Skill · loaded on demand

The Focus AI Standards
Skill: SKL-010
Install: setup-project
Provenance: Authored here
Relates to: STD-004, STD-007, STD-011

The Focus AI
standards.thefocus.ai

setup-project

Status of this skill

This is a skill: a capability an agent loads when its triggers match. It binds nothing — it is something an agent can do, not something any repository must do (STD-011).

Scaffold a new TheFocus.AI project from scratch — mise-managed tooling, pi config and extensions, required mise tasks, fnox + 1Password secrets, locked agent skills, AGENTS.md, and gitignore — so it runs with `mise dev` immediately. Scaffolding and configuration only, never application code. Use when starting a new project, bootstrapping a repo, or setting up tooling from zero. Triggers on: "new project", "start a project", "scaffold", "bootstrap", "set up a repo", "get this project started", "standard setup".

Agent · install with

skills add The-Focus-AI/standards --skill setup-project

Take an empty directory to a project that runs with mise dev. Scaffolding, configuration, and tooling only — do not write application source code.

Where the standards live

The normative rules are in the standards repository, The-Focus-AI/standards: STD-004 (tooling and tasks), STD-007 (secrets), and STD-011 (skills). The walkthroughs are best-practices/GDE-006-local-environment.md (mise + fnox + pi), best-practices/GDE-003-fnox-secrets.md (the full secrets reference), best-practices/GDE-008-skills.md (the locked skill set), and best-practices/GDE-007-pi-extensions.md. If you are running inside that repo, read them directly. If not, and you have gh access, fetch them. If neither, the sequence below is the minimum bar — say in your summary that you worked without the full standards.

There is a bootstrap script for the mechanical parts: ./scripts/setup-default-project.sh ../my-project.

Setup order (follow exactly, in this sequence)

1. Create directory and git

mkdir <project-name> + cd <project-name> + git init

2. Install tools via mise (never edit mise.toml by hand)

mise use node@22
mise use npm:pnpm
mise use fnox
mise use "npm:@earendil-works/pi-coding-agent"
Add any other runtimes the project needs now (ripgrep, fd, gh).

3. Configure pi

Write .pi/settings.json with npmCommand: ["mise", "exec", "node", "--", "npm"] and sessionDir: ".pi/sessions".

4. Install pi extensions

Always -l for project-local. The required set is in best-practices/GDE-007-pi-extensions.md.

5. Write mise.toml tasks

Required [tasks]: install (pnpm install --frozen-lockfile), dev, lint, test, deploy, setup (pulls the service-account token from 1Password into .fnox/env), secrets:check (fnox check), secrets:list (fnox list).

Add [env] with _.file = ".fnox/env".

6. Trust mise config

mise trust — skip this and the project is unusable for the next person.

7. Initialize the package manager

Write package.json, run pnpm install, then pnpm approve-builds <pkgs> for anything needing build scripts (electron, esbuild).

8. Configure secrets (fnox + 1Password)

Write fnox.toml declaring the provider and secrets, against a 1Password vault named for the project. Declare the API keys the project will need. Never write actual secret values — only the mappings to 1Password items.

9. Install skills

Copy the locked skills-lock.json from the standards repo's default-project template, then mise install (which runs skills experimental_install). To add one later: skills add <owner>/<repo> --skill <folder> -y. Do not run skills add mattpocock/skills -y bare — it pulls course and writing extras that are not part of the standard set.

10. Write AGENTS.md

Adapt from the standards AGENTS.md. Keep the mise-only tooling constraint, the required tasks, fnox for secrets, the skill set, and TypeScript + pnpm. Add the project's stack.

11. Write .gitignore

node_modules/, out/, dist/, dist-installer/, .agents, agent/skills/, .fnox/, *.env, *.env.local, .pi/sessions/, .pi/npm/, .pi/git/, .pi/skills/, .DS_Store, *.log

12. Write project configs

tsconfig.json — strict, ES2022, bundler resolution, path aliases. Then any framework-specific config (electron-vite, next.config).

13. Verify

[ ] mise ls --current shows all tools
[ ] mise tasks shows install/dev/lint/test/deploy
[ ] .pi/settings.json lists both extensions in packages
[ ] .agents/skills/ has the locked skills
[ ] AGENTS.md exists and is adapted for this project
[ ] fnox.toml declares provider and secrets, with no values
[ ] .gitignore covers generated and secret paths
[ ] pnpm ls --depth 0 shows the dependencies installed

Run the checklist. A scaffold reported as done without it is usually missing mise trust or the skills install.

What NOT to do

No application source code — no main process, renderer, components, or routes.
No global installs — not npm install -g, pip install, brew install, or npx -y ... init.
Never hand-edit mise.toml to add a tool — always mise use, so the pin is real.
Never hardcode a secret. Declare it in fnox.toml; the value lives in 1Password.
Never skip mise trust.