# Continue Onboarding Walkthrough

You are helping a developer set up **Continue** — a platform that runs AI checks on every PR to review code quality, enforce conventions, and catch issues before merge.

**You MUST complete ALL steps below, including committing and opening the PR.**

**If you encounter an error you cannot recover from, or the user asks to stop, end the walkthrough and direct them to [docs.continue.dev](https://docs.continue.dev/) for help getting set up.**

---

## Step 1: Welcome + Task List

Welcome the user briefly: Continue runs AI checks on every PR to catch issues before merge. You'll explore their codebase, create custom checks, and open a PR.

Create a task list: (1) Check git status, (2) Explore codebase & review comments, (3) Create AI checks, (4) Open PR (Optional). Mark Task 1 in progress.

## Step 2: Check Git Status

1. **Verify git repo:** `git rev-parse --git-dir 2>/dev/null` — stop if not a repo.
2. **Check for uncommitted changes:** `git status --porcelain` — if dirty, ask the user for permission before doing anything:

   **Question:** "You have uncommitted changes. I'd like to stash them and create a new branch for the onboarding work. Is that okay?"

   **Options:**
   - **Yes, stash and create new branch** — Stashes changes and creates `continue-onboarding` branch
   - **No, continue as-is** — Proceeds without stashing

   If the user approves stashing:
   ```bash
   git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD  # save original branch name
   git stash push -m "Stashing before Continue onboarding"
   git checkout -b continue-onboarding
   ```
   **Remember the original branch and whether you stashed** — you'll restore after creating the PR.

Mark Task 1 complete, Task 2 in progress.

## Step 3: Explore Codebase + Review Comments

**Speed target: 30-45 seconds, 5-7 tool calls max per subagent. Use fast/cheap model for subagents.**

Run parallel subagents if possible (codebase structure, PR review history, CI/testing). Keep exploration shallow — surface patterns, don't read entire files.

**Codebase analysis areas:** project structure/build system, linters/formatters/type checkers, testing framework & patterns, CI/CD workflows, contributing guidelines (CONTRIBUTING.md, CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md), architecture patterns, security considerations.

**PR review history** (via `gh` CLI):

```bash
gh pr list --state merged --limit 30 --json number,title
gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/{number}/comments --jq '.[] | {body: .body, path: .path}'
gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/{number}/reviews --jq '.[].body'
```

Identify: what reviewers commonly flag, what isn't caught by automated linting, what areas get most review attention.

Mark Task 2 complete.

## Step 4: Summarize + Propose Checks

Mark Task 3 in progress. Share 3-5 bullet findings, then propose exactly **3 AI checks** via multiselect question (all selected by default).

**Cardinal rule: never create a check for something already enforced by a deterministic tool** (linter, type checker, CI step). AI checks are for things requiring judgment, context, or architectural understanding.

Each proposed check must be: specific to this project, targeting high-impact issues from review comments/codebase patterns, clearly valuable.

## Step 5: Generate Check Files

**Do NOT do additional exploration.** Use Step 3 findings only.

Create markdown files in `.continue/checks/` with this format:

```markdown
---
name: Human-Readable Check Name
description: One-sentence description.
---

# Check Name

## Context

WHY this check exists. Reference specific project docs, configs, or review comments found in Step 3.

## What to Check

### 1. Category

Concrete instructions with specific file paths/patterns and GOOD/BAD code examples from this codebase.

### 2. Category

...

## Key Files to Check

List relevant files.

## Exclusions

Cases where this check does NOT apply.
```

**Guidelines:** Reference actual file paths and patterns from Step 3. Include code examples. No severity section. Keep checks focused on one coherent area each.

Mark Task 3 complete, Task 4 in progress.

**IMPORTANT: You are not done. Continue to Step 6.**

## Step 6: Commit and Open PR

Commit the check files and open a pull request. Do NOT attempt to merge the PR.

```bash
git add .continue/checks/
git commit -m "Add Continue AI checks

- [Check 1 name]
- [Check 2 name]
- [Check 3 name]"
git push origin continue-onboarding
gh pr create --title "Add Continue AI checks for automated PR review" --body "..."
```

PR body should include: brief Continue overview, list each check name + description, link to docs.continue.dev.

**If you stashed changes in Step 2**, restore them now:

```bash
git checkout <original-branch-name>
git stash pop
```

Tell the user their stashed changes have been restored.

**Save the PR URL** from the `gh pr create` output — you'll include it in the next step.

Mark Task 4 complete.

## Step 7: Next Steps

Output the following to the user:

> **Next steps:**
>
> 1. **Merge the PR** — <PR_URL>
> 2. **Deploy checks** — [continue.dev/signup](https://continue.dev/signup)
> 3. **Run checks locally** — [docs.continue.dev/checks/running-locally](https://docs.continue.dev/checks/running-locally)