fix(init): guide project.md migration

[clay-good]

Status

LGTM. Low risk to merge.

What was wrong

Legacy project.md migration guidance did not clearly explain how to condense and split its content.

How it was fixed

Init now prints a pasteable AI-assisted migration request. It keeps shared context concise, routes artifact guidance to rules, routes apply/archive guidance to operations, and leaves project.md untouched.

Replication / proof

251 focused tests, build, type-check, lint, docs sync, and all hosted CI checks pass.

Notes / nits

No automatic copy or deletion. The user reviews the result before deleting project.md.

Closes #1982.

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📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between b0d2db8 and 6838180.

📒 Files selected for processing (6)

• .changeset/calm-project-context.md
• docs-lab/start/setup.md
• src/core/legacy-cleanup.ts
• test/core/init.test.ts
• test/core/legacy-cleanup.test.ts
• test/setup-docs-claims.test.ts

🚧 Files skipped from review as they are similar to previous changes (1)

• .changeset/calm-project-context.md

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

The migration hint now asks an AI assistant to move concise project-wide facts into config.yaml and artifact-specific guidance into matching rules. Init preserves an existing project.md without copying its contents or prompting for confirmation. Tests and setup documentation cover this behavior.

Changes

Project.md migration guidance

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Update migration guidance and verify init behavior src/core/legacy-cleanup.ts, test/core/legacy-cleanup.test.ts, test/core/init.test.ts, docs-lab/start/setup.md, test/setup-docs-claims.test.ts, .changeset/calm-project-context.md	The migration hint and setup guide explain how to sort, review, and migrate project.md content. Tests check the hint, documentation claims, and init behavior. The changeset records a patch release.

Priority: ➖ Normal

Estimated code review effort: 2 (Simple) | ~10 minutes

Change: Feature · Severity of issue fixed: Medium

Merge Risk: ⚪ Minimal · up to 68381

Init preserves project.md and guides users to review concise project-wide context and artifact-specific rules before deleting it; no material merge-blocking risk is evident.

Architecture Summary

Architecture risk: 🔵 Low · up to 68381

The change affects 3 systems.

Changed systems: src, test, docs-lab

Architecture concerns
No architecture-level concerns identified.

Review details

Systems and components

• observed — src (service) was modified; 1 changed file maps to changed impact.
• observed — test (service) was modified; 3 changed files map to changed impact.
• observed — docs-lab (service) was modified; 1 changed file maps to changed impact.

Before / after behavior

• observed — Modified behavior in docs-lab/start/setup.md: Adds migration guidance explaining that init preserves project.md and prints a request to migrate useful content into config.yaml; the request distinguishes project-wide context from artifact-specific rules and advises reviewing the result before deleting the legacy file.
• observed — Modified behavior in src/core/legacy-cleanup.ts: formatProjectMdMigrationHint replaces the prior context:-section explanation and migration instruction with guidance to keep only concise project-wide facts in openspec/config.yaml, move artifact-specific guidance to matching artifact rules, omit generic, outdated, or verbose material, and retain project.md until the config is reviewed.
• observed — Modified behavior in test/core/init.test.ts: Added a test asserting that initialization with an existing project.md preserves its contents, leaves project-config context undefined, logs AI-assisted migration guidance, and does not call the confirmation prompt.
• observed — Modified behavior in test/core/legacy-cleanup.test.ts: The detection-summary test replaces its "context:" expectation with checks for asking an AI assistant and applying rules to matching artifacts.

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 4 | ❌ 1

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Linked Issues check	⚠️ Warning	The PR does not implement the direct requirement in [#1982]. The current init path does not prompt when openspec/project.md exists, and it does not copy the file content into the new config.yaml…	Implement the interactive prompt for a new project config when openspec/project.md exists and no config.yaml or config.yml exists. On confirmation, write the file content to context: and preserve project.md. On decline, keep the e…

✅ Passed checks (4 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	The changes remain related to the migration behavior in [#1982]. The hint, setup documentation, changeset, and tests describe or verify handling of legacy project.md. No unrelated product behavior i…
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	Docstring coverage is 100.00% which is sufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 2 functions across 6 files. (2 skipped: 2 …
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly describes the main change: updating init behavior and guidance for migrating legacy project.md content. It is concise and consistent with the AI-assisted migration approach in the ch…

Full details: Linked Issues check

Explanation

The PR does not implement the direct requirement in [#1982]. The current init path does not prompt when openspec/project.md exists, and it does not copy the file content into the new config.yaml context:. The added test explicitly requires context to remain undefined and confirmMock to remain unused. The source file is preserved and non-interactive guidance remains, but those behaviors do not replace the required interactive migration. The documentation and hint also state that init does not copy the file.

Resolution

Implement the interactive prompt for a new project config when openspec/project.md exists and no config.yaml or config.yml exists. On confirmation, write the file content to context: and preserve project.md. On decline, keep the existing config behavior. Keep the non-interactive hint. Add tests for confirmation, decline, source preservation, existing configs, and relevant error or size handling.

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[openspec-cloud]

No PR-relevant drift confirmed.

AI-generated · A citation proves the line exists, not that it makes the case — verify before acting.
Checked the 6 requirements selected for this PR at d8525a5 (255 total).
This is not a full-repository clean result; see the check for coverage and any broader findings.
View results · Click Refresh, then Scan again in the check. Or comment /openspec-cloud.

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Actionable comments posted: 1

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• 🪄 Fix CodeRabbit comments on this PR

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Inline comments:
Review comments at @src/core/init.ts:
- Line 1116: Update serializeConfig to preserve whether config.context ends with
a newline: use YAML strip chomping for contexts without a final newline, while
retaining the existing behavior for contexts that have one. Add a boundary test
for a context exactly MAX_CONTEXT_SIZE bytes with no final newline, verifying it
survives serialization and readProjectConfig.

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📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 79b6aa9 and d8525a5.

📒 Files selected for processing (3)

• .changeset/calm-project-context.md
• src/core/init.ts
• test/core/init.test.ts

Included review availability: This review used your included allowance. Your plan provides up to 10 included reviews per hour; 3 remain after this review.

[TabishB]

I don't think this is right. This was a conscious choice, config.yaml works differently than the previous agentic workflow.

This would copy an entire .md worth of content into the context yaml key.

This is meant to be a manual step (though the docs also provided a prompt for users too I believe)

We wanted to reduce the amount of things referenced on projects.md as well

[alfred-openspec]

The migration implementation and coverage look sound, but this adds user-facing init behavior without updating the canonical docs. Document the interactive project.md-to-config.yaml prompt in the docs-lab init/setup contract, including that it runs only while creating a new config, preserves project.md, leaves non-interactive behavior manual, and skips unreadable or oversized content. Add the matching docs claim coverage, then re-request review. Final docs-lab review by @TabishB will be required.

[clay-good]

Addressed in b0d2db8. The docs-lab setup contract now covers the interactive prompt, new-config-only scope, project.md preservation, the manual non-interactive path, and unreadable or oversized skips. Matching claim coverage uses the production 50 KB limit.

Verified: 146 focused tests, build, type-check, lint, and docs sync pass. Review requested from @alfred-openspec and final docs-lab review requested from @TabishB.

[TabishB]

For historical context, manual migration here was an explicit design choice, not just a missing convenience. Decision 6 in the original OPSX migration design rejected automatic migration because project.md tends to be verbose, while config.yaml.context is injected into every planning request and should be concise and dense. The intended path was for the user or an agent to select, compress, and split content between context: and artifact-specific rules:, as reflected in the migration guide.

Because this PR copies the file verbatim, the confirmation prompt and size guard do not resolve that original concern. I think migration should remain manual/AI-assisted rather than copying the entire file into context:.

[clay-good]

Addressed in 6838180: migration is manual and AI-assisted, distills project-wide facts into concise context, routes artifact-specific guidance to rules, and never copies or deletes project.md.

[alfred-openspec]

The migration flow is documented now, but the pasteable prompt still drops one supported destination and scopes context too narrowly. config.yaml has operations for apply/archive guidance, while the prompt only routes artifact-specific guidance to rules; it also says context is for every planning request even though context reaches artifact creation, apply, and archive. Please route apply/archive-specific guidance to operations, describe context with its real scope, and update the setup copy and claim tests to match. Final review of the docs-lab change by @TabishB will still be required.

[clay-good]

Addressed in 8f6bb83: the prompt now describes context’s full artifact/apply/archive scope, routes artifact guidance to rules, routes apply/archive guidance to operations, and keeps the setup docs and claim tests aligned.

[alfred-openspec]

Re-reviewed at 8f6bb83. The migration guidance now routes context, artifact rules, and apply/archive operations accurately; docs claim coverage and CI are green. This approval does not replace the required final docs-lab review from @TabishB.