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Init Command /init

Overview

/init is a thin shortcut that asks the active chat agent to follow the bundled init skill and produce an AGENTS.md for the current project. The skill itself walks the agent through:

  1. Asking what the project is about (ask_user).
  2. Scanning the directory tree (filesystem_tools).
  3. Reading README.md if present.
  4. Asking which configured services to include and adding any extras the user names.
  5. Categorizing tables in each chosen datasource (without enumerating every one).
  6. Generating the markdown and writing it to ./AGENTS.md (with an overwrite prompt when the file already exists).

Because /init runs through the standard chat pipeline, you get all the usual UX automatically — streamed ActionHistory events, Ctrl+O to expand trace details, ESC to interrupt, and the ability to keep chatting after generation to refine specific sections.

The skill source lives at datus/resources/skills/init/SKILL.md and is loaded directly from the installed package — no copy to ~/.datus/skills is performed. To customize behavior without changing code, drop an override at ./.datus/skills/init/SKILL.md (project-local, takes precedence) or ~/.datus/skills/init/SKILL.md (user-global). Project and user overrides shadow the packaged copy by skill name.

Basic Usage

Datus> /init

/init takes no arguments. The datasource passed to db_tools.list_tables is whichever one the REPL is currently pinned to (set at launch with --datasource or switched via /datasource).

When the agent runs, you'll see the standard chat trace: load_skill, followed by interleaved ask_user interactions, filesystem_tools.* calls, db_tools.list_tables calls, and finally filesystem_tools.write_file.

Prerequisites

  • A configured LLM. Run /model first if no model is active — /init needs the agent to drive each step.
  • A non-empty ~/.datus/conf/agent.yml. Populate datasources via /datasource so they appear in the skill's "Services" table.

If you want to target a different datasource, switch with /datasource <name> first, then run /init.

Customizing Output

The skill is the single source of truth for what AGENTS.md looks like. To change section structure, table columns, or summary style, edit:

  • Project-local override (preferred for one-off tweaks): ./.datus/skills/init/SKILL.md
  • User-global override (applies to every project): ~/.datus/skills/init/SKILL.md
  • Built-in fallback (always available, ships with the package): datus/resources/skills/init/SKILL.md

Project-local skills shadow user-global skills, which in turn shadow the packaged built-in.

Iterative Refinement

Because /init is just a chat turn, you can keep chatting afterwards to refine the result, e.g.:

Datus> /init
… <streaming output, AGENTS.md written> …
Datus> Rewrite the Architecture section to emphasize the data warehouse layer.

The agent will edit AGENTS.md in place using filesystem_tools.write_file.

See also: /model, /datasource (in the slash command reference), Skills Integration.