Setup — Bootstrap a Professional Twin Repository

Overview

Create a new twin repository from the plugin's templates. This is a one-time action per repo. After running setup, the user fills in content via the interview skill.

When to use

• The user wants to start a new professional twin repository.
• The user is in (or just created) an empty directory and asks "set this up" or "bootstrap a twin."
• The user mentions they don't yet have a repo and wants to get started.

Do not run setup if a twin repo already exists in the cwd. If you see existing files like core-profile/ or a CLAUDE.md referencing professional-twin, abort and tell the user the repo already exists.

Checklist

Complete in order:

1. Confirm target directory. Default to cwd if it's empty (or contains only a .git folder). If cwd is non-empty, ask the user for a path or for confirmation.
2. Confirm intent. Show the user the list of folders and files about to be created. Get explicit yes before writing.
3. Copy templates. Copy every file under the plugin's templates/ directory into the target.
4. Initialize git (if no .git exists in the target). Ask first.
5. Print next steps. Tell the user what to do next.

Step 1 — Confirm target directory

Default behavior:

• If cwd is empty (or contains only .git), use cwd.
• Otherwise, ask the user: "Where should the twin repo go? (Provide an absolute path. The directory should be empty or not yet exist.)"

Validate:

• The directory is empty (or only contains .git), OR doesn't exist yet (in which case create it).
• The directory is writable.

Step 2 — Confirm intent

Show the user a tree of what's about to be created:

<target>/
├── CLAUDE.md
├── core-profile/
│   ├── professional-identity.md
│   ├── career-history.md
│   ├── skills-and-competencies.md
│   └── side-projects-and-open-source.md
├── companies/
│   ├── README.md
│   └── _template.md
├── direction/
│   ├── target-roles-and-criteria.md
│   ├── industries-and-domains.md
│   └── values-and-work-style.md
└── application-materials/
    ├── base-cv.md
    ├── writing-samples-and-portfolio.md
    └── common-questions.md

Then ask: "Create this in <target>? (yes/no)"

Do not proceed without an explicit yes.

Step 3 — Copy templates

Copy every file under the plugin's templates/ directory into the target. Preserve directory structure. Do not modify file contents — they are templates as-is.

Locating the templates directory: You (Claude) loaded this SKILL.md from a known path. The templates/ directory is at <plugin-root>/templates/, where <plugin-root> is the parent of <plugin-root>/skills/setup/SKILL.md. If you cannot determine that path from context, ask the user: "Where is the professional-twin plugin installed?" and locate templates/ from there. Do not guess.

After copying, verify every file in the tree above exists. If any are missing, abort and tell the user which ones — do not leave the repo in a half-initialized state.

Step 4 — Initialize git

If <target>/.git does not exist:

Ask: "Initialize git in this directory? (yes/no)"

If yes:

• Run git init in the target.
• Run git add . and git commit -m "initial commit: professional-twin scaffolding".

If no, skip — the user can do it manually later.

Step 5 — Print next steps

Tell the user:

Done. Your professional twin repository is at <target>.

Next steps:

1. cd <target>
2. Run the interview skill on core-profile/professional-identity.md to start filling things in. (Or ask Claude to "interview me about my professional identity.")
3. Work through the files in any order — there is no required sequence. A good rough order is: core-profile/ → direction/ → first companies/<company>.md file.

The repo is intended to grow over time. You don't have to fill everything in one sitting.

What setup does NOT do

• It does NOT ask any twin-content questions. That's the interview skill's job. Do not ask the user about their career, values, or skills as part of setup.
• It does NOT push to a remote. The user does that themselves if and when they want to.
• It does NOT install the plugin or modify Claude Code configuration. It only creates files in the target directory.