Initialize a Project

Prerequisites

1. Install Hyprlayer
2. Configure your AI tool
3. Have a thoughts repository (or let Hyprlayer create one)

If your team already has a shared thoughts repository, clone it first:

gh repo clone <org>/<thoughts-repo> ~/thoughts

Initialize

Go to your project and run:

cd ~/Projects/my-project
hyprlayer thoughts init

First-Time Setup

On your first init, Hyprlayer walks you through configuration:

1. Thoughts repository location. Where Hyprlayer keeps your thoughts (default: ~/thoughts)
2. Repos directory name. Subdirectory for project-specific thoughts (default: repos)
3. Global directory name. Subdirectory for cross-project thoughts (default: global)
4. Username. Your identifier for personal thoughts (default: system username)

What Init Does

1. Creates the thoughts directory structure in your thoughts repository
2. Sets up symlinks from thoughts/ in your project to the thoughts repository
3. Installs git hooks for protection and auto-sync
4. Saves the repository mapping to your global config

After initialization, your project will have:

my-project/
  └── thoughts/
       ├── <username>/     → ~/thoughts/repos/my-project/<username>/
       ├── shared/         → ~/thoughts/repos/my-project/shared/
       └── global/         → ~/thoughts/global/

Using a Profile

Point a project at a second thoughts repository (work and personal, say) with a profile:

hyprlayer thoughts init --profile work

See Profiles for more on managing multiple thoughts repositories.

Non-Interactive Mode

Skip prompts by specifying the directory name:

hyprlayer thoughts init --directory my-project

Force Reinitialize

hyprlayer thoughts init --force

Reconfigures thoughts for a project you already initialized. Also reinstalls agent files.

Git Hooks

Initialization installs two git hooks:

Pre-commit Hook

Keeps the thoughts/ directory out of your code repository. Stage a thoughts file and the hook unstages it, then blocks the commit.

Post-commit Hook

Syncs thoughts to the thoughts repository after each commit. It runs in the background, so it never slows you down.

Both hooks carry a version, and init updates them on a re-run. Hyprlayer backs up any existing non-Hyprlayer hook to <hook>.old.

Remove Thoughts

To remove thoughts setup from a repository:

hyprlayer thoughts uninit

This removes the thoughts/ symlink structure and the repository mapping from your config. Your thoughts content stays where it is, in the thoughts repository.

Next Steps

Start using the development workflow.