template-scaffolding

SkillDocs & knowledge

Lets your agent load templates and fill in variables to generate project documents automatically.

Available today. Use it from your connected AI after setup.

Connect ahel once, and every AI you use reads what you have installed.

Then ask your AI: use the template-scaffolding skill

About this capability

Template loading, variable filling, and scaffolding for all GSD artifacts. Manages 22+ templates covering every document type in the GSD system, from PROJECT.md to milestone archives.

What this skill tells your AI

The instructions your AI receives, as published by a5c-ai/babysitter in library/methodologies/gsd/skills/template-scaffolding/SKILL.md and read by ahel’s review.

phase: 72 status: planned created: 2026-03-02 template: phase-prompt variant: standard

Phase 72: OAuth2 Authentication

...


### 7. Template Discovery

List available templates:

Available templates: project - Project definition (PROJECT.md) requirements - Requirements specification (REQUIREMENTS.md) roadmap - Development roadmap (ROADMAP.md) state - Project state (STATE.md) context - Phase context (CONTEXT.md) summary - Phase summary (SUMMARY.md) [3 variants] phase-prompt - Phase plan (PLAN.md) ...


### 8. Template Variant Selection

Automatic variant selection based on context:

```javascript
function selectSummaryVariant(context) {
  if (context.isQuickTask) return 'summary-minimal';
  if (context.taskCount <= 3) return 'summary-minimal';
  if (context.taskCount <= 8) return 'summary-standard';
  return 'summary-complex';
}

Tool Use Instructions

Loading and Filling a Template

  1. Use Glob to locate the template file in templates/
  2. Use Read to load the template content
  3. Replace all {{VARIABLE}} placeholders with provided values
  4. Process conditional blocks ({{#if}}...{{/if}}, {{#unless}}...{{/unless}})
  5. Add frontmatter if specified
  6. Use Write to save the filled template to the target path

Batch Generation

  1. Accept list of template-to-target mappings
  2. Load each template, fill variables with shared + per-file data
  3. Write all files, collecting results
  4. Return list of generated files

Template Discovery

  1. Use Glob to find all .md and .json files in templates/
  2. Read first line of each to extract template name/purpose
  3. Return formatted list

Process Integration

  • new-project.js - Batch generate PROJECT.md, REQUIREMENTS.md, ROADMAP.md, STATE.md
  • discuss-phase.js - Generate CONTEXT.md from context template
  • plan-phase.js - Generate PLAN.md files from phase-prompt template
  • verify-work.js - Generate UAT.md from uat template
  • quick.js - Generate plan and summary using minimal variants
  • debug.js - Generate debug session file from debug template
  • complete-milestone.js - Generate milestone archive from milestone-archive template
  • add-tests.js - Generate test plan structure
  • research-phase.js - Generate RESEARCH.md from research template
  • map-codebase.js - Batch generate 7 codebase analysis documents

Output Format

{
  "operation": "fill|batch|discover",
  "status": "success|error",
  "template": "project",
  "variant": "standard",
  "targetPath": ".planning/PROJECT.md",
  "variablesFilled": 12,
  "conditionalsProcessed": 3,
  "generatedFiles": [
    ".planning/PROJECT.md",
    ".planning/REQUIREMENTS.md"
  ]
}

Configuration

SettingDefaultDescription
templatesDirtemplates/Directory containing template files
summaryVariantstandardDefault summary variant
injectFrontmattertrueAuto-add frontmatter to generated files
variableDelimiter{{...}}Variable placeholder syntax

Error Handling

ErrorCauseResolution
Template not foundTemplate name does not match any fileList available templates, suggest closest match
Unfilled variableVariable not provided in dataUse empty string or placeholder marker
Target path existsFile already at target locationPrompt for overwrite/append/skip
Invalid conditionalMalformed if/unless blockFix template syntax
Batch partial failureSome files in batch failedReport which succeeded and which failed

Constraints

  • Templates must be idempotent (filling same template with same data produces same output)
  • Never modify template source files; only read them
  • Generated files must be valid markdown (or JSON for config.json)
  • Variable names must be uppercase with underscores only
  • Conditional blocks must be properly nested and closed
  • Batch operations are all-or-nothing within a single process call

Signals

GitHub stars
2k
Forks
106
Last commit
Sep 2026
Advanced
Catalog kind
skill
Gateway key
template-scaffolding
Source
github.com/a5c-ai/babysitter