Onboarding

5.6. Integration Discovery

After role pack matching, set up the user's integration preferences:

1. If a role pack was matched, present its recommended integrations with role-specific context:

   Based on your role, these integrations would give COG the most context:
   
   [For each integration in role pack:]
   - **[Integration]** — [Why it matters for you, from role pack]
   
   Which of these do you already use? And are there any other tools you'd like to connect?

2. Parse the user's response:

   • Services they confirm using → add to Active section of MY-INTEGRATIONS.md
   • Services they don't mention or say no to → add to Disabled section
   • Additional services they mention → add to Active section
   • Always add ElevenLabs to Disabled unless explicitly requested

3. Generate 00-inbox/MY-INTEGRATIONS.md:

   ---
   type: integrations
   created: YYYY-MM-DD
   tags: ["#integrations", "#config", "#cog"]
   ---
   
   # My Integrations
   
   *COG checks this file before using any external service. Edit anytime.*
   
   ## Active
   [For each confirmed integration:]
   - **[Service]**: [Brief description of how COG uses it]
   
   ## Disabled
   [For each declined/unmentioned integration:]
   - **[Service]**: Skipped during onboarding. Enable anytime by moving to Active section.
   
   ---
   
   *Move services between Active and Disabled sections to control what COG connects to.*

4. If no role pack was matched, ask about common integrations conversationally:

   COG can connect with tools like GitHub, Slack, Linear, Notion, and PostHog for richer analysis. Do you use any of these? (Totally optional - COG works great without them too.)

6. Generate Profile Documents

Create the four profile documents using the templates in references/profile-templates.md.

00-inbox/MY-PROFILE.md

00-inbox/MY-INTERESTS.md

03-professional/COMPETITIVE-WATCHLIST.md (only if they mentioned companies/people to track)

For Each Project: 04-projects/[project-slug]/PROJECT-OVERVIEW.md

7. Create Directory Structure

Based on configuration, create personalized structure:

Base Structure (Always):

00-inbox/
01-daily/
  briefs/
  checkins/
02-personal/
  braindumps/
  development/
  wellness/
03-professional/
  braindumps/
  leadership/
  strategy/
  skills/
04-projects/
05-knowledge/
  consolidated/
  patterns/
  timeline/
  booklets/
06-templates/

Project-Specific (For each listed project):

04-projects/[project-slug]/
  PROJECT-OVERVIEW.md
  braindumps/
  competitive/
  content/
  planning/
  resources/

8. Create Welcome Guide

Generate: 00-inbox/WELCOME-TO-COG.md

Generate it from the template in references/welcome-guide.md.

9. Wrap-Up (No Menu!)

After setup, summarize what was created and suggest a natural next action:

You're all set! I've created your profile, interests, and project files. Everything is in your vault and editable anytime.

If you want to jump right in, try a braindump - just tell me what's on your mind and I'll capture it. Or ask for your daily brief to see what's happening in your interest areas today.

Don't present a numbered menu of next actions. Just suggest one or two natural things and let them decide.

Configuration Update Mode

If user runs onboarding after initial setup (MY-PROFILE.md exists):

Don't show a menu. Just ask:

You've already completed onboarding! What would you like to update? Just tell me what needs changing.

Then intelligently handle whatever they say - whether it's adding projects, changing interests, updating their role, etc.

Success Criteria

Onboarding is successful when:

1. MY-PROFILE.md created in 00-inbox/ with role_pack in frontmatter
2. MY-INTERESTS.md created in 00-inbox/
3. MY-INTEGRATIONS.md created in 00-inbox/ with active/disabled sections
4. Role pack matched (or set to custom) and recommendations presented
5. Project directories and overviews created (if applicable)
6. WELCOME-TO-COG.md guide created with role-specific skill ordering
7. User understands next steps and where their profile is stored

Error Handling

If profile already exists:

• Don't overwrite, offer update mode instead
• Preserve existing content, only append/modify requested sections
• Archive old version to 00-inbox/archive/MY-PROFILE-YYYY-MM-DD.md if starting fresh

If directory creation fails:

• Report which directories couldn't be created
• Provide manual creation instructions
• Continue with rest of setup

If user exits mid-onboarding:

• Create partial profile with note: "Onboarding incomplete - run onboarding skill to finish"
• Save what was collected so far
• Resume from last completed step on next run

Privacy & Data

All configuration data is stored as markdown files in:

• 00-inbox/MY-PROFILE.md - Basic profile with role pack
• 00-inbox/MY-INTERESTS.md - Interest areas
• 00-inbox/MY-INTEGRATIONS.md - Active/disabled external service integrations
• 03-professional/COMPETITIVE-WATCHLIST.md - Competitive tracking
• 04-projects/[project]/PROJECT-OVERVIEW.md - Project details

Benefits of markdown storage:

• Human-readable and editable
• Version controlled with Git
• Searchable in Obsidian
• Linkable from other notes
• No parsing required, just read as text
• Can be archived, moved, organized like any other note

Philosophy

COG's configuration is knowledge, not configuration. By storing preferences as markdown notes:

• They're part of your knowledge base, not hidden config files
• You can link to them, reference them, evolve them
• They have context and can include your own notes
• They're transparent and auditable
• They benefit from all of Obsidian's features (tags, links, search, graph view)

This is "configuration as knowledge" - your preferences are themselves notes in your second brain.