openpress-init

/create-press SOP

One skill, two branches. Run detect first. The branch decides whether the agent is bootstrapping a fresh workspace (Branch A) or adding another Press to one that already exists (Branch B).

Run as a low-freedom setup workflow. Do not write document content during this skill — that belongs to writing / design skills downstream.

0. Environment Preflight

node -v
npm -v
npx -v

All commands work + Node ≥20 → continue.
Missing node / npm / npx → stop, instruct user to install Node.js LTS, reopen terminal, rerun preflight.
Node <20 → stop, instruct user to upgrade Node.js LTS, rerun preflight.

1. Detect the Branch

test -f press/index.tsx && grep -q "<Workspace" press/index.tsx && echo BRANCH_B || echo BRANCH_A

BRANCH_A (no workspace) → bootstrap a fresh one. Go to §A.
BRANCH_B (<Workspace> already in press/index.tsx) → add a new Press to it. Go to §B.

If press/index.tsx exists but does not wrap children in <Workspace> (legacy v0.x shape), tell the user to run npx open-press upgrade first, then re-invoke /create-press.

A — Bootstrap a fresh workspace

A.1 Target Check

Use the user's target if provided. Use . only when the user explicitly wants the current directory.
The CLI rejects non-empty targets automatically. A lone .git/, .gitignore, .gitkeep, or .DS_Store is fine. If the target has real content, ask the user to clean it first — there is no --force flag.

A.2 Intake (one batch)

Required:

Document type (proposal / whitepaper / paper / teaching note / book / slide deck / social campaign / etc.)
Audience
Primary language
Title (written into <Press title="...">)

Page geometry:

Most document types map to an obvious page preset. Show the default, let the user override with one short answer:

Document type	Default page	Override examples
report / paper / book	`a4`	`us-letter` (custom), `a5`
slide deck	`slide-16-9`	`slide-4-3` (custom)
social post	`social-square`	story card (custom `1080×1350`)
hybrid (e.g. A4 report + 16:9 hero)	use a multi-Press Workspace, one Press per geometry	—

If custom geometry, ask for width and height with explicit units (mm / cm / in / pt / pc / px). Build a { id, label, width, height } object.

Do NOT ask for subtitle / organization / author / version / footer. Those are rendered text — they live in the Cover JSX, not on Press props.

A.3 Downstream Skill Handoff

OpenPress does not own starters or template selection. Resolve the next owner in this order:

If the user named an external skill repo → npx -y skills@latest add <owner/repo> after init, then read its SKILL.md.
If the user wants a known flow already installed → route to that skill after init.
If no skill applies → create a minimal press/index.tsx only after confirming the user wants a blank workspace.

A.4 Init Command

npx @open-press/cli init <target> --title "<title>"

Omit --title only if the user did not provide one. The init flow also installs framework agent skills automatically.

A.5 Verify

Inside the new workspace:

npm run build
npm run dev -- --dry-run

Surface any failure before handoff.

A.6 Handoff Report

target path
workspace name (if you set one on <Workspace name="...">)
the Press's title and page you wired
selected next-owner skill
next editable paths: press/index.tsx, press/chapters/, press/theme/, press/components/
next owning skill: writing → openpress-writing, design → openpress-design, deploy → openpress-deploy

B — Add a Press to an existing workspace

B.1 Read the workspace

Open press/index.tsx. Parse the <Workspace> block to identify existing Press children, their slugs, page geometries, and source roots.
If only one Press exists and it has no slug prop, the workspace is in implicit single-Press mode. Adding a second Press promotes the project to multi-Press; the existing Press now needs a slug too (use the document type as a slug, e.g. proposal).

B.2 Intake (one batch)

Required:

slug — URL segment + per-Press directory name. Slug-shaped (a-z, 0-9, hyphens). Ask the user explicitly; do not autogenerate.
title — for <Press title="...">.
page geometry — same intake as Branch A; preset or custom geometry.
Source layout — does this Press want its own MDX root (press/<slug>/chapters/) or share an existing source registered on another Press? Default: its own root.

Optional follow-up only when the user mentions it:

domain skill to drive starter content for this Press

B.3 Modify `press/index.tsx`

Add a new <Press slug="..." title="..." page="..." sources={[ mdxSource({ id: "<slug>", preset: "section-folders", root: "<slug>/chapters" }) ]}> child to the <Workspace> block.
Preserve existing children — never reorder or rewrite siblings while adding.
If the workspace's first Press had no slug (implicit single-Press mode), add the appropriate slug to it in the same edit so the routing model is consistent.

B.4 Create Per-Press Folder Structure

mkdir -p press/<slug>/chapters/01-intro/content
mkdir -p press/<slug>/components

Theme is shared at press/theme/ unless the user explicitly asked for per-Press theme override. In that case, add theme="./<slug>/theme" to the <Press> props and mkdir press/<slug>/theme.

B.5 Downstream Skill Handoff

Same routing as Branch A — if the user named a skill repo, install it; otherwise route to writing / design / deploy as appropriate.

B.6 Verify

npm run build

Confirm both Press documents render (the count from build output should match the number of <Press> children in press/index.tsx).

B.7 Handoff Report

new slug
new Press title + page
folder structure created
whether the prior Press got a slug added (true / false)
next editable paths
next owning skill

Do Not

Do not write the first draft during this skill.
Do not explain Node/npm unless preflight fails.
Do not use nvm, Homebrew, pnpm, or global installs in the default path.
Do not run init before Branch A's preflight + target + intake are settled.
Do not modify press/index.tsx siblings when adding a new Press in Branch B.
Do not hand-edit generated output (public/openpress/, dist-react/).
Do not ask for subtitle / organization / author — those belong in Cover JSX.