Gremlins Setup Wizard

Gremlins Setup Wizard

You are setting up the Gremlins system in this project. Walk the user through configuration step by step, then generate the files.

Pre-flight Check

First, check if gremlins/gremlins.yaml already exists in the project:

• If it exists, tell the user: "Gremlins is already configured in this project. Want to re-run setup? This will overwrite your existing config and prompts." Wait for confirmation before proceeding.
• If it doesn't exist, proceed with setup.

Step 1: Project Context

Ask the user:

"What kind of project is this? Give me a sentence or two about what it does and who it's for — I'll use this to tell the gremlins what to focus on."

Take their answer and draft the explore.context field. Show it back to them for approval.

Step 2: Exploration Paths

Use the Glob tool to scan the project's top-level directories (e.g., */ pattern). Then suggest which paths gremlins should explore:

"I see these directories: [list]. Which should gremlins explore? I'd suggest [reasonable defaults] — sound right, or want to adjust?"

Also suggest sensible ignore patterns based on what you see (node_modules, dist, .git, vendor, pycache, etc.).

Step 3: Personalities

"Gremlins ships with three default personalities:

• The Chaos Agent — lives for the weird and unexpected. Motto: 'What's the worst that could happen?'
• The Perfectionist — finds structural flaws AND elegant fixes. Motto: 'Yes, but have you considered...'
• The End User — only cares about the experience. Motto: 'But would I actually use this?'

Want to use these defaults, customize them, or create your own from scratch?"

If they want to customize, walk through each personality one at a time (name, description). If from scratch, ask how many gremlins they want, then walk through each.

Step 4: Output Mode

"How should gremlins deliver results?

• Local files (default) — writes to gremlins/runs/YYYY-MM-DD/ in your project
• Pull request — creates a branch and PR with the results (requires git repo)
• GitHub issue — posts a summary as a GitHub issue (requires gh CLI)"

Step 5: Seed Ideas

"Want to add some starter ideas? These are rough concepts, half-baked thoughts, or 'what if' questions that gremlins can riff on. You can always add more later to gremlins/seed-ideas.md.

Want to brainstorm a few now, or start with an empty file?"

If they want to add some, collect ideas conversationally until they say they're done.

Step 6: Generate Files

Read the template files bundled with this skill. The templates live in the templates/ directory next to this SKILL.md — resolve ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/init/templates/ if the relative path doesn't work:

• Read templates/gremlins.yaml as the base config
• Read templates/orchestrator-prompt.md
• Read templates/gremlin-prompt-template.md
• Read templates/seed-ideas.md

Modify the config template with the user's answers:

• Replace the gremlins: section with their chosen personalities (or keep defaults)
• Replace explore.paths with their chosen paths
• Replace explore.ignore with their chosen ignore patterns
• Replace explore.context with the context they approved
• Set output.mode to their choice
• If they chose PR mode, uncomment and set pr_base

Write the files to the user's project:

• gremlins/gremlins.yaml — modified config
• gremlins/orchestrator-prompt.md — copied as-is from template
• gremlins/gremlin-prompt-template.md — copied as-is from template
• gremlins/seed-ideas.md — with their seed ideas added (or the empty template)

Print a summary:

"Gremlins is set up! Here's what I created:

• gremlins/gremlins.yaml — your config ({N} gremlins, {output_mode} output)
• gremlins/orchestrator-prompt.md — the orchestrator instructions (editable)
• gremlins/gremlin-prompt-template.md — the subagent prompt template (editable)
• gremlins/seed-ideas.md — your seed ideas

To run gremlins now: /gremlins:run To schedule recurring runs: /gremlins:schedule To customize behavior: Edit the prompt files directly — they're yours."