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feedback: reduce setup and daily governance overhead with lean bootstrap + risk-aware suggestions #139

@stackbilt-admin

Description

@stackbilt-admin

Context

Using Charter in a real game-production monorepo (tarot-detective) surfaced a few workflow overhead points during setup + daily commit flow.

Pain points observed

  1. Bootstrap "partial" due to install step fragility

    • charter bootstrap --yes can fail the install step in sandboxed/locked environments even when setup/adf/doctor all succeed.
    • This creates uncertainty: users see partial status despite a functionally usable setup.
  2. Daily governance friction for small commits

    • validate/audit correctly nudge trailers, but teams still see repeated "no trailers" guidance for low-risk docs/checkpoint commits.
    • This can feel noisy when risk classification is low.
  3. Post-bootstrap to-do churn

    • Common follow-ups (hook install, SECURITY.md scaffold, trailer defaults) are left as manual next steps.
    • Teams adopting Charter want a one-pass baseline with fewer manual cleanup actions.

Proposal

A) Add bootstrap --mode lean (or --ci-fast)

  • Performs: detect + setup + adf-init + doctor
  • Skips install by default (or degrades install failure to warning without partial status)
  • Emits deterministic next command: pnpm install / npm install.

B) Add low-risk trailer noise suppression option

  • Config option like validate.suppressSuggestionsBelowRisk: MEDIUM
  • Keeps strict enforcement for high-risk commits, reduces reminder noise for trivial docs/asset metadata updates.

C) Add bootstrap --harden preset

  • Optionally auto-runs:
    • charter hook install --commit-msg
    • charter hook install --pre-commit (if compatible)
    • scaffold SECURITY.md if missing
  • Goal: minimize post-bootstrap manual steps.

Suggested acceptance criteria

  • bootstrap --mode lean exits pass when core governance is healthy, even if install is deferred.
  • Validate suggestions respect risk threshold config.
  • bootstrap --harden can produce "ready baseline" in one command for most repos.

Why this matters

These changes would preserve Charter rigor while reducing setup and day-to-day process overhead for teams shipping fast in monorepos.

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    enhancementNew feature or requestv0.13Targeted for Charter v0.13

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