---
name: Brownfield
slug: brownfield-2
category: Automation
description: Brownfield scans a root directory for existing git repositories and linked worktrees, then manages default repos used as context in interviews. Use it to set, clear, or inspect default repositories for brownfield interview sessions.
github: "https://github.com/Q00/ouroboros/tree/main/.claude-plugin/skills/brownfield"
language: Python
stars: 5431
forks: 550
install: "npx degit https://github.com/Q00/ouroboros/tree/main/.claude-plugin/skills/brownfield ~/.claude/skills/brownfield"
installs_to: ~/.claude/skills/brownfield
source_path: .claude-plugin/skills/brownfield/SKILL.md
collection_size: 25
category_size: 1523
collection_url: "https://dirskills.com/collections/Q00/ouroboros"
added: 2026-08-16T07:00:05.791Z
last_synced: 2026-08-16T07:00:05.791Z
canonical_url: "https://dirskills.com/skills/brownfield-2"
---

# Brownfield

Brownfield scans a root directory for existing git repositories and linked worktrees, then manages default repos used as context in interviews. Use it to set, clear, or inspect default repositories for brownfield interview sessions.

**Install:**

```bash
npx degit https://github.com/Q00/ouroboros/tree/main/.claude-plugin/skills/brownfield ~/.claude/skills/brownfield
```

## README

# /ouroboros:brownfield

Scan a root directory for existing git repositories and linked worktrees, then manage default repos used as context in interviews.

## Usage

```
ooo brownfield                # Scan repos and set defaults
ooo brownfield scan           # Scan only (no default selection)
ooo brownfield defaults       # Show current defaults
ooo brownfield set 6,18,19   # Set defaults by repo numbers
ooo brownfield detect [path]  # Author mechanical.toml via one AI call
```

**Trigger keywords:** "brownfield", "scan repos", "default repos", "brownfield scan", "mechanical detect"

---

## How It Works

### Default flow (`ooo brownfield` with no args)

**Step 1: Scan**

Show scanning indicator:
```
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
  Scanning for Existing Projects...
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Looking for git repositories and worktrees up to two directories below the scan root.
Local repos and repos with any remote name are eligible.
This may take a moment...
```

**Implementation — use MCP tools only, do NOT use CLI or Python scripts:**

**CRITICAL — deferred-schema guard (prevents "Invalid tool parameters"):**
This skill can call `ouroboros_brownfield` across multiple turns (`scan`,
`set_defaults`, `defaults`, and `set`). A deferred schema loaded for one turn is
NOT guaranteed to remain loaded for the next. Immediately before EVERY
`ouroboros_brownfield` call, re-run `tool discovery query: "+ouroboros brownfield"`
(idempotent — a no-op when already loaded). If the load returns no matching tool (and the tool is not already callable — an empty load for an already-exposed tool is an expected no-op, not absence),
stop with the MCP-not-available message instead of retrying the failing call.

1. Load the brownfield MCP tool: `tool discovery query: "+ouroboros brownfield"`
2. Call scan+register:
   ```
   Tool: ouroboros_brownfield
   Arguments: { "action": "scan" }
   ```
   This walks `scan_root` (up to two directory levels deep) for valid seed repos/worktrees and registers them in DB. Each repo or worktree found directly by the walk is registered self-only — Git worktree families are not expanded, so worktrees outside the depth-bounded walk (e.g. under `.ouroboros/worktrees`) are not pulled in. Existing defaults are preserved.

The scan response `text` already contains a pre-formatted numbered list with `[default]` markers. **Do NOT make any additional MCP calls to list or query repos.**

**Display the repos in a plain-text 2-column grid** (NOT a markdown table). Use a code block so columns align. Example:

```
Scan complete. 8 repositories registered.

 1. repo-alpha                   5. repo-epsilon
 2. repo-bravo *                 6. repo-foxtrot
 3. repo-charlie                 7. repo-golf *
 4. repo-delta                   8. repo-hotel
```

Include `*` markers for defaults exactly as they appear in the scan response.

**If no repos found**, show:
```
No git repositories or worktrees found.
```
Then stop.

### Scan boundaries

- The filesystem walk starts at `scan_root`; when omitted, `scan_root` defaults to the current user's home directory.
- Repositories are discovered by walking directories inside `scan_root`, at most two levels deep (so `~/repo` and `~/group/repo` are found; deeper nesting is not).
- Dot-prefixed directories and known noisy directories such as `node_modules` are not walked as seed locations.
- Both normal repos (`.git` directory) and linked worktrees (`.git` file) are registered when the walk reaches them. Git worktree families are NOT expanded — a worktree is only registered if the walk finds it directly, not because its main repo's Git metadata reports it.
- Local repos, repos without remotes, and repos whose remotes are not named `origin` are all eligible.

**Step 2: Default Selection**

**Do NOT use `AskUserQuestion` for this selection.** Assistant text emitted
between tool calls is not guaranteed to render, so a question dialog fired in
the same turn can appear without the repo list the user needs to answer it.
Option `preview` fields cannot hold the list either — the preview box has a
fixed height and silently truncates long lists.

Instead, **end the turn with the repo grid as the final message** and collect
the selection as a plain chat reply. Immediately below the grid, append:

**If defaults exist:**
```
Current defaults: <current default names> (numbers <current default numbers>)

Reply with repo numbers to change defaults (e.g. "6, 18, 19"),
"keep" to keep the current defaults, or "none" to clear them.
```

**If no defaults exist:**
```
No defaults set.

Reply with repo numbers to set defaults (e.g. "6, 18, 19"),
or "none" to run interviews in greenfield mode.
```

Then **end the turn** — no tool calls after the grid.

On the next turn, parse the user's reply:

- Numbers (any separator) → those indices
- "keep" (defaults exist) → stop; no MCP call needed, confirm defaults unchanged
- "none" → empty indices (clear all)
- Anything else → ask again in plain text; do not guess

Then re-run `tool discovery query: "+ouroboros brownfield"` and use ONE MCP call to update all defaults at once:

```
Tool: ouroboros_brownfield
Arguments: { "action": "set_defaults", "indices": "<comma-separated IDs>" }
```

Example: if the user picks IDs 6, 18, 19 → `{ "action": "set_defaults", "indices": "6,18,19" }`

This clears all existing defaults and sets the selected repos as default in one call.

If "None" → `{ "action": "set_defaults", "indices": "" }` to clear all defaults.

**Step 3: Confirmation**

```
Brownfield defaults updated!
Defaults: grape, podo-app, podo-backend

These repos will be used as context in interviews.
```

Or if "None" selected:
```
No default repos set. Interviews will run in greenfield mode.
You can set defaults anytime with: ooo brownfield
```

Or if "keep" selected:
```
Brownfield defaults unchanged.
Defaults: <current default names>
```

---

### Subcommand: `scan`

Scan only, no default selection prompt. Show the numbered list and stop.

---

### Subcommand: `defaults`

Re-run `tool discovery query: "+ouroboros brownfield"`, then call:
```
Tool: ouroboros_brownfield
Arguments: { "action": "scan" }
```

Display only the repos marked with `*` (defaults). If none, show:
```
No default repos set. Run 'ooo brownfield' to configure.
```

---

### Subcommand: `set <indices>`

Directly set defaults without scanning. Parse the comma-separated indices from the user's input, re-run `tool discovery query: "+ouroboros brownfield"`, and call:

```
Tool: ouroboros_brownfield
Arguments: { "action": "set_defaults", "indices": "<indices>" }
```

Show confirmation with updated defaults.

---

### Subcommand: `detect [path]`

Runs one AI call against the target directory (defaults to the user's cwd)
and writes `.ouroboros/mechanical.toml` with validated lint / build / test /
static / coverage commands. Stage 1 of evaluation reads this file verbatim,
so the toml is the authoritative Stage 1 contract — no hardcoded language
presets exist anymore.

Ouroboros auto-runs this detect the first time `ouroboros_evaluate` is
invoked without a toml present, so most users never need to call it
directly. Run it explicitly when:

- you want to pre-author the toml before the first evaluate,
- you moved to a new build tool and want to refresh (`--force`),
- you want to review/edit the commands before Stage 1 trusts them.

**Implementation:** invoke the CLI via Bash.

```
uvx --python '>=3.12' --from ouroboros-ai ouroboros detect [path]
# or, if already installed:
ouroboros detect [path] [--force]
```

Then print the resulting `.ouroboros/mechanical.toml` contents so the user
can confirm the proposed commands or hand-edit them.

If detect reports "could not propose any verifiable commands", surface the
reason (no manifests found, LLM unavailable, every proposal dropped) and
suggest the user write a minimal toml by hand — any single entry like
`test = "pytest -q"` is enough to opt back in to Stage 1 for that check.
