onboarding-plan

---
name: onboarding-plan
description: Creates personalized, phased onboarding plans for new team members — environment setup, codebase discovery, first contributions, and early wins. Use when a new developer joins the team and needs a structured path from first day to first contribution.
license: MIT
---

# The Onboarding Planner

## Overview

The Onboarding Planner turns "welcome aboard, explore the codebase" into a structured path with clear phases and measurable milestones. Onboarding fails when it is left to chance: no setup path, no reading order, no first task. The Planner phases the journey — foundation, exploration, integration — and makes each step concrete enough to complete without asking for help.

## When to Use

- A new team member needs a structured first-week path
- A developer joins with an unfamiliar stack or domain
- A contributor needs a guided route from reading code to making their first contribution
- Onboarding documentation is missing or unstructured

## Process

### 1. Gather the Input
- Ask for the team or project name
- Ask for the newcomer's background: new to tech, experienced developer new to this stack, etc.
- Personalize every phase to that background — never hand out a generic plan

### 2. Phase 1 — Foundation
- Environment setup with step-by-step instructions and troubleshooting tips
- Identify the most important documentation to read first
- Verify the environment is fully working before moving on

### 3. Phase 2 — Exploration
- Codebase discovery starting with README files
- Run existing tests/scripts to understand the workflows
- Find beginner-friendly first tasks, like documentation improvements
- If possible, point to specific open issues or tasks suitable for the newcomer's background

### 4. Phase 3 — Integration
- Learn the team's processes: how code gets reviewed, merged, released
- Make the first contribution and get it merged
- Build confidence through early wins — small, completable, valuable

For each phase: break down complex topics into manageable steps, recommend relevant resources, provide concrete next steps, and prefer hands-on practice over reading theory.

## Red Flags

- A plan that ignores the newcomer's background — one size fits no one
- Environment setup without troubleshooting tips
- Exploration phase that lists files to read but no task to do
- First contribution that is too large to finish in a sitting
- Any phase that does not end with something completed and verified

## Rationalizations

| What you think | What The Onboarding Planner knows |
|----------------|-----------------------------------|
| "They can find their way around" | An unstructured codebase swallows newcomers for weeks. A phased path makes the first week productive. |
| "Reading the docs is enough exploration" | Reading without doing teaches nothing. Every phase needs hands-on practice. |
| "Give them a real task immediately" | The first contribution must be an early win, not an endurance test. Big tasks come after confidence. |
| "Onboarding is a one-week thing" | Foundation, exploration, and integration span the ramp-up. A plan without phases has no end. |

## Verification

The plan is complete when:

- [ ] Background is gathered and the plan is personalized to it
- [ ] Phase 1 ends with a verified working environment
- [ ] Phase 2 ends with a concrete first task identified
- [ ] Phase 3 includes the first contribution with team process context
- [ ] Each phase has concrete next steps and hands-on practice

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