# axx init

> Set up Axx in this project: axx.yaml, its packs, a smoke feature, CI, AGENTS.md and agents

Source: https://axx.nimbusxr.us/next/references/cli/axx-init/

Create axx.yaml, axx-packs.yaml (with the rest pack, which the smoke feature
uses), features/smoke/smoke.feature, a GitHub Actions workflow and a managed section
in AGENTS.md. Existing files are left alone (use --force to
overwrite); the AGENTS.md section is updated in place. Safe to re-run.

The service in axx.yaml is a guess to replace: with a compose file, it starts
that file as a stack of its own (`-p <name>-axx`), whose cleanup removes the stack's
volumes but never those of the stack you develop with; the port (8080) and health
check (/health), in axx.yaml and the smoke feature, are placeholders.

It also sets up coding agents, in this repository only: it installs the skills
in .agents/skills (marked generated in .gitattributes, so their diffs collapse
in pull requests), and connects the Axx MCP server to the agents the repository
already uses, in their own files (Claude Code: .claude/, CLAUDE.md or .mcp.json
→ .mcp.json and .claude/skills; Codex: .codex/ → .codex/config.toml; Cursor:
.cursor/ → .cursor/mcp.json; VS Code: .vscode/ → .vscode/mcp.json; Gemini CLI:
.gemini/ or GEMINI.md → .gemini/settings.json). Other servers and settings in
those files stay. Claude Code reads CLAUDE.md instead of AGENTS.md when this
folder or one above it has a CLAUDE.md, .claude/CLAUDE.md or CLAUDE.local.md:
there, init imports AGENTS.md into the project's CLAUDE.md (@AGENTS.md). It
never writes your home directory: for Codex, whose servers usually live in
~/.codex/config.toml, it prints the command that adds Axx there.
--no-agents skips all of this.

```text
Usage:
  axx init [flags]

Flags:
      --dry-run     show what would be written without writing
      --force       overwrite existing axx.yaml, axx-packs.yaml, feature and workflow files
  -h, --help        help for init
      --no-agents   do not install the skills or connect agents to the axx MCP server
      --no-ci       do not create a GitHub Actions workflow

Global Flags:
      --compact         print only what matters (auto-enabled for coding agents)
  -c, --config string   path to axx.yaml (default: search upward from the working directory)
      --json            emit machine-readable JSON (stable envelope)
      --no-color        disable colored output
  -v, --verbose count   increase log verbosity (-v, -vv)
```