create-context command

Command

Brownfield back-fill — scout an existing codebase and populate .codearbiter/, then lock it initialized.

Invoke it

Claude Code/ca:create-context

Codex$ca-create-context

Pi/ca-create-context

Availability is read from each shipped host catalog. Preview-only commands are marked on the page.

What it does

This is the populator for a project that already has code to read. Instead of interviewing you about architecture that’s already decided, it dispatches several scouts in parallel to read different slices of the repository — dependencies, infrastructure, and so on — and each one reports back structured findings rather than raw excerpts. Those findings get synthesized into a draft of the project’s state documents, and whatever the scouts couldn’t determine on their own becomes a short, targeted set of questions instead of a full interview. Once every gap is answered or explicitly deferred, the documents are finalized and the project is marked initialized.

Usage

/ca:create-context

No arguments — the skill reads the repository itself and only asks about what it can’t determine from the code.

Example

> /ca:create-context

Existing source detected (Express API + React frontend). Beginning scout-based extraction.
Dispatching 6 scouts in parallel: tech stack, infrastructure, domain vocabulary, testing conventions,
security surface, existing conventions...
[scouts report back: file paths, line numbers, named values]

Synthesis complete. Two gaps the scouts couldn't resolve from code alone:
  1. Is there a staging environment, or just local and prod?
  2. Who are the two user roles referenced in permissions.ts — admin and... ?
> staging exists at staging.example.com; the second role is "billing-admin"

Writing tech-stack.md, security-controls.md, coding-standards.md, CONTEXT.md...
CONTEXT.md marked initialized.

When to reach for it

Reach for /ca:create-context on an existing codebase with .codearbiter/ already scaffolded by /ca:init. For a project with no meaningful source yet, /ca:decompose is the right populator.

Gates

Gate	When	Effect
brownfield check	before scouts are dispatched	meaningful source code must already exist; a project with none redirects to decompose instead
parallel scout dispatch	after the pre-flight check	several read-only scouts each cover one slice of the codebase, returning file paths, line numbers, and named values only — never raw code or secret values
initialization lock	after the gap interview	the completion marker is written only once every gap is either resolved or explicitly deferred

Related

• decompose
• init
• context-creation

Compatibility

This compatibility route remains available for existing workflows. Use init --brownfield for new work.

Source

Source — plugins/ca/commands/create-context.md (v2.18.2)

---
description: Brownfield back-fill — scout an existing codebase and populate .codearbiter/, then lock it initialized.
argument-hint: (none)
---

# /ca:create-context — brownfield populate

<!-- catalog-compatibility-notice:start -->
> Compatibility route. Prefer `/ca:init --brownfield` for new usage. This installed route remains
> functional under the command-route compatibility policy at ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/includes/command-compatibility.md;
> continue with the unchanged brownfield workflow below.
<!-- catalog-compatibility-notice:end -->

Wraps an existing codebase in project state without guessing. Dispatches parallel scouts to read the repository, synthesizes their findings into the surviving `.codearbiter/` doc set, resolves gaps via a targeted interview, and locks the project initialized. No arguments — the skill reads the repo and asks only what it cannot determine.

The only permitted path to populate `.codearbiter/` when meaningful source code already exists. For a greenfield project with no source, use `/ca:decompose`.

## Routes to

The `context-creation` skill (`${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/context-creation/SKILL.md`) — six gated
phases: pre-flight, scout dispatch, synthesis, gap interview, write, lock. Scouts return paths, line
numbers, and named values only — never raw source or secret values. The skill is canonical for the
phases and their gates.

## When NOT to use

- Project already initialized (`<!--INITIALIZED-->` in `CONTEXT.md`) → `/ca:status`.
- Greenfield project, no source → `/ca:decompose`.
- `.codearbiter/` not yet scaffolded → `/ca:init` first.
- Update one doc → edit `${CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR}/.codearbiter/` directly or use `/ca:feature`.

## Hard gate

BLOCK if `<!--INITIALIZED-->` is already present in `CONTEXT.md`. BLOCK if no meaningful source exists
(route to `/ca:decompose`). BLOCK if any scout fails to return before synthesis. BLOCK if any
`[CONFIRM-NN]` exits the gap interview unresolved and undeferred. MUST NOT write `<!--INITIALIZED-->`
until every gap is resolved or deferred to `open-questions.md`.

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