disinto/BOOTSTRAP.md

Bootstrapping a New Project

How to point disinto at a new target project and get all four agents running.

Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure you have:

• A Codeberg repo with at least one issue labeled backlog
• A Woodpecker CI pipeline (.woodpecker/ dir with at least one .yml)
• A second Codeberg account for the review bot (branch protection requires reviews from a different user)
• A local clone of the target repo on the same machine as disinto
• claude CLI installed and authenticated (claude --version)

1. Configure .env

cp .env.example .env

Fill in:

# ── Target project ──────────────────────────────────────────
CODEBERG_REPO=org/project              # Codeberg slug
PROJECT_REPO_ROOT=/home/you/project    # absolute path to local clone
PRIMARY_BRANCH=main                    # main or master

# ── Auth ────────────────────────────────────────────────────
# CODEBERG_TOKEN=                      # or use ~/.netrc (machine codeberg.org)
REVIEW_BOT_TOKEN=tok_xxxxxxxx         # the second account's API token

# ── Woodpecker CI ───────────────────────────────────────────
WOODPECKER_TOKEN=tok_xxxxxxxx
WOODPECKER_SERVER=http://localhost:8000
WOODPECKER_REPO_ID=2                  # numeric — find via Woodpecker UI or API

# Woodpecker Postgres (for direct pipeline queries)
WOODPECKER_DB_PASSWORD=secret
WOODPECKER_DB_USER=woodpecker
WOODPECKER_DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
WOODPECKER_DB_NAME=woodpecker

# ── Optional: Matrix notifications ──────────────────────────
# MATRIX_HOMESERVER=http://localhost:8008
# MATRIX_BOT_USER=@factory:your.server
# MATRIX_TOKEN=
# MATRIX_ROOM_ID=

# ── Tuning ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
CLAUDE_TIMEOUT=7200                   # seconds per Claude invocation

2. Prepare the Target Repo

Required: CI pipeline

The repo needs at least one Woodpecker pipeline. Dark-factory monitors CI status to decide when a PR is ready for review and when it can merge.

Required: CLAUDE.md

Create a CLAUDE.md in the repo root. This is the context document that dev-agent and review-agent read before working. It should cover:

• What the project is (one paragraph)
• Tech stack (languages, frameworks, DB)
• How to build/run/test (npm install, npm test, etc.)
• Coding conventions (import style, naming, linting rules)
• Project structure (key directories and what lives where)

The dev-agent reads this file via claude -p before implementing any issue. The better this file, the better the output.

Required: Issue labels

Create two labels on the Codeberg repo:

Label	Purpose
backlog	Issues ready to be picked up by dev-agent
in-progress	Managed by dev-agent (auto-applied, auto-removed)

Optional but recommended:

Label	Purpose
tech-debt	Gardener can promote these to backlog
blocked	Dev-agent marks issues with unmet dependencies

Required: Branch protection

On Codeberg, set up branch protection for your primary branch:

• Require pull request reviews: enabled
• Required approvals: 1 (from the review bot account)
• Restrict push: only allow merges via PR

This ensures dev-agent can't merge its own PRs — it must wait for review-agent (running as the bot account) to approve.

Required: Seed the AGENTS.md tree

The planner-agent maintains an AGENTS.md tree — architecture docs with per-file <!-- last-reviewed: SHA --> watermarks. You must seed this before the first planner run, otherwise the planner sees no watermarks and treats the entire repo as "new", generating a noisy first-run diff.

1. Create AGENTS.md in the repo root with a one-page overview of the project: what it is, tech stack, directory layout, key conventions. Link to sub-directory AGENTS.md files.

2. Create sub-directory AGENTS.md files for each major directory (e.g. frontend/AGENTS.md, backend/AGENTS.md). Keep each under ~200 lines — architecture and conventions, not implementation details.

3. Set the watermark on line 1 of every AGENTS.md file to the current HEAD:

   SHA=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD)
   for f in $(find . -name "AGENTS.md" -not -path "./.git/*"); do
     sed -i "1s/^/<!-- last-reviewed: ${SHA} -->\n/" "$f"
   done
   

4. Symlink CLAUDE.md so Claude Code picks up the same file:

   ln -sf AGENTS.md CLAUDE.md
   

5. Commit and push. The planner will now see 0 changes on its first run and only update files when real commits land.

See planner/planner-agent.sh for the full AGENTS.md conventions.

3. Write Good Issues

Dev-agent works best with issues that have:

• Clear title describing the change (e.g., "Add email validation to customer form")
• Acceptance criteria — what "done" looks like
• Dependencies — reference blocking issues with #NNN in the body or a ## Dependencies section:

  ## Dependencies
  - #4
  - #7
  

Dev-agent checks that all referenced issues are closed (= merged) before starting work. If any are open, the issue is skipped and checked again next cycle.

4. Install Cron

crontab -e

Add (adjust paths):

FACTORY_ROOT=/home/you/disinto

# Supervisor — health checks, auto-healing (every 10 min)
0,10,20,30,40,50 * * * * $FACTORY_ROOT/factory/factory-poll.sh

# Review agent — find unreviewed PRs (every 10 min, offset +3)
3,13,23,33,43,53 * * * * $FACTORY_ROOT/review/review-poll.sh

# Dev agent — find ready issues, implement (every 10 min, offset +6)
6,16,26,36,46,56 * * * * $FACTORY_ROOT/dev/dev-poll.sh

# Gardener — backlog grooming (daily)
15 8 * * *                $FACTORY_ROOT/gardener/gardener-poll.sh

# Planner — AGENTS.md maintenance + gap analysis (weekly)
0 9 * * 1                 $FACTORY_ROOT/planner/planner-poll.sh

The 3-minute offsets prevent agents from competing for resources.

5. Verify

# Should complete with "all clear" (no problems to fix)
bash factory/factory-poll.sh

# Should list backlog issues (or "no backlog issues")
bash dev/dev-poll.sh

# Should find no unreviewed PRs (or review one if exists)
bash review/review-poll.sh

Check logs after a few cycles:

tail -30 factory/factory.log
tail -30 dev/dev-agent.log
tail -30 review/review.log

6. Optional: Matrix Notifications

If you want real-time notifications and human-in-the-loop escalation:

1. Set MATRIX_* vars in .env
2. Install the listener as a systemd service:

   sudo cp lib/matrix_listener.service /etc/systemd/system/
   sudo systemctl enable --now matrix_listener
   

3. The factory and gardener will post status updates and escalation threads to the configured room. Reply in-thread to answer escalations.

Lifecycle

Once running, the system operates autonomously:

You write issues (with backlog label)
  → dev-poll finds ready issues
    → dev-agent implements in a worktree, opens PR
      → CI runs (Woodpecker)
        → review-agent reviews, approves or requests changes
          → dev-agent addresses feedback (if any)
            → merge, close issue, clean up

Meanwhile:
  factory-poll monitors health, kills stale processes, manages resources
  gardener grooms backlog: closes duplicates, promotes tech-debt, escalates ambiguity
  planner rebuilds AGENTS.md from git history, gap-analyses against VISION.md

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Check
Dev-agent not picking up issues	cat /tmp/dev-agent.lock — is another instance running? Issues labeled backlog? Dependencies met?
PR not getting reviewed	tail review/review.log — CI must pass first. Review bot token valid?
CI stuck	bash lib/ci-debug.sh — check Woodpecker. Rate-limited? (exit 128 = wait 15 min)
Claude not found	which claude — must be in PATH. Check lib/env.sh adds ~/.local/bin.
Merge fails	Branch protection misconfigured? Review bot needs write access to the repo.
Memory issues	Factory auto-heals at <500 MB free. Check factory/factory.log for P0 alerts.