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kanbrain_core/cli/
init.rs

1//! `kb init`: makes the current folder a project. It gets its own `.brain/` with a card
2//! (`project.md`: its name and what it's about), is registered in the central brain so the kanban app
3//! shows it and can filter by it, and its coding agents are told how to use it, by a short section in
4//! their instructions file (`CLAUDE.md`, `AGENTS.md`). Without that section an agent doesn't know the
5//! brain exists until someone pastes it by hand.
6//!
7//! `kb deinit` undoes it, except for `.brain/` itself: its tasks, notes and decisions are the
8//! repository's, often committed with it, so deleting them is left to the user.
9
10use super::claude;
11use crate::model::counted;
12use crate::projects;
13use crate::store::{self, PROJECT_DIR, Store};
14use anyhow::{Context, Result, bail};
15use std::fs;
16use std::path::Path;
17
18/// Instructions files agents read at the start of a session: Claude Code's, and the cross-agent one.
19const AGENT_FILES: [&str; 2] = ["CLAUDE.md", "AGENTS.md"];
20/// Created when the project has none of `AGENT_FILES`.
21const DEFAULT_AGENT_FILE: &str = "CLAUDE.md";
22/// Marks where the section starts and ends, so running `init` again updates it in place instead of
23/// adding another, and everything around it is left alone.
24const START: &str = "<!-- kanbrain:start -->";
25/// See [`START`].
26const END: &str = "<!-- kanbrain:end -->";
27
28/// The section. Read at the start of every session, so it's short, yet the whole CLI an agent needs is
29/// here. It has to win over the agent's own habits: Claude Code, for one, has a built-in to-do list,
30/// and works through a plan without a word to the board unless told the board is watched live.
31const SECTION: &str = "\
32## Project memory: kanbrain
33
34This project's tasks, to-dos, decisions and notes live in `.brain/`, managed only with `kb`, kanbrain's CLI.
35The user follows them live on a kanban board: keep it showing what you're doing as you go, not at the end.
36
37- Start of session: `kb context`, unless its output is already above (a session hook adds it).
38- Work that changes the repository, or that the user should see, gets a task; questions and lookups don't. Find it
39  (`search WORDS`) or create it (`add TITLE`), then `start ID` (`add --start TITLE` does both). \"Todos\", a plan or
40  what's pending, in any language, are tasks here, one `add` each; your built-in to-do list isn't on the board, so
41  keep it for steps within the task you've started. A task with real work gets a body, `add --body - TITLE`:
42  **Goal** (what and why, a line or two) and **Done when** (what the user will check).
43- While working: `comment ID TEXT` when a step is done, when you find a cause, and before you stop (one or two
44  lines: what changed, what's next); `done ID` as soon as one is finished. Stopping before it is: `comment`, then
45  `park ID`. Doing isn't limited for you: several of your tasks can run at once. Never park, finish or move a task
46  you didn't start (the user's, or another session's).
47- Splitting work between subagents: give each part that changes the repository its own task, and run the board
48  yourself: `add --start` it before launching the subagent, then `comment` its result and `done` it. Subagents
49  only do the work; lookups and research get no task. `kb` commands can run in parallel.
50- Blocked on the user (a requirement, access, a choice that's theirs): `ask ID TEXT` parks the task with the
51  question; don't guess. A choice you shouldn't make alone and weren't asked to (architecture, a dependency,
52  storage, a public interface): `propose ID --body - TITLE`, Context / Options / Recommendation on stdin; it parks
53  the task until the user accepts or rejects it. Then, unless the user said they're away, if your tool can run a
54  command in the background and wake you when it exits, run `kb wait ID` (the task) that way and end your turn: it
55  prints the answer, or that there's none yet (then stop, don't wait again). Otherwise go on with other work or
56  stop; answers come first in `context`, under Answered: `show ID`, then pick the task up. If the user answers in
57  the chat instead, `start` the task (that ends the wait). `accept`/`reject` a decision only when the user tells
58  you to.
59- Choosing between approaches within your task: `search` for earlier decisions (only accepted ones are in force),
60  then `add --decision --link ID --body - TITLE` with Context / Decision / Consequences on stdin. Non-obvious
61  findings: `add --note --link ID --body - TITLE`; a problem someone has to fix is a task instead, in the
62  repository that has to change.
63- `## Project` in `context` is the application's shared context. If it isn't described, or you're asked to set up
64  or load the brain, describe it first, from the README and manifests: `project describe -` (what the app is, its
65  services and how they connect, conventions they share: the big picture, in at most five lines, without tables,
66  columns, function signatures, files or dependencies, which the code already says). Rewrite it when the big
67  picture changes (a service added, another storage), not after every change. With several repositories, this
68  one's role too: `project notes -`. How to build, test and run this repository, and its code style, go in this
69  file, outside this section: add them as you learn them.
70- Also: `show ID` (one entry in full), `describe ID TEXT`, `link ID OTHER…` (an id here, or `REPO#ID` in another
71  repository of the project); `-` reads text from stdin. Never edit the files in `.brain/` by hand: `kb` keeps
72  them consistent.";
73
74/// Makes `root` a repository of project `name` (else the one its card names, else one named after
75/// the folder), named `repo` in it (else as [`projects::repo_name`] picks): creates its `.brain/` and card,
76/// registers it in `central` (joining the project's other repositories if it has some), creates the project's
77/// shared card if it's new, and writes or refreshes the section in each agent file of `root` (creating
78/// `CLAUDE.md` if there's none). Returns what it did, one line each.
79///
80/// A repository of another project, still there, is moved to `name` as `kb project move` moves it: the links
81/// between it and its old project's repositories go, and so does that project's card if it was the last.
82pub fn init(root: &Path, name: Option<&str>, repo: Option<&str>, central: &Path) -> Result<Vec<String>> {
83    if let Some(to) = name
84        && let Ok(dir) = root.join(PROJECT_DIR).canonicalize()
85        && projects::load(central)?.iter().any(|r| projects::same_dir(&r.dir, &dir) && r.project != to)
86    {
87        let mut done = super::manage::move_repo(central, &dir, to)?;
88        // Moved already: a name it can't take is said beside the move, not instead of it.
89        if let Some(repo) = repo {
90            match super::manage::rename_repo(central, &dir, repo) {
91                Ok(lines) => done.extend(lines),
92                Err(e) => done.push(format!("kept the name it has: {e:#}")),
93            }
94        }
95        return Ok(done);
96    }
97    join(root, name, repo, central)
98}
99
100/// What [`init`] does for a folder that isn't a repository of another project: [`super::manage::move_repo`] runs
101/// it once the repository has left its old project.
102pub(crate) fn join(root: &Path, name: Option<&str>, repo: Option<&str>, central: &Path) -> Result<Vec<String>> {
103    let mut done = Vec::new();
104    let dir = root.join(PROJECT_DIR);
105    // The registry holds a path a line; one with a line break would read as a second, made-up registration.
106    if root.to_string_lossy().contains(['\n', '\r']) {
107        bail!("{} has a line break in its path: kanbrain can't register it", root.display());
108    }
109    // Registered, its `.brain/` would be both the central brain and a project's, and taking it out with `--purge`
110    // would delete every project's registration and card.
111    if projects::same_dir(&dir, central) {
112        bail!("{} is the central brain, not a project's: run `kb init` in a project's folder", dir.display());
113    }
114    if dir.is_dir() {
115        done.push(format!("{} already exists", dir.display()));
116    } else {
117        Store::at(&dir)?;
118        done.push(format!("created {}: kanbrain uses it from here and every folder below", dir.display()));
119        done.push("commit it to share tasks, notes and decisions with the project, or add it to .gitignore".into());
120    }
121    // Registered by its absolute path, so the kanban app finds it from anywhere.
122    let dir = dir.canonicalize().with_context(|| format!("reading {}", dir.display()))?;
123    let folder = root.canonicalize().ok().and_then(|r| Some(r.file_name()?.to_string_lossy().into_owned()));
124    let card = projects::read_repo_card(&dir);
125    // Re-run without a name, it stays in the project the registry has it in, which a rename while its folder was
126    // away left its card behind on.
127    let registered = projects::load(central)?.into_iter().find(|r| projects::same_dir(&r.dir, &dir)).map(|r| r.project);
128    // A name a version before 0.4.0 registered, which `init --all` renames: said, rather than to pick another.
129    if name.is_none()
130        && let Some(old) = registered.as_deref()
131        && projects::check_name(old).is_err()
132    {
133        bail!(
134            "this repository is registered in project `{old}`, a name kanbrain no longer takes: `kb init --all` \
135             renames such projects, keeping their repositories and card"
136        );
137    }
138    let project = match (name, registered, &card, folder) {
139        (Some(name), ..) => name.to_string(),
140        (None, Some(registered), ..) => registered,
141        (None, None, Some(card), _) => card.project.clone(),
142        (None, None, None, Some(folder)) => folder,
143        (None, None, None, None) => bail!("this folder has no name to give the project: `kb init NAME`"),
144    };
145    projects::check_name(&project)?;
146    let named = projects::repo_name(central, &project, &dir, repo)?;
147    // The name goes on the card before registering, which tells repositories apart by it; only when it isn't
148    // the folder's, so a card stays as it was for the usual case.
149    let folder_name = projects::Repo { project: project.clone(), dir: dir.clone() }.folder();
150    let notes = card.as_ref().map(|card| card.notes.clone()).unwrap_or_default();
151    let new_card =
152        projects::RepoCard { project: project.clone(), repo: (named != folder_name).then_some(named), notes };
153    if card.as_ref() != Some(&new_card) {
154        projects::write_repo_card(&dir, &new_card)?;
155    }
156    projects::register(central, &project, &dir)?;
157    if projects::ensure_description(central, &project)? {
158        done.push(format!(
159            "created project `{project}`'s card in the central brain: describe the project with `kb project \
160             describe` or from the kanban app (or let the agent do it); all its repositories share it"
161        ));
162    }
163    let repos = projects::load(central)?;
164    let here =
165        repos.iter().find(|r| projects::same_dir(&r.dir, &dir)).map_or_else(|| project.clone(), |r| r.label(&repos));
166    let others: Vec<String> = repos
167        .iter()
168        .filter(|r| r.project == project && !projects::same_dir(&r.dir, &dir))
169        .map(projects::Repo::name)
170        .collect();
171    if others.is_empty() {
172        done.push(format!(
173            "registered as project `{here}`: the kanban app shows it, and `--project {here}` reaches it"
174        ));
175    } else {
176        done.push(format!(
177            "registered as `{here}`, a repository of project `{project}` with {}: they share its card",
178            others.join(", ")
179        ));
180    }
181    // A folder moved or renamed by hand leaves its old place registered: said, since only the user knows if
182    // this is it.
183    for gone in repos.iter().filter(|r| r.project == project && !r.dir.is_dir()) {
184        let name = gone.name();
185        // Its name kept for it, this one took another (`repo_name`): once the old place is out, it can take that one
186        // back.
187        done.push(format!(
188            "`{project}/{name}`'s folder is gone ({}): if this is it, moved here, take the old place out with \
189             `kb --project {project}/{name} deinit`, then `kb project repo {name}` here",
190            gone.dir.display()
191        ));
192    }
193    let existing: Vec<&str> = AGENT_FILES.into_iter().filter(|name| root.join(name).is_file()).collect();
194    let targets = if existing.is_empty() { vec![DEFAULT_AGENT_FILE] } else { existing };
195    done.extend(write_agent_files(root, &targets)?.into_iter().map(|(_, line)| line));
196    if !on_path(std::env::var_os("PATH"), "kb") {
197        done.push(
198            "`kb` isn't on your PATH, and agents and the hooks run it: install the command line too \
199             (the installer's `--app both`)"
200                .into(),
201        );
202    }
203    Ok(done)
204}
205
206/// Renames each project a version before 0.4.0 named as none can be now (see [`projects::check_name`]): one
207/// starting with `-`, which `--project` reads as an option, `Central` in any case, which reaches the central
208/// brain, or one with `:` or `/` (a registry edited by hand). Without it, `kb init` in its repositories is refused.
209/// Returns what it did, one line each.
210fn rename_unreachable_projects(central: &Path) -> Result<Vec<String>> {
211    let mut names: Vec<String> = projects::load(central)?.into_iter().map(|r| r.project).collect();
212    names.sort_unstable();
213    names.dedup();
214    let unreachable: Vec<String> = names.iter().filter(|name| projects::check_name(name).is_err()).cloned().collect();
215    let mut done = Vec::new();
216    for old in unreachable {
217        let kept: String = old.chars().map(|c| if matches!(c, ':' | '/' | '\n') { '-' } else { c }).collect();
218        let base = match kept.trim().trim_start_matches('-').trim() {
219            "" => "project",
220            base => base,
221        };
222        // At most `base` is refused (`Central`; its `-project` forms never are) and every other project takes one: of
223        // these, one more than there are projects, one is free.
224        let new = (0..=names.len())
225            .map(|n| match n {
226                0 => base.to_string(),
227                1 => format!("{base}-project"),
228                n => format!("{base}-project-{n}"),
229            })
230            .find(|name| projects::check_name(name).is_ok() && !names.contains(name))
231            .expect("more names than projects");
232        // One that fails is said, as `init --all` says each repository it couldn't bring up to date.
233        match super::manage::rename_project(central, &old, &new) {
234            Ok(lines) => done.extend(lines),
235            Err(e) => done.push(format!("couldn't rename project `{old}`: {e:#}")),
236        }
237        names.push(new);
238    }
239    Ok(done)
240}
241
242/// Brings every registered repository up to this version: its data format, migrated with the central brain's
243/// (see [`crate::migrate`]), and its agent instructions, the section in each of its agent files that has one
244/// and Claude Code's hooks where `CLAUDE.md` has it. A repository whose files have no section (taken out by
245/// hand) keeps them as they are, and one whose folder is gone is left alone. Returns what changed, one line
246/// each, naming the repository.
247pub fn init_all(central: &Path) -> Result<Vec<String>> {
248    // Migrated first: a brain a newer kanbrain wrote stops it before anything is written.
249    let mut done = migrate_all(central, &projects::load(central)?)?;
250    done.extend(rename_unreachable_projects(central)?);
251    let repos = projects::load(central)?;
252    let mut current = 0;
253    for repo in repos.iter().filter(|r| r.dir.is_dir()) {
254        // Named after a folder whose name links can't hold (`My App`), by a version before 0.4.0: renamed.
255        let name = repo.name();
256        if projects::check_repo_name(&name).is_err() {
257            let fixed = projects::repo_name(central, &repo.project, &repo.dir, None)?;
258            done.extend(super::manage::rename_repo(central, &repo.dir, &fixed)?);
259        }
260        // A card left on a project's old name, renamed while this folder was away.
261        if let Some(card) = projects::read_repo_card(&repo.dir).filter(|card| card.project != repo.project) {
262            let old = card.project.clone();
263            projects::write_repo_card(&repo.dir, &projects::RepoCard { project: repo.project.clone(), ..card })?;
264            done.push(format!("{}: its card named project `{old}`, now `{}`: fixed", repo.label(&repos), repo.project));
265        }
266        let Some(root) = repo.dir.parent() else { continue };
267        let targets: Vec<&str> = AGENT_FILES
268            .into_iter()
269            .filter(|name| fs::read_to_string(root.join(name)).is_ok_and(|text| text.contains(START)))
270            .collect();
271        if targets.is_empty() {
272            continue;
273        }
274        let changes: Vec<String> = write_agent_files(root, &targets)?
275            .into_iter()
276            .filter(|(changed, _)| *changed)
277            .map(|(_, line)| line)
278            .collect();
279        if changes.is_empty() {
280            current += 1;
281        }
282        let label = repo.label(&repos);
283        done.extend(changes.into_iter().map(|line| format!("{label}: {line}")));
284    }
285    // "More" only after the ones listed: alone, it reads as if some were left out.
286    match (current, done.is_empty()) {
287        (0, _) => {}
288        (_, true) => done.push(format!(
289            "{} already had this version's instructions",
290            counted(current, "repository", "repositories")
291        )),
292        (_, false) => done.push(format!("{current} more already had this version's instructions")),
293    }
294    Ok(done)
295}
296
297/// Brings the central brain and every registered repository's to this version's data format (see
298/// [`crate::migrate`]), as `kb update` runs it. A repository a newer kanbrain wrote is said and left alone; one
299/// that fails (a damaged `format` file, a step that can't write) is said too, rather than keep every other
300/// repository from being brought up to date.
301fn migrate_all(central: &Path, repos: &[projects::Repo]) -> Result<Vec<String>> {
302    let mut done = crate::migrate::migrate(&Store::at(central)?)?;
303    for repo in repos.iter().filter(|r| r.dir.is_dir()) {
304        match Store::at(&repo.dir).and_then(|store| crate::migrate::migrate(&store)) {
305            Ok(lines) => done.extend(lines),
306            Err(e) if e.downcast_ref::<crate::migrate::TooNew>().is_some() => {
307                done.push(format!("{}: left alone: {e}", repo.label(repos)));
308            }
309            Err(e) => done.push(format!(
310                "{}: not brought up to date: {e:#}; fix it, then run `kb init --all` again",
311                repo.label(repos)
312            )),
313        }
314    }
315    Ok(done)
316}
317
318/// Writes or updates the section in each of `targets`, agent files of `root`, and Claude Code's hooks when
319/// `CLAUDE.md` is one of them. Returns what it did, one line each, and whether that changed anything.
320fn write_agent_files(root: &Path, targets: &[&str]) -> Result<Vec<(bool, String)>> {
321    let mut done = Vec::new();
322    // Claude Code's hooks go with its file; agents that read only AGENTS.md have no use for them.
323    if targets.contains(&"CLAUDE.md") {
324        done.push(match claude::add_hooks(root) {
325            Ok(claude::Change::Unchanged) => (false, format!("{} already has kanbrain's hooks", claude::SETTINGS)),
326            Ok(_) => (
327                true,
328                format!(
329                    "added kanbrain's hooks to {}: Claude Code reads `kb context` when a session starts and \
330                     after compaction, reminds an agent with every prompt and at the end of its turn to \
331                     describe the project while it isn't, and sends it to `kb` when it would write the brain's \
332                     files itself",
333                    claude::SETTINGS
334                ),
335            ),
336            // The section still works without them, so a settings file it can't read doesn't stop init.
337            Err(e) => (false, format!("left out the Claude Code hooks: {e:#}")),
338        });
339    }
340    for &name in targets {
341        let path = root.join(name);
342        // Only a missing file is empty: one it can't read (not UTF-8) would be written over with the section alone.
343        let before = match fs::read_to_string(&path) {
344            Ok(text) => text,
345            Err(e) if e.kind() == std::io::ErrorKind::NotFound => String::new(),
346            Err(e) => {
347                done.push((false, format!("left {name} as it is: can't read it ({e}); add the section by hand")));
348                continue;
349            }
350        };
351        let after = with_section(&before);
352        if after == before {
353            done.push((false, format!("{name} already tells agents about kanbrain")));
354            continue;
355        }
356        store::write_file(&path, &after)?;
357        let what = if before.is_empty() {
358            "created"
359        } else if before.contains(START) {
360            "updated"
361        } else {
362            "added to"
363        };
364        done.push((true, format!("{what} {name}: the \"Project memory\" section tells agents how to use the brain")));
365    }
366    Ok(done)
367}
368
369/// Whether a program named `name` is in one of the folders of `path`, a `PATH` value.
370fn on_path(path: Option<std::ffi::OsString>, name: &str) -> bool {
371    let file = format!("{name}{}", std::env::consts::EXE_SUFFIX);
372    path.is_some_and(|path| std::env::split_paths(&path).any(|dir| dir.join(&file).is_file()))
373}
374
375/// Takes the repository whose `.brain/` is `dir` out of the project registry, deleting the project's
376/// card if it was its last repository, and takes the section out of each agent file of the repository
377/// (deleting a file left empty, which `init` created). `.brain/` is left as it is: whether it goes is
378/// [`super::manage::remove_repo`]'s. Returns what it did, one line each.
379pub fn deinit(dir: &Path, central: &Path) -> Result<Vec<String>> {
380    let Some(repo) = projects::unregister(central, dir)? else {
381        bail!("{} isn't a registered project: there's nothing to deinit", dir.display());
382    };
383    let mut done = vec![format!("unregistered {}: the kanban app no longer shows it", repo.dir.display())];
384    let others: Vec<String> =
385        projects::load(central)?.iter().filter(|r| r.project == repo.project).map(projects::Repo::name).collect();
386    if !others.is_empty() {
387        done.push(format!(
388            "project `{}` keeps its card for its other repositories: {}",
389            repo.project,
390            others.join(", ")
391        ));
392    } else if projects::remove_description(central, &repo.project)? {
393        done.push(format!("removed project `{}`'s card from the central brain", repo.project));
394    }
395    let Some(root) = repo.dir.parent().filter(|_| repo.dir.is_dir()) else {
396        done.push(format!("{} is gone, so there was nothing else to undo", repo.dir.display()));
397        return Ok(done);
398    };
399    match claude::remove_hooks(root) {
400        Ok(claude::Change::Unchanged) => {}
401        Ok(claude::Change::Written) => done.push(format!("removed kanbrain's hooks from {}", claude::SETTINGS)),
402        Ok(claude::Change::Removed) => done.push(format!("removed {}: it only held the hooks", claude::SETTINGS)),
403        Err(e) => done.push(format!("left the Claude Code hooks in place: {e:#}")),
404    }
405    for name in AGENT_FILES {
406        let path = root.join(name);
407        let Ok(before) = fs::read_to_string(&path) else { continue };
408        let after = without_section(&before);
409        if after == before {
410            continue;
411        }
412        if after.trim().is_empty() {
413            fs::remove_file(&path).with_context(|| format!("removing {}", path.display()))?;
414            done.push(format!("removed {name}: it only held the \"Project memory\" section"));
415        } else {
416            store::write_file(&path, &after)?;
417            done.push(format!("removed the \"Project memory\" section from {name}"));
418        }
419    }
420    Ok(done)
421}
422
423/// Where the section is in `text`, with the line break after its end marker. It's the last start
424/// marker before the first end marker, so a stray unclosed start marker above it is never taken for
425/// the start and the text after it is kept.
426fn section(text: &str) -> Option<(usize, usize)> {
427    let end = text.find(END)? + END.len();
428    let start = text[..end].rfind(START)?;
429    Some((start, if text[end..].starts_with('\n') { end + 1 } else { end }))
430}
431
432/// `text` with the section between the markers: replaced where it already is, else appended after
433/// a blank line.
434fn with_section(text: &str) -> String {
435    let block = format!("{START}\n{SECTION}\n{END}\n");
436    if let Some((start, end)) = section(text) {
437        return format!("{}{block}{}", &text[..start], &text[end..]);
438    }
439    match text.trim_end() {
440        "" => block,
441        kept => format!("{kept}\n\n{block}"),
442    }
443}
444
445/// `text` without the section, and without the blank line `with_section` put before it.
446fn without_section(text: &str) -> String {
447    let Some((start, end)) = section(text) else { return text.to_string() };
448    let before = text[..start].trim_end();
449    let after = text[end..].trim_start_matches('\n');
450    match (before, after) {
451        ("", after) => after.to_string(),
452        (before, "") => format!("{before}\n"),
453        (before, after) => format!("{before}\n\n{after}"),
454    }
455}
456
457#[cfg(test)]
458#[path = "../../tests/cli/init.rs"]
459mod tests;