Aspire Init

First-run only. This skill owns the skeleton drop and template choice for repositories that do not yet have an Aspire AppHost. Once the skeleton is in place, hand off to aspireify for the actual resource wiring.

Prerequisites

Aspire also supports Nix, Homebrew, WinGet, mise, and the curl/PowerShell installers. Use the installation method already owned by the user's environment.

Detection

Activate only when adding Aspire to a workspace that does not yet have one. Confirm ALL of the following before running aspire init:

If any AppHost signal is already present, do not run aspire init. Route to aspireify (re-wire) or aspire-orchestration (lifecycle).

Decision: aspire new vs aspire init

See references/templates.md for the complete template list and options.

Workflow A — aspire new <template> (new project)

For brand-new projects in an empty or non-existent directory:

1. Confirm prerequisites with aspire doctor if the CLI install is uncertain.
2. Pick a template from references/templates.md.
3. Run the template, append --non-interactive for agent flows:

   aspire new aspire-starter --name MyApp --output ./MyApp --non-interactive

4. The new directory is fully wired by the template — no aspireify handoff needed.
5. Route to aspire-orchestration for first run (aspire start).

Workflow B — aspire init (existing repo)

For repositories that already contain services (Express API, .NET API, Python service, etc.) and need an AppHost added alongside them:

1. Verify the Detection table — confirm no AppHost is present.
2. Run aspire init, choosing language explicitly for non-interactive flows:

   aspire init --language csharp --non-interactive
   # or
   aspire init --language typescript --non-interactive

3. aspire init drops:
   • The AppHost skeleton (apphost.cs with #:sdk directives, or apphost.mts with the generated .aspire/modules/ folder)
   • AppHost configuration describing language + AppHost path
   • The aspireify agent skill into the project's skill directory (same one aspire agent init uses). In 13.6+, the chained agent setup preselects the recommended skills, including aspireify, and does not offer Aspire MCP server configuration. If MCP config is missing after a successful init, that is expected and isn't a defect. MCP is a separate opt-in; see the aspire router's Skills vs. MCP guidance.
4. Hand off to aspireify — aspire init does not wire resources, projects, or integrations on its own.
5. After aspireify finishes wiring, validate via aspire start (aspire-orchestration).

In 13.5, a TypeScript init inside a repo that already has a root package.json creates a nested aspire-apphost/ package and points the root aspire.config.json at aspire-apphost/apphost.mts. A solution-backed C# repo can receive a project-based AppHost; new C# AppHosts enable AspireUseCliBundle=true by default. Preserve these generated choices.

See references/init-workflow.md for the full sequence including what aspire.config.json contains and what to do if aspire init fails partway.

Handoff Rules

Project-Local Skill Override

If .agents/skills/aspire-init/SKILL.md exists project-locally (legacy install from an older aspire init run), warn the user and defer to it. The legacy project-local skill may carry repo-specific guidance that should not be overridden by this in-plugin skill.

The project-local aspireify skill (installed by aspire init) takes precedence over this plugin's in-plugin aspireify for the same reason — defer to the project-local copy and warn.

Error Handling

References

• templates.md — aspire new templates and options
• init-workflow.md — aspire init flow, aspire.config.json layout, and aspireify handoff
• aspire-13-5-breaking-changes.md — 13.5 migrations, CLI-bundle behavior, and fixes for affected releases