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Starter Kits

Welcome to CORE. This guide provides ready-to-use starter kits that help you begin working with the system immediately.

Each kit reflects the real CORE architecture (Mind–Body–Will) and aligns with the governed development model.

Starter kits are meant to:

  • give you minimal, functioning examples,
  • show correct project structure,
  • demonstrate safe workflows,
  • and reduce onboarding friction.

1. What’s Included in Each Starter Kit

All starter kits include:

  • a functional src/ layout (api/body/features/mind/services/shared/will),
  • minimal .intent/ rules,
  • example capabilities,
  • basic constitutional policies,
  • small demonstration tests,
  • setup instructions,
  • and safe defaults for development.

They are designed to be extended, not replaced.

2. Available Starter Kits

2.1. Minimal Project

The smallest possible valid CORE project.

Includes:

  • a single route (/hello)
  • one capability
  • minimal .intent/ with only required policies
  • basic test suite
  • full audit passing

Use when you want:

  • to learn the structure,
  • to experiment with autonomy,
  • or to build a new project from scratch.

2.2. Feature-Driven Starter

Demonstrates using autonomy from day one.

Includes:

  • example crates,
  • autonomous feature generation workflow,
  • tests showing crate acceptance criteria,
  • explicit Mind–Body–Will demonstration.

Use when:

  • showcasing CORE to others,
  • bootstrapping a real project quickly.

2.3. Governance-Heavy Starter

Focused on .intent/ and governance.

Includes:

  • strong policies,
  • additional schemas,
  • stricter boundaries,
  • example proposal workflows,
  • domain segmentation.

Use for:

  • enterprise governance demos,
  • strict environments,
  • deep governance experiments.

3. Getting Started with Any Kit

3.1. Install Dependencies

poetry install

3.2. Initialize Developer Secrets

poetry run core-admin secrets init

3.3. Run Initial Audit

poetry run core-admin check audit

This ensures your environment is ready.

3.4. Sync Knowledge

poetry run core-admin manage database sync-knowledge

Your environment is now fully initialized.

4. Using a Starter Kit with Autonomous Development

Once the kit is installed:

poetry run core-admin develop feature "Add health endpoint"

Then:

  1. Inspect crate
  2. Integrate manually
  3. Self-heal
  4. Sync knowledge
  5. Audit

5. Next Steps

Continue with:

  • 02-byor.md — Bring Your Own Runtime
  • 03-batch-mode.md
  • 04-secrets-management.md

Or return to the Developer Guide:

  • ../developer-guide/01-contributing.md

Starter kits make CORE easy to adopt. Everything else builds on the same governed foundations.