Generates a structured onboarding guide for a new agent or human joining a project — covering codebase orientation, process context, first tasks, and key contacts. Use when asked to onboard someone new, write a getting-started guide, or create a "first week" plan for a project.
A good onboarding guide answers the questions a newcomer will have in their first hour, day, and week — before they need to ask. For agent onboarding specifically, it establishes what to read first, what never to touch, and what the most common first tasks look like. Write it once, update it at every major structural change.
Agent onboarding is about making the first session effective: the agent reads a compact document and immediately knows enough to start working safely. It targets the AGENTS.md file and the context files a fresh agent loads at session start.
Human onboarding is broader: it covers environment setup, team
conventions, process workflows, key contacts, and first tasks. It
results in a longer document — a docs/onboarding.md or a
context/ONBOARDING.md — that a developer reads over their first
week.
Use the right mode for the audience. Ask if unclear.
The AGENTS.md file is the canonical entry point for any agent.
It should include:
## Read these first
1. `README.md` — what this project does and why
2. `context/HANDOVER.md` — current state and what was worked on last
3. `AGENTS.md` — this file: always-on rules
4. `context/BACKLOG.md` — what's queued, what's in progress
## Always-on rules
- Run `npm test` before every commit — the CI gate is strict
- Never edit files in `generated/` — they're regenerated on build
- Every PR needs a linked issue — use `Closes #NNN` in the PR body
- context/ files are managed by processkit — use MCP tools, not raw edits
## Project structure
src/ — application source code
context/ — project-management artifacts (backlog, decisions, logs)
docs/ — user-facing documentation
generated/ — AUTO-GENERATED, do not edit directly
scripts/ — maintenance and deployment scripts
## First-session workflow
1. Read `context/HANDOVER.md` (3 min)
2. Read `context/BACKLOG.md` (2 min) — pick the top item in "Next Up"
3. Ask the user which item to start or confirm the top item
4. Work the item to done: code → tests → PR
5. Write a session handover before ending
For a human developer joining a project, produce a guide with these