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Pre-Execution Protocol

MANDATORY FIRST ACTION — Before any other step, check project initialization, load lessons, and resolve the template for this skill.

Execution requirement: Skills MUST execute Steps 0 → A → B → C in order. Do not skip any step. Each step has its own skip conditions documented below.

Step 0: Initialization Guard​

Skip this step if the current skill is jaan-init.

Check if the jaan-to/ directory exists in the project root.

If jaan-to/ exists → proceed to Step A.

If jaan-to/ does NOT exist → the project has not been initialized. Ask the user:

"This project hasn't been initialized with jaan-to yet. Context files and configuration won't be available, which may reduce output quality. Run /jaan-init to set up the project first?"

Options: [1] Yes, run /jaan-init first (Recommended) — [2] No, continue without initialization

  • Option 1: Run /jaan-init and follow its full workflow. After initialization completes, return here and continue from Step A.
  • Option 2: Continue to Step A. Skills will operate with plugin defaults only (no project-specific context).

Step A: Load Lessons​

Read the project-specific learn file first (three-tier resolution):

  1. $JAAN_LEARN_DIR/jaan-to-{SKILL_NAME}.learn.md (canonical)
  2. $JAAN_LEARN_DIR/{SKILL_NAME}.learn.md (legacy — colon prefix)
  3. $JAAN_LEARN_DIR/{SKILL_NAME}.learn.md (unprefixed)

If no project file exists at any tier, read the plugin seed: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/{SKILL_NAME}/LEARN.md

If the file exists (from any source), apply its lessons throughout this execution:

  • Add questions from "Better Questions" to Step 1
  • Note edge cases to check from "Edge Cases"
  • Follow workflow improvements from "Workflow"
  • Avoid mistakes listed in "Common Mistakes"

If no learn file exists anywhere, continue without it.

Step B: Resolve Template​

When this skill's instructions reference a template path like $JAAN_TEMPLATES_DIR/jaan-to-{SKILL_NAME}.template.md, resolve it as follows:

  1. Try: $JAAN_TEMPLATES_DIR/jaan-to-{SKILL_NAME}.template.md (project, canonical dash prefix)
  2. Try: $JAAN_TEMPLATES_DIR/{SKILL_NAME}.template.md (project, legacy colon prefix)
  3. Try: $JAAN_TEMPLATES_DIR/{SKILL_NAME}.template.md (project, without prefix)
  4. Fallback: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/{SKILL_NAME}/template.md (plugin source)

Use the first file found. If none exist, proceed without a template.

Step C: Offer Template Seeding​

If Step B resolved the template from the plugin source (step 4 — the ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/{SKILL_NAME}/template.md path), offer to seed it into the project for future customization:

"This skill used the default plugin template. Copy it to $JAAN_TEMPLATES_DIR/jaan-to-{SKILL_NAME}.template.md so you can customize it for future runs? [y/n]"

If yes:

  1. Run: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/seed-template.sh {SKILL_NAME}
  2. Confirm the seeded path from the script output.
  3. Continue skill execution using the newly seeded project copy as the resolved template.

If no:

  • Continue skill execution using the plugin source template. No file is created.

Skip this step if the template was found at step 1, 2, or 3 (project copy already exists), or if no template exists anywhere.