absolute-init— agent skill

"set up / initialize / configure absolute"). Start your first response with the ⚙️ emoji.

Absolute Init

One-time setup. Detect the project's real conventions, ask a few questions about how you want absolute to behave, then write that to JSON config the other ten commands read on every run. Result: commands stop re-detecting your stack from scratch and respect your preferences (output style, gating, TDD strictness) without being told each time.

This is the only command that writes config. It is non-destructive: an existing config is shown and updated, never blindly overwritten. It never commits.

When to use

• First time using absolute in a repo — gives every command cached conventions + your preferences.
• Conventions changed (new package manager, new test/lint scripts, branch rename) — re-run to refresh.
• You want to change how absolute behaves globally (output style, autonomy) across projects.

Other commands run fine without init — they fall back to on-the-fly detection and emit a one-line suggestion to run it. init just makes them faster and tailored.

Key principles

1. Codebase before questions. Detect everything detectable first. Only ask what the repo can't tell you (preferences, ambiguous choices).
2. A few questions, not a grill. ~4-6 max, one at a time. This is setup, not design review.
3. Non-destructive. Existing config → show it, confirm each change, merge — don't clobber.
4. Never auto-commit. Write the project file; tell the user to commit it. (Commit policy itself is not configurable — absolute never commits.)
5. Two levels, project wins. Project config is team-shared and authoritative; global is your personal default + per-project overrides.

Step 1 — DETECT

Auto-detect the stack using the Codebase Convention Detection table in references/work.md (package manager, language/runtime, test runner, linter/formatter, build, CI, available scripts). Resolve each to the project's own script form (npm test, make lint) so cached commands match CI — not raw tools.

Read the actual package.json scripts / Makefile targets to fill test, lint, typecheck, build. Detect the default branch with git symbolic-ref --short refs/remotes/origin/HEAD (fallback main). Anything you can't resolve confidently → leave it out and ask, or omit.

Step 2 — RESOLVE existing config

Before asking anything, check for existing config (precedence below). If found, print a compact summary of current values and ask whether to update (default) or start fresh. Treat existing values as the defaults for the interview so the user can keep them with one keystroke.

Step 3 — INTERVIEW

Ask only these, one at a time, pre-filled with detected/sensible defaults:

1. Output style — normal (default) or terse (compressed, minimal prose).
2. Autonomy — gate-all (default; confirm before every change/wave) or auto-low-risk (auto-apply obviously-safe health waves, still gate risky ones).
3. TDD strictness — strict (default; test-first, red→green) or pragmatic (tests required but not strictly first).
4. Spec / docs output dir — default docs/plans.
5. Relevant families — build, health, or both (default both). Trims the no-arg menu.
6. Confirm detected conventions — show the detected conventions block; let them correct any command.

Skip any question the existing config already answers unless the user wants to change it.

Step 4 — WRITE

Write `.absolute.config.json` at the repo root (pretty-printed, 2-space). This is the committed, team-shared file. Then ask whether to also persist to the global file `~/.absolute/config.json`:

• defaults.preferences — your cross-project preference defaults.
• projects["<absolute repo path>"] — a per-project override entry (machine-local, not committed).

Merge into any existing global file; never drop unrelated keys. After writing, print the file paths and remind the user to commit `.absolute.config.json` (you never commit).

Config schema

Both files share conventions + preferences; the global file wraps them.

`.absolute.config.json` (project, committed):

{
  "version": 1,
  "conventions": {
    "packageManager": "npm",
    "languages": ["typescript"],
    "test": "npm test",
    "lint": "npm run lint",
    "typecheck": "npm run typecheck",
    "build": "npm run build",
    "ci": ".github/workflows/ci.yml",
    "defaultBranch": "main"
  },
  "preferences": {
    "outputStyle": "normal",
    "autonomy": "gate-all",
    "tdd": "strict",
    "specDir": "docs/plans",
    "families": ["build", "health"]
  }
}

`~/.absolute/config.json` (user/global):

{
  "version": 1,
  "defaults": {
    "preferences": {
      "outputStyle": "normal",
      "autonomy": "gate-all",
      "tdd": "strict",
      "specDir": "docs/plans",
      "families": ["build", "health"]
    }
  },
  "projects": {
    "/Users/you/dev/your-repo": {
      "conventions": { "packageManager": "pnpm", "test": "pnpm test" },
      "preferences": { "outputStyle": "terse" }
    }
  }
}

Field meanings:

Precedence (how commands read config)

At the start of any command, resolve effective config by overlaying, highest wins:

1. ./.absolute.config.json (project, committed)
2. ~/.absolute/config.json → projects["<cwd absolute path>"]
3. ~/.absolute/config.json → defaults

Shallow-merge conventions and preferences separately. If none exist, there is no config — the command soft-recommends init and uses on-the-fly detection.

Gotchas

1. Overwriting a hand-tuned config. Always RESOLVE first; merge, don't clobber.
2. Caching wrong commands. Cached test/lint that don't match CI poison every later command — verify each detected script actually runs.
3. Committing the global file. ~/.absolute/config.json is machine-local; only .absolute.config.json is committed.
4. Stale conventions. A renamed branch or swapped package manager silently misroutes commands — re-run init after stack changes.
5. Treating init as a gate. It isn't. Commands proceed without it; init is an optimization, not a prerequisite.

Companion commands

• `/absolute work` — the main consumer of cached conventions + tdd/autonomy prefs.
• `/absolute-upgrade|audit|prune|debt|deflake` — health family reads conventions for DETECT and autonomy for gating.
• Re-run `/absolute init` anytime conventions or preferences change.