Project Bootstrap

Turn a project idea into a running multi-agent development pipeline in one session.

Overview

This skill codifies the workflow for:

1. Agent Team Design — break complex work into specialized agents
2. Taskboard Setup — CLI-based task management across agents
3. GitHub Repo + CI/CD — TDD pipeline with Discord notifications

Phase 1: Agent Team Design

Analyze the Project

Before creating agents, answer these questions:

• What are the 3-5 major workstreams? (e.g., frontend, backend, research, design)
• Which workstreams need different expertise or thinking styles?
• What's the dependency graph between workstreams?

Design Agent Roles

For each workstream, create an agent with a SOUL.md following this structure:

# Agent Name — Nickname Emoji

You are **Nickname**, the [Role] — [one-line mission].

## 🧠 Identity & Memory
- **Role**: [specific expertise]
- **Personality**: [3-4 traits that affect work style]
- **Memory**: [what context files they track]
- **Experience**: [what failure modes they've seen]

## 🎯 Core Mission
[2-4 responsibility groups with specifics]

## 🚨 Critical Rules
[Non-negotiable constraints — security, process, boundaries]

## 📋 Deliverables
[Concrete outputs this agent produces]

## 🎯 Success Metrics
[How to measure if the agent is doing well]

## 💬 Communication Style
[How the agent communicates — tone, format, language]

## 🔗 Workflow Position
[Where in the pipeline: who feeds input, who receives output]

Register Agents in Config

For each agent, add to openclaw.json:

{
  "id": "agent-id",
  "name": "agent-id",
  "agentDir": "/path/to/workspace/agents/agent-id",
  "model": "model-alias",
  "tools": {
    "profile": "full",
    "deny": ["gateway"]
  }
}

Key decisions:

• Model selection: Use cheaper models (Haiku/Sonnet) for routine work, expensive (Opus) for architecture/review
• Tool access: Deny gateway for all agents except main. Deny message for pure code agents.
• Subagent allowlist: Main agent lists which agents it can spawn

Wire Discord Bindings (if multi-bot)

If agents have separate Discord bots, add bindings:

{
  "bindings": [
    { "agentId": "tech-lead", "match": { "channel": "discord", "accountId": "bot-name" } }
  ]
}

Phase 2: Taskboard Setup

Install Taskboard CLI

See references/taskboard-setup.md for the full taskboard CLI setup guide including:

• Task schema (id, title, status, assignee, priority, dependencies)
• CLI commands (create, list, assign, update, close)
• Cross-agent task handoff protocol
• Integration with cron jobs for status checks

Task Lifecycle

📋 backlog → 🔄 in-progress → 👀 review → ✅ done
                ↓                  ↓
              🚫 blocked        ❌ rejected → 🔄 in-progress

Cross-Agent Handoff

When an agent completes a task that feeds into another agent's work:

1. Update task status to review
2. Create a new task for the downstream agent referencing the completed task
3. Send notification to the downstream agent's Discord channel

Phase 3: GitHub Repo + CI/CD

Repository Setup

# Initialize repo
gh repo create <org>/<project> --private --clone
cd <project>

# Branch protection
gh api repos/<org>/<project>/rulesets -X POST --input .github/ruleset.json

# Required structure
mkdir -p .github/workflows tests src docs/adr

TDD Pipeline

See references/ci-cd-templates.md for GitHub Actions workflow templates:

• test.yml: Run tests on every PR and push to main
• lint.yml: Code style checks
• deploy.yml: Deploy on merge to main (if applicable)

Discord Notifications

Add Discord webhook to GitHub repo:

# Create webhook in Discord channel (Server Settings → Integrations → Webhooks)
# Add to GitHub: Settings → Webhooks → Add webhook
# Or use GitHub Actions:

See references/ci-cd-templates.md for the Discord notification action template.

ADR (Architecture Decision Records)

Every significant technical decision gets an ADR:

# ADR-NNN: [Title]

## Status: [proposed | accepted | deprecated | superseded]
## Context: [Why this decision is needed]
## Decision: [What we decided]
## Consequences: [Trade-offs and implications]

Execution Checklist

Run through this for every new project:

• Define project scope and 3-5 workstreams
• Design agent SOUL.md for each workstream
• Register agents in openclaw.json
• Set up Discord channels per agent/workstream
• Create GitHub repo with branch protection
• Add CI/CD workflows (test + lint + deploy)
• Add Discord webhook for CI/CD notifications
• Initialize taskboard with backlog items
• Create first ADR (ADR-001: Project Architecture)
• Assign initial tasks to agents
• Run a test cycle: create task → agent executes → review → merge