/start

name: start
description: One command from "plugin installed" to "running brief on your idea." Combines /mycelium:setup (project-state initialization) and /mycelium:interview (10-minute discovery brief) into a single flow. Run this immediately after installing the Mycelium plugin — it's the recommended entry point for first-time users.
metadata:
  framework_dependency: "mycelium"
  framework_dependency_note: "This skill is designed to run within the Mycelium framework (https://github.com/haabe/mycelium). Standalone use will skip the canvas state, theory gates, and harness behavior the skill assumes. Install: /plugin install mycelium@haabe-mycelium."

/mycelium:start — combined first-time entry

When this skill runs, follow the flow below. The skill is designed so a first-time user goes from "plugin installed" to "holding a one-page brief on their idea" in a single invocation.

Step 1: Welcome (~30 seconds of context, then move on)

Output a short welcome before doing anything. Do NOT skip this — the install-to-here gap is the friction point this skill exists to address. The user just installed a 45-skill framework and has no context yet.

> "Welcome to Mycelium. > > Mycelium makes the agent think before it builds — it can't skip the hard questions; each step has to clear an evidence check first. Grounded in 30+ established product-thinking frameworks; you'll meet the relevant ones as they come up. > > Two quick steps: > 1. Set up Mycelium's files in `.claude/` — about 10 seconds. Your existing files (CLAUDE.md, README, etc.) aren't changed. A new `.claude/` directory is added, and setup may add an `AGENTS.md` at the project root (it asks first when you are there to answer). > 2. A 10-minute discovery brief: one line about the project, 4 questions about your idea, then a one-page brief covering who it's for, the biggest assumption, the biggest risk, and your next concrete move. > > One thing to know before you answer: once the brief exists, the agent builds the product itself only after a delivery diamond is open with its reasons written down, new files and edits to existing code alike. Code in a folder listed under `prototype_paths` in `.claude/diamonds/active.yml` stays free, and you can lift the hold yourself with `.claude/state/delivery-skip-ack`. Uninstalling is one command. > > Let's begin."

Step 2: Detect existing state — HARD GATE

**This must be the very first action after the welcome. Do NOT run any other Bash commands, Edit/Write operations, or "let me prepare the directories" reasoning before this gate fires.**

Run exactly this check, and only this check:

test -f "${CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR:-.}/.claude/diamonds/active.yml"; echo "state=$?"; find .claude/state/hooks-alive "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/mycelium-hooks-alive-$(id -u)" -mmin -60 2>/dev/null

(`${CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR:-.}` since v0.286.0: Codex CLI does not set the variable, and the bare form tested `/.claude/...`, so an initialized project read as new and setup ran over it.)

• **Hooks (v0.286.0)**: if the `find` printed nothing, Mycelium's hooks did not run in this

session: its gates and the rules it gives the agent at session start are off, and nothing else will say so. Tell the user in one line before going on: "Mycelium's hooks are not running in this session, so its gates are off. On Codex CLI, open `/hooks`, trust Mycelium's hooks and start a new session; on Claude Code, check the plugin is enabled in `/plugin`." Then continue with the state result below. If it printed a path, say nothing about it. (Since v0.318.0 the hooks do nothing in a project with no `.claude/canvas/` or `.claude/diamonds/`; there they only stamp the temp-folder marker, which is why the `find` names both.)

• **If `state=0`** (file EXISTS): the project already has Mycelium state. Skip directly to Step 4 routing output. **Do NOT run setup. Do NOT run mkdir. Do NOT touch `.gitkeep` stubs.** Setup-style operations on an already-initialized project waste tokens and trigger Read-before-Write tool errors when the agent then tries to write to existing files. Detected during 2026-05-09 plugin-form dogfood — the agent ran `mkdir -p .claude/...` before honoring this gate, then hit a Write error on `active.yml` and only then realized the project was initialized. The fix is structural: the gate is the first action.

• **If `state=1`** (file does NOT exist): invoke the setup workflow inline. Follow the instructions in `${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/setup/SKILL.md` exactly — same Step 1 detection (which will fall through), Step 2 directory creation with `.gitkeep` stubs, Step 3 starter file writes, Step 5 confirmation message — **but DEFER setup's Step 4 (the AGENTS.md prompt) to after the brief** (see below). Do not duplicate the setup logic here; reference it.

**AGENTS.md deferral (v0.56.0)**: in the /start composition, setup's Step 4 question does NOT fire before the interview. A first-time user's opening minutes must go to their idea, not to file administration — the 2026-07-02 roadmap dogfood run showed the AGENTS.md exchange consuming the first two conversational rounds before Question 1 was asked. Instead: after the brief is rendered and the depth menu is answered, IF `<project_root>/AGENTS.md` is absent or lacks a Mycelium section, ask setup's Step 4 question then (one exchange, at the natural pause). Setup's detect-first rule still applies: an AGENTS.md that already covers Mycelium is skipped silently. When `/mycelium:setup` is run standalone (not via /start), its Step 4 order is unchanged.

After setup completes, do NOT print setup's "Next:" line — this skill is the next step. Print:

> "Setup done. Now: one line about the project, then 4 questions about your idea, ~10 minutes."

Step 3: Run interview (universal-flow shape)

Invoke the interview workflow inline. Follow the instructions in `${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/interview/SKILL.md` from Phase 0 onward.

Because setup just ran, the canvas is empty — /interview's