project-setup

name: project-setup description: > One-time project setup for creative writing. Interviews you about your project, collects writing samples, proposes kb structure, and creates CLAUDE.md with project conventions.

Project Setup

Guide the author through setting up their creative writing project. The goal is a working CLAUDE.md and directory structure that all agents read for project-specific conventions, plus initial style files if writing samples are available.

Learn About the Project

Ask about:

• What kind of project: novel, short story collection, serial?
• How far along: starting fresh, or existing chapters and worldbuilding?
• Single POV or multiple? Linear or non-linear timeline? How much worldbuilding?
• Where do they keep their writing? What's the existing layout?

Writing Samples and Style

Ask about writing samples: these are the foundation for style analysis:

• Do they have sample chapters or scenes already written?
• Do they have writing from other projects that captures the voice they want?
• Are there published works they want to draw style inspiration from?
• Voice goals: close third, omniscient, first person? Formal, colloquial?

Collect whatever they have. Save samples to kb/samples/ so they're available for future style analysis. If they have enough material, offer to analyze their style using the /style-analysis methodology: read the samples, identify the voice dimensions, and produce initial style files in kb/styles/.

If they're starting fresh with no samples, capture their voice goals in CLAUDE.md so style files can be created from early drafts.

Propose and Iterate

Based on what you learn, draft a CLAUDE.md section and show it to the author. Cover:

• Project overview: what the project is, one paragraph
• Author's space: where the author keeps their writing and how it's organized
• KB structure: what subdirectories exist under kb/ and what they're for. Suggest based on project complexity:
  • Simple (short story, single POV): characters/, canon/, styles/, root vocab.md
  • Medium (novel, few POVs): add timeline/
  • Complex (series, large world): add world/, issues/, and domain vocab files such as world/vocab.md
• Voice and style: what style files exist, what samples they're derived from, voice goals not yet captured
• Conventions: anything project-specific: naming patterns, chapter numbering, POV tagging, spoiler handling
• Shared vocabulary: early canonical terms, aliases, invented words, genre terms with project-specific meanings, and terms the author wants agents to avoid or distinguish

Present the draft and let the author adjust. Iterate until they're satisfied.

Create the Files

Once approved:

1. Write or update CLAUDE.md with the agreed content
2. Create the kb/ directories referenced in CLAUDE.md
3. Create kb/vocab.md when the project has named concepts agents must use consistently; create domain vocab files when a domain already has enough distinct terms
4. Create work/ with standard subdirectories (outline/, drafts/, critique-reports/, brainstorm/)
5. Save any writing samples to kb/samples/
6. If samples were provided and the author wants style analysis, produce initial style files in kb/styles/

Existing Projects

If CLAUDE.md already has creative writing conventions, read it first and suggest updates rather than overwriting.