Init and Project Charter — User Journey

What spec-kitty init does

spec-kitty init creates the project skeleton — the directory structure, agent command files, and mission scaffolding. It does not generate governance, run an interview, or copy example doctrine assets into your project. After init, the next-steps output points you at the charter command to add governance when you want it.

Changed in 3.2.6. Earlier versions ran a governance interview automatically during init and seeded an example toolguide into every new project. Both were removed — governance is now authored on demand, and no example assets are scaffolded into your repo.

Authoring your project charter

Your project charter defines the paradigms, directives, and tooling that every AI agent in the project follows. You author it on demand:

1. spec-kitty charter interview — an optional guided Q&A that captures your project's governance choices. Your answers are saved so you can regenerate later.
2. spec-kitty charter generate — compiles your answers into .kittify/charter/charter.yaml, the single authoritative, git-tracked charter.

charter.yaml is the source of truth. charter.md is an optional companion you write by hand to record the human rationale behind your choices — charter generate never overwrites it.