Init Project Light

Lightweight project bootstrapper for small projects that do not need a full research-project scaffold.

When to Use

• Small document collections (proposals, applications, meeting notes)
• One-off or short-lived projects
• Projects without a code pipeline or Overleaf link
• When the user says "set up something light", "quick init", "organise this folder"
• Any project that does not warrant the installation's full research-project initializer

When NOT to Use — Escalate to a full research-project initializer

• Research papers targeting a journal or conference
• Projects with code, data, or computational pipelines
• Anything that needs Overleaf, git, or a vault atlas entry

Phase 1: Scan

Read everything already in the directory before asking questions.

1. List all files and folders (excluding .claude/, .DS_Store)
2. Read text files (.md, .tex, .bib, .txt) to understand content — respect file size (skip files > 500 lines, note them)
3. Build a mental model: what is this project, what's the main output, who's involved?

Goal: Minimise interview questions by inferring answers from existing files.

Phase 2: Interview (2-3 questions max)

Use the available structured-question mechanism. Only ask what you couldn't infer from Phase 1.

Pick from these (skip any you can already answer):

1. What is this project? — one sentence (e.g., "PhD research proposal for [University]")
2. What's the main output? — document, application, collection of notes, etc.
3. Anyone else involved? — names and roles if relevant

If Phase 1 gave you enough, confirm your understanding instead of asking:

"From the files, this looks like [X]. The main output is [Y]. Correct?"

Phase 3: Create CLAUDE.md

Follow the lean-guidance-files rule. Include only:

1. Project overview — 2-3 sentences from interview/scan
2. People — if collaborators/supervisors exist
3. Directory structure — compact tree of what exists
4. Conventions — only if detectable (e.g., LaTeX compilation, bibliography style)
5. Key context — anything a future session needs to know immediately

Do NOT include:

• Detailed literature notes or reference lists
• Action items or timelines (those go to vault)
• Anything that duplicates global rules

Phase 4: Organise (suggest, don't force)

Based on what's in the directory, suggest lightweight organisation. Present options and wait for approval.

Standard suggestions

Rules

• Never create more than 2-3 folders — this is a light project
• Never move files without explicit approval
• If the existing structure already makes sense, say so and skip this phase
• If there's a .claude/settings.local.json, leave it. If not, create one with standard permissions.

Standard permissions (.claude/settings.local.json)

{
  "permissions": {
    "allow": [
      "Bash(latexmk *)",
      "Bash(ls:*)",
      "Bash(mkdir:*)",
      "Bash(tree:*)",
      "Edit",
      "Glob",
      "Grep",
      "Read",
      "Write"
    ],
    "deny": []
  }
}

Only create if missing. Never overwrite existing permissions.

Phase 5: Confirmation

Short report:

Set up lightweight project: <name>

Created:
  - CLAUDE.md
  - [any folders created]
  - [.claude/settings.local.json if created]

Skipped (use an installed full research-project initializer if needed later):
  - Git, Overleaf, vault atlas, code scaffold

Cross-References