Setup Persona

Agent Phases

Phase 1: Context & Onboarding

Inline setup (always applicable):

# Verify Ruby version matches .ruby-version
ruby -v
# Install dependencies
bundle install
# Check database connectivity
rails db:create db:migrate
# Confirm test runner is operational
bundle exec rspec --dry-run
# Load env vars (copy example if missing)
cp .env.example .env 2>/dev/null || true

HARD GATE — Environment Check (all items must pass before Phase 2):

• Ruby version correct (check .ruby-version)
• Bundler installed and working
• Database connection successful
• Runtime env vars are available from the shell or .env
• Encrypted secrets are configured in config/credentials.yml.enc
• config/master.key exists (or RAILSMASTERKEY env var is set)
• All external CI actions pinned to immutable commit SHAs (never mutable tags like @v4, @v1)

If environment check FAILS: Fix the failing item above before proceeding to Phase 2.

Phase 2: CI/CD Configuration

Proceed only after environment check passes.

Canonical shared job preamble (SHARED_PREAMBLE — paste verbatim at the start of every job's steps; both ci.yml and cd.yml use this block):

steps:
  - uses: actions/checkout@34e114876b0b11c390a56381ad16ebd13914f8d5
  - uses: ruby/setup-ruby@ff740bc00a01b3a50fffc55a1071b1060eeae9dc
    with:
      ruby-version: .ruby-version
      bundler-cache: true

Tip: If your repository uses a templates/ directory, you may save the final ci.yml and cd.yml content there for reuse across projects. The instructions below are the canonical source of truth.

1. Configure CI pipeline — write to .github/workflows/ci.yml.

Start each job with SHARED_PREAMBLE, then add:

      - run: bundle exec rails db:create db:migrate
      - run: bundle exec rspec
      - run: bundle exec rubocop
      - run: bundle exec brakeman --no-pager
      - run: bundle exec bundle-audit check --update

1. Configure CD pipeline — write to .github/workflows/cd.yml.

Fill in DEPLOYCLI (e.g., heroku, flyctl, kamal) and the appropriate secret names before writing the file. Each job begins with SHAREDPREAMBLE (copy the block defined above verbatim):

jobs:
  deploy-staging:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    environment: staging
    steps:
      # --- Insert SHARED_PREAMBLE here ---
      - run: bundle exec rails db:migrate
        env:
          RAILS_ENV: staging
          DATABASE_URL: ${{ secrets.STAGING_DATABASE_URL }}
      - run: <DEPLOY_CLI> deploy --app ${{ secrets.STAGING_APP_NAME }}

  deploy-production:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    environment: production
    needs: deploy-staging
    steps:
      # --- Insert SHARED_PREAMBLE here ---
      - run: bundle exec rails db:migrate
        env:
          RAILS_ENV: production
          DATABASE_URL: ${{ secrets.PRODUCTION_DATABASE_URL }}
      - run: <DEPLOY_CLI> deploy --app ${{ secrets.PRODUCTION_APP_NAME }}

Phase 3: Environment Validation

Verify everything works end-to-end:

Confirm the Phase 1 HARD GATE checklist is still fully passing, then additionally verify:

# Bring up local server
rails server

# CI simulation (if possible locally)
act push

Write SETUP_CHECKLIST.md with the final state of all HARD GATE items (see Phase 1) plus:

• CI configured
• Secrets configured

Output Style

When completing project setup, output MUST include:

# Setup Report — [Project Name]

## Environment
- Ruby: <version> (matches .ruby-version: ✓/✗)
- Bundler: <version>
- Database: <PostgreSQL version, connection status>
- Env vars: <loaded from environment configuration file / credentials>

## Dependencies
- bundle install: ✓ (<n> gems installed)
- db:create: ✓ / db:migrate: ✓ (<n> migrations)
- rspec --dry-run: ✓ (<n> examples detected)

## CI/CD
- CI: .github/workflows/ci.yml ✓
- CD: .github/workflows/cd.yml ✓
- Actions pinned to SHA: ✓
- Pipeline: lint → test → security scan → deploy

## Validation
- Local server starts: ✓ (port 3000)
- Full test suite: ✓ (<n> examples, 0 failures)
- SETUP_CHECKLIST.md: ✓ written

Error Recovery

System Modification Approval Gate (CRITICAL): Before suggesting ANY action that modifies the host system:

1. Explain why it is needed
2. Ask the user for explicit confirmation
3. Only proceed if the user approves

Non-obvious failure pointers:

• Ruby version mismatch → check .ruby-version and ensure the correct version is active in your version manager before retrying
• Database connection fails → run pg_isready to confirm PostgreSQL is running; check config/database.yml credentials and create any missing role
• CI actions use mutable tags → resolve SHA with git ls-remote https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>; refs/tags/<tag>, replace @v4 with @<full-sha> in workflow files, verify CI passes after pinning