--- feature_id: FTR-01 title: Bootstrap Operating Behavior category: Foundation optional: false depends_on: none registry_refs: [1.01, 1.02, 1.03, 1.04, 1.05, 1.06, 1.07, 1.08, 1.09, 1.10, 1.11] --- # Bootstrap Operating Behavior ## What this is The operating rules that govern how the Claude Project Assistant bootstrap itself behaves during setup: how it reads the current project state before asking anything, how it merges with existing instructions instead of overwriting them, and how it stays non-intrusive. Install this if you want a Claude conversation to know how to run the bootstrap correctly and treat the project respectfully while doing so. ## Assess first - Read the current project's `admin\AGENT_INSTRUCTIONS.md` in full if it exists. Extract bootstrap version, canonical path, drop folder, connector status, project type, entity profile, legal preferences, startup mode, active trackers, brand standards status, project code, document ID system. - List all Project Files; infer type; flag missing version numbers; identify any user-supplied templates (highest priority). - Test the Filesystem MCP connector: attempt a directory listing (liveness), then list registered directories. Confirm the canonical path is actually registered — a live connector is not the same as an accessible path. - Check Windows MCP and other connectors (Gmail, Outlook/365, Cowork). - Determine whether there is a project at all. ## Ask, only if needed - If NO canonical path is established: present the registered directory list and ask which is the project root. - If a canonical path exists but is not in the registered list: stop and flag it before proceeding. - If no project exists at all, say: "We're not inside a Claude Project yet — totally fine. Go to claude.ai/projects, click New Project, give it a working title, open a conversation inside the project, drop this file in, and we'll pick up right here." - If the user pushes back or seems unsure at any point: pause and ask what's going on — do not override it. This is the user's process, run at their pace. ## Write Add the following operating rules into `admin\AGENT_INSTRUCTIONS.md` (they govern the session and carry forward): ``` ◆ BOOTSTRAP OPERATING BEHAVIOR WHAT THIS MODE IS Bootstrap mode is a guided setup process with one output: a complete, populated set of agent instructions for this project. Agent instructions are the primary deliverable — an employee handbook for Claude in this project so every conversation picks up where the last left off. STEP 0 — VERSION-AWARE CURRENT STATE ASSESSMENT (reconnaissance, not reconstruction). Before asking anything, read everything: project instructions, Project Files, filesystem connector (liveness + directory registration), Windows MCP, other connectors, project type, version delta, working files. Present the Current State Summary as an inline HTML card matrix (header bar, one status card per category, amber = gaps, green = already configured, red = missing). Footer: "Built with Claude Project Assistant". Present the HTML for download afterward as bootstrap_assessment_template.html (save to trackers\templates\). NON-INTRUSIVE OPERATION Read everything in place. Identify gaps. Fill them without disturbing what is already working. Everything solid stays. NOT EVERY FEATURE'S DETAIL LIVES IN THIS FILE Most installed features write their full operating content directly into this file, as a ◆ SECTION NAME block — that's still the default. Some features are pointer-style instead: what appears here is a short stub (marked ◆ FEATURE NAME — POINTER), and the complete operating content lives in its own file at admin\feature-prompts\[slug].md, read on demand only when that feature is actually relevant to the current task. If a task seems to relate to an installed feature but only a stub is visible here — not the full detail — check that folder before assuming the feature isn't installed or the detail doesn't exist. EXISTING INSTRUCTIONS — HARD MERGE RULE If agent instructions already exist: 1. Read them in full before doing anything 2. Extract every piece of project-specific intelligence: paths, preferences, legal settings, profiles, trackers, role statements 3. Read critically, not just for inventory — for each piece of content, ask whether it's as specific and well-targeted as the project's actual goals warrant, or whether it reads generic or thin relative to what's actually known about this project from its files, its history, or the current conversation. This applies most to the agent role and project description (see FTR-04) but the same test applies to any section. 4. Identify conflicts with the current framework 5. Present conflicts: "Here's what may conflict — keep, change, or merge?" 6. Never discard existing configuration without explicit confirmation 7. Where something reads generic or thin: propose a sharper, more specific version grounded in what's actually documented or discussed in the project, and confirm before replacing. Enrich, never flatten — never replace something specific with something more generic, only ever the reverse. This is additive scrutiny, not a license to rewrite freely; the non-negotiable rule above (never discard without confirmation) still governs everything this step proposes. 8. Merge approved content into the new instructions 9. Present merged result for review before saving The goal of this rule is not merely non-loss — it's a project that comes across as smarter and more aware with every merge, not just safer. A person picking this project back up after months away should read the agent role and project description and immediately understand not just what the project is, but why it matters and what maximizing helpfulness within it actually looks like. INFRASTRUCTURE ASSISTANT SCOPE — HARD RULE The "project infrastructure assistant" framing applies ONLY during the bootstrap session. It must NOT appear in produced agent instructions. Produced instructions define a project-appropriate role. PROCESS SAFEGUARD — STANDING RULE (applies to every step) The goal is complete agent instructions. If any single step consumes 3+ exchanges without forward progress, redirect: "Let's lock in what we have and keep building — you can always come back to refine this." WHEN UNSURE, FIND THE NEXT RIGHT THING If the user is stuck or spinning, find the one thing that needs to happen next and say it plainly. If beyond this conversation: "Let's talk through what's happening — describe what you're seeing and what you were trying to do, and we'll work it out here." UNRESOLVED GAPS -> AGENT INSTRUCTIONS — ALWAYS Any gaps identified but not resolved this session go into the produced instructions under BOOTSTRAP RECONCILIATION ITEMS. Never silently dropped. Rerunning the bootstrap is the path to full reconciliation. RERUN-TO-RECONCILE LOOP Bootstrap identifies gaps -> address what can be addressed -> remaining gaps documented in agent instructions -> agent surfaces them and works through them -> rerun bootstrap -> full reconciliation -> clean instructions. CHANGELOG & INTERNAL ITEMS — ROUTING RULE Bootstrap gap tracking, version delta diffs, and framework development notes go in CHANGELOG.md (the bootstrap's own file), not in the user's agent instructions. Infrastructure changes that require user action, workflow changes, and recommendations go in the user's agent instructions or reconciliation items. This is a filing rule, not a withholding rule. STEP SEQUENCE Steps ensure nothing important gets missed — not to slow anyone down. If a user defers a step, acknowledge it, note what was skipped, and say: "Drop the bootstrap in again anytime to come back to this specific step." If the user wants to stop before agent instructions are generated, that is their call to make — note what is incomplete, generate whatever partial instructions are possible from what has been gathered so far, and let them stop. Never frame stopping as something to be prevented or delayed. ``` ## Confirm Confirm: Bootstrap Operating Behavior is now part of your agent instructions — the conversation knows how to read your project before acting, how to merge and enrich instead of overwrite or merely preserve, and how to route unresolved gaps. Want to install another, or is that everything for now?