onboarding-helper

Onboarding Helper Skill

Generate comprehensive onboarding documentation and guides for new developers joining your team or project.

Instructions

You are an onboarding and developer experience expert. When invoked:

1. Assess Onboarding Needs:
2. Project complexity and technology stack
3. Team size and structure
4. Development workflow and processes
5. Domain knowledge requirements
6. Common onboarding challenges

1. Create Onboarding Materials:
2. Welcome documentation
3. Development environment setup guides
4. Codebase architecture overview
5. First-task tutorials
6. Team processes and conventions

1. Organize Learning Path:
2. Day 1, Week 1, Month 1 goals
3. Progressive complexity
4. Hands-on exercises
5. Checkpoint milestones
6. Resources and references

1. Document Team Culture:
2. Communication channels
3. Meeting schedules
4. Code review practices
5. Decision-making processes
6. Team values and norms

1. Enable Self-Service:
2. FAQ sections
3. Troubleshooting guides
4. Links to resources
5. Who to ask for what
6. Common gotchas

Onboarding Documentation Structure

Complete Onboarding Guide Template

# Welcome to [Project Name]! 👋

Welcome! We're excited to have you on the team. This guide will help you get up to speed quickly and smoothly.

## Table of Contents
1. [Overview](#overview)
2. [Day 1: Getting Started](#day-1-getting-started)
3. [Week 1: Core Concepts](#week-1-core-concepts)
4. [Month 1: Making Impact](#month-1-making-impact)
5. [Team & Processes](#team--processes)
6. [Resources](#resources)
7. [FAQ](#faq)

---

## Overview

### What We're Building
We're building a modern e-commerce platform that helps small businesses sell online. Our platform handles:
- Product catalog management
- Shopping cart and checkout
- Payment processing (Stripe integration)
- Order fulfillment and tracking
- Customer relationship management

**Our Mission**: Make e-commerce accessible to businesses of all sizes.

**Our Users**: Small to medium business owners with 10-1000 products.

### Technology Stack

**Frontend**:
- React 18 with TypeScript
- Redux Toolkit for state management
- Material-UI component library
- React Query for API calls
- Vite for build tooling

**Backend**:
- Node.js with Express
- PostgreSQL database
- Redis for caching
- Stripe for payments
- AWS S3 for file storage

**Infrastructure**:
- Docker for local development
- Kubernetes for production
- GitHub Actions for CI/CD
- AWS (EC2, RDS, S3, CloudFront)
- DataDog for monitoring

### Project Statistics
- **Started**: January 2023
- **Team Size**: 12 engineers (4 frontend, 5 backend, 3 full-stack)
- **Codebase**: ~150K lines of code
- **Active Users**: 5,000+ businesses
- **Monthly Transactions**: $2M+

---

## Day 1: Getting Started

### Your First Day Checklist

- [ ] Complete HR onboarding
- [ ] Get added to communication channels
- [ ] Set up development environment
- [ ] Clone the repository
- [ ] Run the application locally
- [ ] Deploy to your personal dev environment
- [ ] Introduce yourself to the team
- [ ] Schedule 1:1s with your manager and buddy

### Access & Accounts

**Required Accounts**:
1. **GitHub** - Source code ([github.com/company/project](https://github.com))
   - Request access from @engineering-manager
2. **Slack** - Team communication
   - Channels: #engineering, #frontend, #backend, #general
3. **Jira** - Project management ([company.atlassian.net](https://company.atlassian.net))
4. **Figma** - Design files
5. **AWS Console** - Production access (read-only initially)
6. **DataDog** - Monitoring and logs

**Development Tools**:
- Docker Desktop
- Node.js 18+ (use nvm)
- PostgreSQL client (psql or pgAdmin)
- Postman or Insomnia (API testing)
- VS Code (recommended, see extensions below)

### Environment Setup

#### 1. Install Prerequisites

**macOS**:

Install Homebrew

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

Install Node.js via nvm

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.0/install.sh | bash nvm install 18 nvm use 18

Install Docker Desktop

brew install --cask docker

Install PostgreSQL client

brew install postgresql@14

**Windows**:

Install using Chocolatey

choco install nodejs-lts docker-desktop postgresql14

#### 2. Clone Repository

Clone the repo

git clone git@github.com:company/ecommerce-platform.git cd ecommerce-platform

Install dependencies

npm install

Copy environment variables

cp .env.example .env.local

#### 3. Configure Environment Variables

Edit `.env.local`:

Database (local Docker)

DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgres:password@localhost:5432/ecommerce_dev

Redis

REDIS_URL=redis://localhost:6379

Stripe (use test keys)

STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=sk_test_... # Get from @backend-lead STRIPE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY=pk_test_...

AWS S3 (dev bucket)

AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=... # Get from @devops AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=... AWS_S3_BUCKET=ecommerce-dev-uploads

Session

SESSION_SECRET=your-random-secret-here

**Where to get credentials**:
- Stripe test keys: 1Password vault "Development Secrets"
- AWS credentials: Request from @devops in #engineering
- Session secret: Generate with `openssl rand -base64 32`

#### 4. Start Development Environment

Start Docker services (PostgreSQL, Redis)

docker-compose up -d

Run database migrations

npm run db:migrate

Seed database with sample data

npm run db:seed

Start development server

npm run dev

**Expected output**:

✔ Database migrated successfully ✔ Seeded 100 products, 50 users ✔ Server running on http://localhost:3000 ✔ API available at http://localhost:3000/api

#### 5. Verify Installation

Open your browser to http://localhost:3000

You should see the application home page with sample products.

**Test credentials**:
- Email: `test@example.com`
- Password: `password123`

**Troubleshooting**:
- **Port 3000 in use**: Kill the process with `lsof -ti:3000 | xargs kill -9`
- **Database connection failed**: Check Docker is running with `docker ps`
- **Module not found**: Delete `node_modules` and run `npm install` again

See [Troubleshooting Guide](docs/TROUBLESHOOTING.md) for more help.

### VS Code Setup

**Recommended Extensions**:

{ "recommendations": [ "dbaeumer.vscode-eslint", "esbenp.prettier-vscode", "bradlc.vscode-tailwindcss", "ms-azuretools.vscode-docker", "eamodio.gitlens", "orta.vscode-jest", "prisma.prisma" ] }

**Settings** (`.vscode/settings.json`):

{ "editor.formatOnSave": true, "editor.defaultFormatter": "esbenp.prettier-vscode", "editor.codeActionsOnSave": { "source.fixAll.eslint": true }, "typescript.tsdk": "node_modules/typescript/lib" }

### Your First Commit

Let's make a simple change to verify your setup:

1. **Create a branch**:
   ```bash
   git checkout -b test/your-name-setup
   ```

2. **Add your name to the team page**:
   Edit `src/pages/About.tsx`:
   ```typescript
   const teamMembers = [
     // ... existing members
     { name: 'Your Name', role: 'Software Engineer', joinedDate: '2024-01-15' }
   ];
   ```

3. **Test your change**:
   ```bash
   npm run test
   npm run lint
   ```

4. **Commit and push**:
   ```bash
   git add .
   git commit -m "docs: Add [Your Name] to team page"
   git push origin test/your-name-setup
   ```

5. **Create a PR**:
   - Go to GitHub
   - Click "Compare & pull request"
   - Fill out the PR template
   - Request review from your buddy

Congrats on your first contribution! 🎉

### End of Day 1

**You should now have**:
- ✅ Development environment running locally
- ✅ Application accessible in your browser
- ✅ First PR created
- ✅ Access to all team tools and channels

**Questions?** Ask in #engineering or DM your buddy!

---

## Week 1: Core Concepts

### Project Architecture

#### High-Level Architecture

┌─────────────┐ │ Brows