Creating a workspace¶

Interactive¶

copier copy --trust gh:jondoesntgit/agent-workspace-template my-task

Copier asks:

Question	Notes
`kind`	`investigation`, `docs`, or `paper`. Decides which folders and instructions you get.
`project_name`	Used in titles; defaults to the folder name.
`author`	For document bylines.
`jira_key`	e.g. `ABC-123`. Blank = fill in `TASK.md` yourself.
`confluence_pages`	Comma-separated page IDs (not asked for `investigation`).
`paper_style`	`article` → `tufte-handout`; `report` → `tufte-book` with chapters (only for `paper`).

--trust allows the template’s one-time post-creation steps: date-stamping the first CHANGELOG.md entry and running scripts/fetch_context.py.

Non-interactive¶

Useful in scripts, or to have an agent create its own workspace:

copier copy --trust gh:jondoesntgit/agent-workspace-template ABC-123-drift \
  --data kind=investigation --data jira_key=ABC-123 --defaults

Pin a template version with --vcs-ref v1.0.0.

Then put it in git¶

cd ABC-123-drift
git init && git add -A && git commit -m "Scaffold workspace from agent-workspace-template"

Git is what makes the agent’s step-by-step commits, copier update, and the annotation timestamps meaningful, so do this before the first agent session.

Which variant?¶

investigation: the answer is a few plots and a paragraph. Throwaway-ish, fast.
docs: the answer is prose grounded in existing Confluence material.
paper: the answer is a document someone will cite, review, or archive. Choose report for chapter-length work (dissertation style), article otherwise.

You can’t switch variants with copier update; create a new workspace and move content over.

Kicking off the agent¶

Open the folder in your agent and give it a one-line instruction; AGENTS.md supplies the rest:

Start a session per AGENTS.md. Work the next unchecked step in TASK.md.

Claude Code reads CLAUDE.md, which simply imports AGENTS.md; other agents read AGENTS.md directly. See The agent session loop for what happens next.