/ipa.init

Interactively configure a project's .env file with the IPA-managed variables required by all downstream skills.

Invocation

/ipa.init

Parameters

/ipa.init prompts for all parameters interactively. No arguments are passed at invocation.

Variable	Required	Default	Description
AWS_PROFILE	No	(skipped)	AWS CLI named profile. Omitted from .env if skipped.
AWS_REGION	Yes	us-east-1	AWS deployment region
AWS_ACCOUNT_ID	Yes	(auto-detected)	12-digit account ID, detected via aws sts get-caller-identity
APP_NAMESPACE	Yes	app	1-12 character project prefix (lowercase alphanumeric)
APP_ENV	Yes	dev	Environment label (dev, stage, prod)
APP_CODE_AGENT	Auto	claude-code	Fixed value, not prompted
APP_IAC	Auto	cloudformation	Fixed value, not prompted

What It Does

1. First-time initialization — Presents a single batched prompt for all configurable variables with sensible defaults. Validates each input against strict regex patterns. Writes the .env file and generates a .env.example template (never committed to version control).

2. Re-initialization — Detects an existing .env file and enters selective-update mode. Displays current values and prompts only for variables the user wants to change. Warns before overwriting existing values.

3. Security chain — On first run, if the security stack has not been provisioned, automatically chains to /ipa.security after .env is written.

Outputs

Artifact	Path	Description
Environment file	.env	Project configuration consumed by all IPA skills
Example template	.env.example	Sanitized template showing required variables

Examples

Initialize a new project:

/ipa.init

Respond to the prompts with your AWS profile, region, namespace (myapp), and environment (dev). The skill writes .env and proceeds to /ipa.security.

Update an existing configuration:

/ipa.init

The skill detects the existing .env, displays current values, and prompts for changes.

Related Skills

• /ipa.security — Automatically invoked after first-time initialization
• /ipa.compose — Reads .env variables written by this skill