`/setup-sdlc` — Unified Project Setup

Overview

Configures the SDLC plugin for a project in one interactive flow. Creates .claude/sdlc.json (project-level config) and .sdlc/local.json (user-local preferences), and orchestrates content setup (review dimensions, PR template). Replaces the fragmented first-use experience of running multiple init commands separately.

Usage

/setup-sdlc

Flags

Flag	Description	Default
`--migrate`	Migrate legacy config files (`.claude/version.json`, `.sdlc/ship-config.json`, etc.) into unified config	—
`--skip <section>`	Skip a config section during setup (version, ship, jira, review, commit, pr, content)	—
`--force`	Reconfigure already-configured sections	—
`--dimensions`	Jump directly to review dimensions sub-flow (skip config builder)	—
`--pr-template`	Jump directly to PR template sub-flow (skip config builder)	—
`--guardrails`	Jump directly to plan guardrails sub-flow (skip config builder)	—
`--execution-guardrails`	Jump directly to execution guardrails sub-flow (skip config builder)	—
`--add`	Expansion mode with `--dimensions` or `--guardrails` (propose only new items)	—
`--no-copilot`	Skip GitHub Copilot instructions with `--dimensions`	—

Examples

First-time setup

/setup-sdlc

Detects missing config, walks through version/ship/jira/review/commit/pr setup, then offers to create review dimensions and PR template.

Migrate from legacy config files

/setup-sdlc --migrate

Reads .claude/version.json, .sdlc/ship-config.json, .sdlc/review.json, and .sdlc/jira-config.json, merges them into .claude/sdlc.json and .sdlc/local.json, and optionally deletes the legacy files.

Skip specific sections

/setup-sdlc --skip jira --skip commit --skip pr

Configures version, ship, and review sections, skipping Jira, commit, and PR title setup.

Configure commit and PR patterns

/setup-sdlc --skip version --skip jira --skip ship

Focuses on review, commit, and PR pattern setup for code style enforcement.

Review dimensions setup

/setup-sdlc --dimensions

Jump directly to review dimensions configuration, skipping the config builder. Scans project tech stack and proposes review dimensions (e.g., security, performance, type safety).

Expand existing review dimensions

/setup-sdlc --dimensions --add

Expansion mode: proposes only dimensions not already installed, leaving existing dimensions unchanged.

PR template setup

/setup-sdlc --pr-template

Jump directly to PR template creation, skipping the config builder. Analyzes project conventions and guides you through creating a custom PR description template.

Plan guardrails setup

/setup-sdlc --guardrails

Jump directly to plan guardrails configuration, skipping the config builder. Configures custom rules evaluated by /plan-sdlc during critique phases.

Expand guardrails

/setup-sdlc --guardrails --add

Expansion mode: proposes only guardrails not already configured.

Prerequisites

Must be inside a git repository
Node.js >= 16 (for setup-prepare.js)

Setup Flow

Step 3: Configuration Sections

After version, ship, and Jira setup, /setup-sdlc guides you through code style enforcement for commits and pull requests:

Step 3e: Commit Message Patterns

Choose a commit message convention:

conventional — Enforce type(scope): description format (e.g., feat(auth): add OAuth2)
- Prompts for allowed types and scopes (or accepts defaults)
- Writes commit.allowedTypes, commit.allowedScopes, commit.subjectPattern, commit.subjectPatternError to .claude/sdlc.json
ticket-prefix — Enforce ticket ID prefix (e.g., PROJ-123: description)
- Prompts for ticket prefix pattern
- Writes commit.subjectPattern and commit.subjectPatternError
custom — Provide your own regex pattern
- Prompts for subjectPattern and subjectPatternError
- Writes custom pattern to .claude/sdlc.json
skip — No commit pattern validation
- Skips this step; subsequent /commit-sdlc calls use auto-detected style

Step 3f: PR Title Patterns

Choose whether PR titles should match a specific pattern:

conventional — Enforce type[(scope)]: description format for PR titles
- Accepts same allowed types and scopes as commit setup (or different ones if preferred)
- Writes pr.allowedTypes, pr.allowedScopes, pr.titlePattern, pr.titlePatternError
ticket-prefix — Enforce ticket ID prefix in PR titles
- Prompts for ticket prefix pattern
- Writes pr.titlePattern and pr.titlePatternError
custom — Provide your own regex pattern
- Prompts for titlePattern and titlePatternError
- Writes custom pattern to .claude/sdlc.json
same-as-commit — Use the same pattern as commit setup
- Copies commit pattern fields to pr section if commit setup was not skipped
- Available only if commit step was completed (not skipped)
skip — No PR title pattern validation
- Skips this step; subsequent /pr-sdlc calls generate titles without pattern enforcement

After selection, the skill writes the configuration to .claude/sdlc.json and stores local preferences in .sdlc/local.json.

Step 4: Content Setup

After configuration sections are complete, /setup-sdlc offers to set up content assets using built-in sub-flows:

Review Dimensions

Scans your project’s tech stack, dependencies, and directory structure to propose review dimensions (e.g., security, performance, type safety, documentation). Each dimension defines a set of review checks to apply during /review-sdlc. Dimensions are stored in .claude/review-dimensions/*.yaml.

Direct entry: /setup-sdlc --dimensions or /setup-sdlc --dimensions --add (expansion mode)

PR Template

Analyzes project conventions (existing GitHub PR templates, recent PR patterns, JIRA usage) to propose a tailored PR description template. The result is saved to .claude/pr-template.md and used automatically by /pr-sdlc.

Direct entry: /setup-sdlc --pr-template

Plan Guardrails

Scans the project’s codebase structure, dependencies, and architecture to propose and configure plan guardrails in .claude/sdlc.json. Each guardrail defines a constraint that /plan-sdlc evaluates during its critique phases.

Direct entry: /setup-sdlc --guardrails or /setup-sdlc --guardrails --add (expansion mode)

Each option can be individually skipped or accessed later via the --dimensions, --pr-template, or --guardrails flags.

Step 5: Summary

After all steps complete, /setup-sdlc prints a summary of what was configured:

Version tracking   — [detected from package.json | configured]
Ship pipeline      — [configured | skipped]
Jira integration   — [configured | skipped]
Review dimensions  — [N dimensions created via dimensions sub-flow | skipped]
PR template        — [created via PR template sub-flow | skipped]
Plan guardrails    — [N configured via guardrails sub-flow | skipped]

What It Creates or Modifies

File	Purpose
`.claude/sdlc.json`	Unified project config with `version`, `jira`, `commit`, `pr` sections, and optional `plan.guardrails`
`.sdlc/local.json`	User-local config with `review` scope preferences and `ship` settings
`.claude/review-dimensions/*.yaml`	Review dimensions created during dimensions sub-flow (via `--dimensions`)
`.claude/pr-template.md`	PR template created during PR template sub-flow (via `--pr-template`)

/setup-sdlc — Unified Project Setup