Onboard

# Instant Project Onboarding

One command generates everything a new developer needs to be productive in your codebase.

## Process

### Phase 1: Analyze

```bash
node ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/tools/onboard-generator.mjs <project-directory>
```

Parse the JSON output.

### Phase 2: Present Onboarding Guide

Format the output as a comprehensive onboarding document:

**Project Overview:**
- Name, description, version
- Tech stack (with version numbers)
- Architecture type (monorepo, single app, fullstack)

**Architecture Diagram:**
Display the Mermaid architecture diagram from the tool output. This gives new developers an instant visual understanding.

**Getting Started:**
1. Prerequisites (runtime, package manager, databases)
2. Clone and install steps
3. Environment setup (.env vars with descriptions)
4. Run the dev server
5. Run tests

**Key Files:**
Table of the most important files and their roles. New developers should read these first.

**API Routes:**
Table of all detected API routes with methods, paths, and source files.

**Database:**
- ORM and migration tool
- Schema file location
- Table overview
- How to run migrations

**Recent Activity:**
Last 10 commits — gives context on what the team is currently working on.

**Gotchas:**
Known issues and common problems new developers encounter.

### Phase 3: Save Onboarding Doc

Save the onboarding guide to `docs/ONBOARDING.md` in the project:

```markdown
# [Project Name] — Developer Onboarding

> Auto-generated by Ultraship on [date]

## Overview
...

## Architecture
```mermaid
[diagram]
```

## Getting Started
...

## Key Files
...

## API Routes
...

## Database
...

## Gotchas
...
```

### Phase 4: Identify Knowledge Gaps

After generating the guide, identify areas that need human input:
- Undocumented environment variables
- Missing README sections
- No contributing guidelines
- No architecture decision records (ADRs)

Suggest creating these if they don't exist.

## Key Principle

**30-minute rule.** A new developer should be able to run the project locally within 30 minutes of reading this guide. If they can't, the guide is incomplete.