lonelyherbivore/trellis-herbivore/bootstrap-skill

Trellis Bootstrap

One-time setup for Trellis - the AI workflow system that helps your AI assistant remember project context across sessions.

What is Trellis?

Trellis provides:

• Structure - Store coding guidelines in .trellis/structure/ that AI follows
• Memory - Track session history in .trellis/agent-traces/
• Automation - Slash commands like /start, /parallel, /finish-work

Prerequisites Check

Before starting, verify:

# Check Node.js (required: v18+)
node --version
 
# Check npm
npm --version

If Node.js is not installed, ask the user to install it first.

Installation Steps

Step 1: Install Trellis CLI

npm install -g @mindfoldhq/trellis@latest

Verify installation:

trellis --version

Step 2: Get Developer Name

Ask the user for their name/username. This will be used for tracking their sessions.

Example question: "What name should I use for your developer profile? (e.g., your GitHub username)"

Step 3: Initialize in Project

Run in the project root:

trellis init -u <developer-name>

This creates:

.trellis/
├── workflow.md                # Start here
├── structure/                 # Development guidelines
│   ├── frontend/
│   └── backend/
├── agent-traces/<name>/       # Your session history
└── scripts/                   # Automation scripts
 
.claude/
├── commands/                  # 13 slash commands
├── agents/                    # 6 agent definitions
└── hooks/                     # Automation hooks
 
.cursor/
└── commands/                  # 12 slash commands
 
AGENTS.md                      # AI reads this first

Step 4: Verify Setup

# Check created files
ls -la .trellis/
ls -la .claude/commands/

Post-Setup Instructions

Tell the user:

1. Start using Trellis - Run /start at the beginning of each session
2. Add guidelines - Edit files in .trellis/structure/ to customize AI behavior
3. Track progress - Run /record-agent-flow at the end of sessions

Quick Reference

Success Criteria

Setup is complete when:

• [ ] trellis --version shows version number
• [ ] .trellis/ directory exists with workflow.md
• [ ] .claude/commands/ contains slash command files
• [ ] AGENTS.md exists in project root

After successful setup, this skill is no longer needed. The user should use /start to begin working with Trellis.

Note: This is a bootstrap skill. Once Trellis is initialized, use the built-in /start command instead of this skill.