Initialisation
Setup a fresh Catalyst project. Configure your surfaces, clear what you don't need, and establish project context.
What you're setting up
Initialisation is the "0th" stage before you start building. Get your project foundation right: the right surfaces, clean defaults, and documented context. This stage is usually done once at project start.
Quick start
Clone or init
Clone the Catalyst repo or run the init command to create a new project.
Describe your project
Tell the AI what you're building. Be specific about your project type, target users, and key features.
Configure surfaces
Keep only the surfaces you need. Building an app? Keep (app). Marketing site? Keep (web). Remove what you don't need.
Clear defaults
Remove the default landing page, example content, and placeholder text. Start clean.
Example AI prompt
I'm setting up a new Catalyst project for [PROJECT NAME]. Project type: [SaaS app / Marketing site / Documentation / etc] Target users: [Who will use this] Key features: [Main things it needs to do] Please: 1. Remove surfaces I don't need (I only need: [web/app/docs/etc]) 2. Clear the default landing page content 3. Update config.ts with my project name 4. Create initial project specs (vision, experience) 5. Set project-state.md to stage: poc (and set project_version/catalyst_version)
Surface guide
Common configurations
- SaaS app: (app) + (auth) + (web)
- Marketing site: (web) only
- Documentation: (docs) + (web)
- Internal tool: (app) + (auth)
Safe to remove
- • (examples) — Reference implementations
- • (present) — Slide presentations
- • (catalyst) — Remove for production deploys
- • Default landing page content
- • Example components and pages
Checklist
- Environment variables configured (.env.local)
- Unnecessary surfaces removed
- config.ts updated with project name
- Default content cleared
- project-state.md created with stage: poc + version fields
- At least vision spec drafted