Instant Project Onboarding
One command generates everything a new developer needs to be productive in your codebase.
Process
Phase 1: Analyze
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:
- Prerequisites (runtime, package manager, databases)
- Clone and install steps
- Environment setup (.env vars with descriptions)
- Run the dev server
- 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:
# [Project Name] — Developer Onboarding
> Auto-generated by Ultraship on [date]
## Overview
...
## Architecture[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.