the user** — or as the write phase

starts, when no question is asked — one line:

```

node ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/trial-log.js init_started '{}'

```

and, after each question interaction the user actually sees — one

`AskUserQuestion` call in Claude Code, however many questions it batches;

one picker call or one plain-text question in Codex; one `ask_question` call

in Antigravity — one event:

```

node ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/trial-log.js question_asked '{"flow":"init"}'

```

A skipped question is never logged. A cancelled or blocked setup leaves an

`init_started` with no `init_completed`. That is the correct record of an

unfinished setup, not a gap to paper over.

---

## Pre-check

If `ROADMAP.jsonl` already exists at the project root, an explicit user

instruction to append or to replace selects that branch. Otherwise ask

before doing anything else — `AskUserQuestion` in Claude Code; in Codex, the

picker in [questions.md](../foreman/questions.md). With no usable question

tool, ask each question in this skill as one self-contained plain-text

question.

**Q1** — "ROADMAP.jsonl already exists. What do you want to do?"

Options: `Overwrite it (start fresh — discards done entries and their

accumulated notes)`, `Keep it, just add to it`, `Cancel`

- Overwrite → continue to Call 1; the write phase snapshots the old file

before replacing it.

- Keep, add to it → continue to Call 1 and append new entries instead of

replacing; don't touch `.foreman/config.json` if it already exists.

- Cancel → stop here and change nothing.

---

## Call 1 — project and goals

---

## Defaults — never asked, never written

There is no policy interview, and there is no settings file to compose.

Every optional behavior already has a safe default in the code that reads

it, so init writes `.foreman/config.json` as an empty object `{}` and lets

those defaults stand: finished work waits for the user's confirmation,

nothing blocks a task's completion, handoffs open with a persona sentence,

and no prompt section is omitted.

Writing those values out would only create a second copy that can drift

from the readers. `ledger` stays absent for a second reason too: an absent

key is the record that the user was never asked, so it gets asked once, the

first time it could matter — by the roadmap skill at the first pick whose

files a finished task already touched. Checkpoint policy is asked the same

way, at the first split run.

Any of it can be set by hand later — see

[`settings.md`](../../settings.md).

---

## Draft phase (no question)

---

## Call 2 — approval

---

## Write phase