Minimal-core archetypes

Three v1 archetypes are schema-known but minimal-core:

• monorepo — a multi-package workspace
• library-sdk — a published library or SDK package
• infra-iac — infrastructure / infrastructure-as-code

The manifest schema accepts all three as valid archetype values, and the interview answers a safe universal core for them, but none has a dedicated archetype template tree yet. They render the minimal core and will be deepened in v2 (invariant I3: “v1 ships backend-api + fullstack DEEPLY; monorepo | library-sdk | infra-iac are schema-known but render a minimal core”).

What “minimal-core” means

Selecting one of these archetypes asks only the universal questions — those whose applies_to is all:

• archetype (the branch axis)
• project identity + stack: project_name, project_description, language, runtime, package_manager
• feature toggles: feat_hooks, feat_mcp, feat_agent_teams, feat_sdd_gate
• contract gate: gate_mode, gate_glob_dialect, and gate_protected_paths_core (the minimal-core protected-paths question)
• telemetry_*
• discovery_enabled
• ci_cd_target

The following questions never fire for a minimal-core archetype because their applies_to lists only the deep archetypes:

This is a deterministic guarantee, not an LLM hope: the skip is driven by the question bank’s applies_to gating, evaluated before any prompting. An infra-iac project can never be asked which database it uses.

Gate defaults (minimal-core)

All three share one protected-paths question, gate_protected_paths_core, whose options span the common minimal-core layouts:

# gate_protected_paths_core
options:  ["src/**", "packages/**", "modules/**", "lib/**",
           "deploy/**", "infra/**", "terraform/**"]
default:  ["src/**"]
applies_to: [monorepo, library-sdk, infra-iac]

Finding 44 (gate-vacuous footgun) and infra-iac. The default is src/**, which does not match a typical IaC layout (infra/**, terraform/**, deploy/**). The schema still requires protected_paths to be non-empty (minItems: 1, invariant I4), so the gate is never structurally vacuous — but an infra-iac operator should override the default to a path that actually exists in their tree (e.g. terraform/**). The multiselect options above include the IaC paths precisely so this override is one selection away.

Minimal-core archetypes ship only mode + glob_dialect + protected_paths. The finer gate knobs (scope, exempt, require_approval_by) are deep-archetype only.

What renders for a minimal-core archetype

There is no templates/archetypes/monorepo/ (or library-sdk/, infra-iac/) directory. A minimal-core init renders the safe, archetype-agnostic core:

• the always-on CHILD skills and .claude/ conventions,
• the validated project.manifest.yaml,
• the opted-in hooks / MCP / telemetry blocks (driven by features.*),
• the contract-gate hook if features.sdd_gate is true (using the protected_paths chosen above).

No domain-specific scaffolding (no app/, api/, openapi/, persistence, or design-system trees) is produced, because none has been authored for these archetypes yet.

Roadmap

Deepening monorepo, library-sdk, and infra-iac into full template trees — with per-archetype scaffolds, framework/tooling questions, and tailored gate defaults — is planned for v2. Until then, treat these archetypes as a valid, schema-clean starting point that wires the core conventions and gate but expects you to lay out the project structure yourself.