Project Template

Ready-to-fork GitHub Template with Claude Code v8 conventions, CI/CD, security rules, and 3 tiered CLAUDE.md variants baked in.

Reusable template for new projects with Claude Code configuration, CI/CD pipelines, security settings, standardized .gitignore, Renovate dependency updates, and pre-push branch protection.

Sponsor

This template encodes months of real-world Claude Code workflow refinement — feel free to sponsor the work if it saves you time spinning up new repos.

Quick Start

1. Click "Use this template" on GitHub to create a new repo
2. Clone the new repo locally
3. Run the setup script:

   chmod +x init.sh && ./init.sh

4. Fill in the remaining placeholders in the generated CLAUDE.md ([DESCRIPTION], [VISION], role-lanes, build/test commands, etc.)
5. Commit and push

The 3 CLAUDE.md tier variants

The template ships with three tier-scaled CLAUDE.md variants. init.sh copies one of them to CLAUDE.md at setup time based on your Tier answer; the other two plus the original .advanced / .standard / .lightweight files are then deleted from the new repo.

Tier	Variant file	Body size	Use when	Sections
A	CLAUDE.md.advanced	~100+ lines	Complex products — multi-service, DB, domain rules, cross-team	References, Stack+Vision, Role-Lanes, Critical Domain Rules (schema traps, query patterns, business invariants), Build/Test/Deploy, Key Directories, Dependency Graph, Known Limitations, Security, Deployment Envs, External Services/MCPs, Roadmap, Doc Maintainers, Deviations
B	CLAUDE.md.standard	~60 lines	Typical apps — single service, active feature work	References, Stack+Vision, Role-Lanes, Build/Test/Deploy, Key Directories, Known Limitations, Security, Deployment Envs, External Services, Roadmap, Doc Maintainers, Deviations
C	CLAUDE.md.lightweight	~30 lines	Utility / scripts / tool repos — low-complexity, mostly stable	References, Stack, Build/Test/Deploy, Key Directories, Security, Deviations

Common preamble

All three variants open with the same v8 preamble:

• VERSION: 2026-04-19-v8 tagged + SYNC-SOURCE pointing to ~/.claude/conventions/universal-claudemd.md
• References the 21 universal sections Claude should honor (laws, MCP routing, drift protocol, capability resolution, SKILL POLICY, session continuity, decision queue, attestation, cite format, three-way disagreement, pre-conditions, provenance markers, redaction rules, token budget, tool-failure fallback, prompt-injection rule, append-only discipline, BLOCKED_BY markers, stop-loss ladder, business-invariant checks, plugin rent rubric, context ceilings)
• Sourced from ~/.claude/conventions/universal-claudemd.md and ~/.claude/conventions/project-hygiene.md

Keep the preamble in sync across all per-repo files via ~/.claude/scripts/sync-preambles.py.

Placeholders

All three variants contain bracketed placeholders. init.sh fills two of them automatically; you fill the rest manually after setup:

Placeholder	Filled by	Example
[PROJECT_NAME]	init.sh (from prompt)	my-cool-app
[STACK]	init.sh (from prompt)	Node.js, Python, Python + Node.js + Docker, Google Apps Script
[DESCRIPTION]	manual	One-sentence business line
[VISION]	manual (standard/advanced)	Pinnacle form — drives role-lane activation
[DEV COMMAND], [BUILD COMMAND], etc.	manual	Stack-specific
Role-lanes, domain traps, invariants	manual	Depends on project

What's Included

File / Dir	Purpose
CLAUDE.md.advanced / .standard / .lightweight	Tier-scaled project instruction templates
.claude/settings.json	Universal deny list for dangerous commands
.gitignore-templates/	Language-specific .gitignore (node / python / fullstack / apps-script)
.github/workflows/	CI/CD pipeline templates (node, python, fullstack, docker variants) + renovate.yml
.github/FUNDING.yml	Sponsor config
.githooks/pre-push	Blocks direct push to main/master (auto-installed by init.sh)
.env.example	Environment variable placeholder
renovate.json	Renovate dependency-update config (auto-merge minor/patch dev deps)
init.sh	Interactive setup script

init.sh behavior

Running ./init.sh prompts for three inputs:

1. Project name — substitutes [PROJECT_NAME] in CLAUDE.md
2. Stack (node / python / fullstack / apps-script) — substitutes [STACK], copies the right .gitignore, picks the matching CI workflow
3. Tier (A / B / C, default C) — picks which CLAUDE.md.* variant becomes CLAUDE.md

Then it:

• Copies the chosen tier variant to CLAUDE.md + substitutes the two placeholders
• Copies .gitignore-templates/<stack>.gitignore to .gitignore
• Copies .github/workflows/ci-<stack>.yml to .github/workflows/ci.yml
• Installs .githooks/pre-push into .git/hooks/ (if inside a git repo)
• Deletes template scaffolding: the unused CLAUDE.md.* variants, .gitignore-templates/, .githooks/, unused .github/workflows/ci-*.yml templates, and init.sh itself

After setup, only the consumed output remains — the scaffolding exits cleanly.

CI/CD Templates

Template	Stack
ci-node.yml	Node.js (ESLint / build)
ci-python.yml	Python (flake8 lint)
ci-node-docker.yml	Node.js + Docker build
ci-python-docker.yml	Python + Docker build
ci-fullstack.yml	Python backend + Node frontend + Docker
renovate.yml	Renovate dependency-update scheduler

Security Features

Every project created from this template gets:

• .env and .env.* excluded from git (with !.env.example preserved)
• .claude/settings.local.json and .mcp.json excluded from git
• Deny list blocking: rm -rf, sudo, git push --force, git reset --hard
• .env read access denied in Claude Code
• pre-push hook blocking direct pushes to main / master
• Renovate vulnerabilityAlerts.enabled = true