Onboarding a repo

Adding a repo is one command. Getting Cromford to build it well takes a little more: it needs to know how your repo installs, tests and builds.

Enroll the repo

bin/load-project.sh <owner/repo> --project <name> --box <box>

This needs a running, bootstrapped box. It adds the project to fleet.conf, renders its prompt, commits and pushes to your fork, creates the ai-build label on the repo, and then sets up the box. Always pass --box. Other flags include --prod <url>, --base <branch>, --no-bootstrap and --fly.

Loading a project builds nothing on its own. Cromford only acts on issues labeled ai-build.

Study the repo

bin/onboard-study.sh <repo-dir> reads a checkout and reports what it found:

• Commands: install, test, build, start, lint, e2e and deploy. Install comes from your lockfile. The rest come from your package.json scripts. A command your repo doesn’t declare is left blank, not guessed.
• A Verification Contract draft: the one line Cromford runs to check a build, install && lint && test && build. Deploy is never in it. With no test command, it says so.
• A readiness level: how ready the repo is for automated builds, as a level out of a maximum.
• Deploy config: any vercel.json, fly.toml or wrangler.toml it finds. It never runs them.

It calls no model and runs none of your repo’s code. Add --json for a machine-readable report. Put the contract it drafts in your repo’s CLAUDE.md under ## Verification Contract.

Today you run the study pass by hand. Wiring it into load-project.sh, a goals interview and a project rules file are still being built.

Your first proof ticket

Start small. Pick something you could check in a minute, like a copy change or a small fix, and open it with the ai-build label. Write what you want and how you’ll know it’s right.

Watch the thread. If triage asks a question, answer it there. When the PR opens, read the plan and the review in it before you look at the code. If the first one is right, give it something bigger.