A Claude skill that solves a familiar problem: Claude forgets everything between sessions. You make decisions, build things, change direction — and the next conversation starts from zero.
project-kickoff fixes this at the start of a project. It runs a short interview to clarify your goal and scope, then creates three tracking files that act as the project's persistent memory:
| File | What it holds |
|---|---|
PROJECT.md |
What you're building, for whom, V1 scope, what's out |
DECISIONS.md |
Chronological log of every meaningful decision, with rationale |
PROGRESS.md |
Chronological log of completed units of work |
The skill also writes a convention block into your project's CLAUDE.md, so every future session keeps the files up to date automatically — decisions and completed work get recorded as they happen, without you asking. When a decision reverses a previous direction, it's logged in a richer narrative format (what we thought / why we turned / what changed), so the reasoning isn't lost.
The interview and all generated files are written in whatever language you're speaking — the skill itself is in English, but it adapts.
Claude Code (recommended — this is where the skill works fully, since it relies on a project folder and CLAUDE.md):
Copy the project-kickoff folder into your skills directory:
cp -r project-kickoff ~/.claude/skills/Or download the packaged project-kickoff.skill file from Releases and double-click it to install.
Claude apps (claude.ai): zip the project-kickoff folder and upload it under Settings → Capabilities → Skills. Note that the auto-tracking convention assumes a filesystem project with a CLAUDE.md, so this works best in Claude Code or with the code execution environment enabled.
Just start talking about a new project:
"I'm starting a new project — a habit tracker app."
The skill triggers, asks only what your opening line didn't cover, proposes a PROJECT.md for approval, then creates the three files and wires up the convention. From then on, it stays out of your way.
Minimal on purpose. Three files, one convention block, no process overhead. Decisions get recorded when they're made (thinking out loud doesn't count); progress gets recorded when something substantial ships (tweaks don't count). Everything else lives in the code.
MIT