Intake Guide

Start projects with structured intake

Getting Started with Intake

Intake is how AI agents learn about your project. It generates structured documents that guide all future operations - from architecture decisions to test strategies to deployment plans.

These same documents serve your human team too: stakeholder alignment, onboarding new developers, planning sessions, and project documentation. One intake process, dual purpose.

Just describe what you're building and let the system handle the rest.

If AIWG is new to you, start with Start Here before choosing an intake command.

If you are not sure whether intake is the right first step, use the Beginner Language Map to translate your goal into a few AIWG discovery searches before choosing a path.

New Project

Natural language:

"Start a new project for a payment processing API"

Slash command:

/intake-wizard "payment processing API"

The system: 1. Asks clarifying questions (--interactive by default) 2. Generates intake documents 3. Validates completeness 4. Kicks off inception phase 5. Assigns agents and begins work

Existing Codebase

Natural language:

"Analyze this codebase and start a project from it"

Slash command:

/intake-from-codebase ./src

The system: 1. Scans your code for patterns, dependencies, architecture 2. Generates intake reflecting what exists 3. Identifies gaps and technical debt 4. Kicks off with full context of current state

Add Context with --guidance

Shape the entire project with upfront context.

Natural language:

"Start a new inventory management system" --guidance "must integrate with SAP, team is new to microservices"

Slash command:

/intake-wizard "inventory management system" --guidance "must integrate with SAP, team is new to microservices"

The guidance flows through everything:

Intake questions focus on SAP integration points
Architecture considers team experience level
Risk assessment flags microservices learning curve
All generated artifacts reflect these constraints

More Examples

"Analyze this codebase" --guidance "preparing for SOC2 audit"
/intake-from-codebase . --guidance "preparing for SOC2 audit"
→ Focuses on security posture, access controls, logging

"Start a mobile app project" --guidance "offline-first, rural users with poor connectivity"
/intake-wizard "mobile app" --guidance "offline-first, rural users with poor connectivity"
→ Prioritizes sync strategies, local storage, graceful degradation

Interactive Mode

Ask for maximum collaboration with `--interactive`.

Natural language:

"Start intake for a healthcare app" --interactive

Slash command:

/intake-wizard "healthcare app" --interactive

Example conversation:

Agent: Healthcare apps often have compliance requirements. Which apply?
  1. HIPAA (US patient data)
  2. GDPR (EU users)
  3. Both
  4. Not sure yet - help me figure it out
> 4

Agent: Let's work through this. Will the app store any of these?
  - Patient names or contact info
  - Medical diagnoses or conditions
  - Prescription information
> Yes, patient names and prescriptions

Agent: That's Protected Health Information under HIPAA. I'll include:
  - HIPAA compliance requirements in intake
  - Security controls for PHI
  - Audit logging requirements
  - BAA considerations for third-party services

Combine --guidance and --interactive

The most powerful pattern:

Natural language:

"Start a fintech project" --interactive --guidance "Series A startup, need to move fast but can't compromise on security"

Slash command:

/intake-wizard "fintech project" --interactive --guidance "Series A startup, move fast, security non-negotiable"

Agent understands the context and asks smart questions:

"PCI compliance needed, or just general financial data?"
"In-house security team, or need automated tooling?"
"MVP scope - what's the minimum for launch?"

Resume or Complete Intake

Natural language:

"Continue with the intake we started"

Slash command:

/intake-wizard --complete

Start from Existing Intake Files

If you already have intake documents in `.aiwg/intake/`:

Natural language:

"Start the project from the intake files"

Slash command:

/intake-start .aiwg/intake

With guidance:

/intake-start .aiwg/intake --guidance "prioritize security requirements"

Marketing Projects

For marketing campaigns instead of software:

Natural language:

"Start a marketing campaign for our product launch"

Slash command:

/marketing-intake-wizard "Product launch campaign for Q1"

From existing materials:

/intake-from-campaign ./marketing-assets --interactive

What Happens Behind the Scenes

Your description
      ↓
┌─────────────────────────────┐
│  Intake Wizard              │
│                             │
│  - Parses your description  │
│  - Identifies project type  │
│  - Asks clarifying questions│
│  - Generates intake docs    │
└──────────────┬──────────────┘
               ↓
┌─────────────────────────────┐
│  Validation                 │
│                             │
│  - Checks completeness      │
│  - Identifies gaps          │
│  - Suggests clarifications  │
└──────────────┬──────────────┘
               ↓
┌─────────────────────────────┐
│  Inception Kickoff          │
│                             │
│  - Assigns specialist agents│
│  - Creates phase plan       │
│  - Begins orchestrated work │
└─────────────────────────────┘

Quick Reference

Action	Natural Language	Slash Command
New project	"Start a new project for X"	`/intake-wizard "X"`
From codebase	"Analyze this codebase"	`/intake-from-codebase .`
With guidance	+ `--guidance "context"`	+ `--guidance "context"`
Interactive	+ `--interactive`	+ `--interactive`
Resume	"Continue intake"	`/intake-wizard --complete`
From files	"Start from intake files"	`/intake-start .aiwg/intake`
Marketing	"Start marketing campaign"	`/marketing-intake-wizard "X"`

Tips for Best Results

1. Be specific about the domain - "payment API" vs "payment API for recurring SaaS subscriptions"

2. Include key constraints upfront - Compliance, timeline, team size, integrations

3. Use --guidance for context that affects everything - Not just features, but business context

4. Let --interactive ask questions - The AI often identifies things you haven't thought about

5. Don't worry about format - Natural language works. The system figures out what you need.