Refactor `apm init` to minimal-only mode (breaking change) by Copilot · Pull Request #18 · microsoft/apm

Copilot · 2025-10-29T06:58:00Z

Refactor `apm init` to Minimal-Only Mode ✅

This PR implements a breaking change to apm init to align with npm's behavior where npm init creates only package.json.

Implementation Status

Key Changes

CLI Changes:

✅ Removed --force flag (no longer needed with minimal mode)
✅ Enhanced --yes flag to use auto-detected defaults
✅ Created only apm.yml (no templates, no example files, no .apm/ directory)
✅ Professional UI with Rich tables and panels

Auto-Detection System:

✅ _auto_detect_author() - Extracts author from git config user.name (fallback: "Developer")
✅ _auto_detect_description() - Generates description from project name
✅ Project name from directory name or argument

Minimal apm.yml Structure:

name: <auto-detected>
version: 1.0.0
description: <auto-detected>
author: <from git config or "Developer">
dependencies:
  apm: []
  mcp: []
scripts: {}

Test Results ✅

✅ All 11 init command unit tests pass
✅ All 284 unit tests pass
✅ 0 security vulnerabilities (CodeQL)
✅ Code formatting passes (black)
✅ E2E integration tests updated for minimal mode
✅ Release validation script updated for minimal mode
⚠️ 5 integration test failures (unrelated - network/token issues)

Test Updates

All test suites now simulate the minimal mode workflow:

apm init creates only apm.yml
Tests manually create prompt files and .apm/ directory
Tests update apm.yml with required scripts
Tests proceed with compilation and execution

This matches the real-world workflow where users manually create their project structure.

Usage Examples

# Initialize in current directory (interactive)
apm init

# Initialize with auto-detected defaults
apm init --yes

# Create new project directory
apm init my-project --yes

Breaking Changes ⚠️

Users relying on automatic template generation will need to adapt
Template files (hello-world.prompt.md, feature-implementation.prompt.md) no longer created
.apm/ directory structure no longer auto-generated
README.md no longer auto-generated
--force flag removed (behavior now covered by --yes)

Documentation Updates

✅ Updated docs/cli-reference.md with new behavior and examples
✅ Documented auto-detection system
✅ Clarified minimal-only approach

Security Summary

CodeQL Analysis: ✅ No vulnerabilities detected in changes

Original prompt

This section details on the original issue you should resolve

<issue_title>Refactor apm init to minimal-only mode (breaking change)</issue_title>
<issue_description>## Summary
Refactor apm init to create only minimal apm.yml by default, removing all template scaffolding. This aligns APM with npm's behavior where npm init creates only package.json.

Current Behavior

Creates full scaffold: apm.yml, hello-world.prompt.md, feature-implementation.prompt.md, README.md, .apm/ directory structure

Prompts to overwrite files in existing projects

Single mode with template-heavy defaults

Target Behavior

Creates only apm.yml with auto-detected metadata

No template files, no example prompts, no README generation

Works cleanly in brownfield projects without file pollution

Supports optional project name argument

Expected Commands
apm init           # Minimal apm.yml in current directory
apm init -y        # Skip prompts, use auto-detected defaults
apm init my-project # Create my-project/ with minimal apm.yml
Implementation Requirements

Auto-Detection System

Extract project name from directory name or git repository

Extract author from git config user.name

Extract description from git repository description if available

Fallback to sensible defaults for all fields

Minimal apm.yml Output
name: <auto-detected>
version: 1.0.0
description: <auto-detected or default>
author: <from git config or "Developer">

dependencies:
  apm: []
  mcp: []

scripts: {}
Code Changes

Remove template file creation logic (_create_project_files)

Remove template loading (_load_template_file)

Simplify to single minimal mode

Update argument parsing to accept optional project name

Add auto-detection utilities

Update tests to reflect minimal behavior

Breaking Changes

Users relying on automatic template generation will need to adapt

Template files (hello-world.prompt.md, etc.) no longer created

.apm/ directory structure no longer auto-generated

Acceptance Criteria

apm init creates only apm.yml in current directory

apm init -y skips all prompts using auto-detected defaults

apm init my-project creates my-project/ directory with apm.yml

Auto-detection extracts metadata from git config and repository

No template files are created

Works in existing projects without prompting about overwrites

All existing tests updated to reflect new behavior

New tests added for auto-detection logic

Related

Part of npm-parity redesign for brownfield adoption (issue #TBD)</issue_description>

Comments on the Issue (you are @copilot in this section)

Fixes Refactor apm init to minimal-only mode (breaking change) #13

✨ Let Copilot coding agent set things up for you — coding agent works faster and does higher quality work when set up for your repo.

Co-authored-by: danielmeppiel <51440732+danielmeppiel@users.noreply.github.com>

danielmeppiel · 2025-10-29T09:44:15Z

@copilot integration tests failed in CI and need to be adjusted to the new way of working:

=========================== short test summary info ============================
FAILED tests/integration/test_golden_scenario_e2e.py::TestGoldenScenarioE2E::test_complete_golden_scenario_copilot - AssertionError: Prompt file not created
assert False
 +  where False = exists()
 +    where exists = (PosixPath('/var/folders/q1/lmdr88vx1k90l53fxl9p8lwc0000gn/T/tmpwdeexdje/my-ai-native-project') / 'hello-world.prompt.md').exists
FAILED tests/integration/test_golden_scenario_e2e.py::TestGoldenScenarioE2E::test_complete_golden_scenario_codex - Failed: Command failed: apm compile
Stdout: ❌ No APM content found to compile
💡 To get started:
   1. Install APM dependencies: apm install <owner>/<repo>
   2. Or create local instructions: mkdir -p .apm/instructions
   3. Then create .instructions.md or .chatmode.md files

Stderr:
FAILED tests/integration/test_golden_scenario_e2e.py::TestGoldenScenarioE2E::test_complete_golden_scenario_llm - Failed: Command failed: apm compile
Stdout: ❌ No APM content found to compile
💡 To get started:
   1. Install APM dependencies: apm install <owner>/<repo>
   2. Or create local instructions: mkdir -p .apm/instructions
   3. Then create .instructions.md or .chatmode.md files

Stderr:
FAILED tests/integration/test_golden_scenario_e2e.py::TestGoldenScenarioE2E::test_init_command_template_bundling - AssertionError: Prompt template not created
assert False
 +  where False = exists()
 +    where exists = (PosixPath('/var/folders/q1/lmdr88vx1k90l53fxl9p8lwc0000gn/T/tmpwbhsy8n1/template-test-project') / 'hello-world.prompt.md').exists
========================= 4 failed, 3 passed in 31.06s =========================

- Remove expectations for template files (hello-world.prompt.md, .apm/) - Add manual file creation to simulate user workflow in minimal mode - Create prompt files and .apm/ directory structure in tests - Update apm.yml with required scripts for each test - Rename template bundling test to minimal mode test - Update assertions to verify only apm.yml is created by init Co-authored-by: danielmeppiel <51440732+danielmeppiel@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot · 2025-10-29T09:51:48Z

@copilot integration tests failed in CI and need to be adjusted to the new way of working:

...

Updated E2E integration tests to reflect minimal mode behavior (commit 9452472).

Changes made:

Removed expectations for automatic template file creation
Tests now manually create hello-world.prompt.md, .apm/ directory, and other files after apm init
Added scripts to apm.yml dynamically in tests
Renamed test_init_command_template_bundling to test_init_command_minimal_mode
Updated assertions to verify only apm.yml is created by init command

The tests now simulate the actual minimal mode workflow where users manually create their project structure after initialization.

danielmeppiel · 2025-10-29T10:03:45Z

@copilot the Release Validation tests which now failed in CI seems to need some adjustment as well:

✅ Project initialization completed
🧪 README Step 4: cd my-ai-native-project && apm compile
Running: /tmp/apm-isolated-test/dist/apm-linux-x86_64/apm compile
--- Command Output Start ---
❌ No APM content found to compile
💡 To get started:
   1. Install APM dependencies: apm install <owner>/<repo>
   2. Or create local instructions: mkdir -p .apm/instructions
   3. Then create .instructions.md or .chatmode.md files
--- Command Output End ---
Exit code: 1
❌ apm compile failed with exit code 1
❌ Compile test failed
🧪 README Step 5: apm install
Running: /tmp/apm-isolated-test/dist/apm-linux-x86_64/apm install
--- Command Output Start ---
Installing dependencies from apm.yml...
No APM dependencies found in apm.yml
No MCP dependencies found in apm.yml

Dependencies installation complete
--- Command Output End ---
Exit code: 0
✅ Install completed

Results: 5/6 golden scenario steps passed
❌ Some golden scenario steps failed

⚠️  The binary doesn't match the README promise
🧹 Cleaning up test directory: binary-golden-scenario-2032
Error: Process completed with exit code 1.

- Add project structure creation after apm init - Create .apm/instructions directory with test instructions - Create hello-world.prompt.md for compilation testing - Add start script to apm.yml for run command testing - Update log messages to reflect minimal mode behavior Co-authored-by: danielmeppiel <51440732+danielmeppiel@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot · 2025-10-29T10:07:26Z

@copilot the Release Validation tests which now failed in CI seems to need some adjustment as well:

...

Updated release validation script to work with minimal mode (commit 745d5e2).

Changes made:

Script now creates .apm/instructions/ directory with test instructions after apm init
Creates hello-world.prompt.md for compilation testing
Appends start script to apm.yml for run command testing
Updated log messages to indicate minimal mode behavior

The validation script now simulates the actual user workflow where they manually create their project structure after running apm init.

Initial plan

476774d

Copilot AI assigned Copilot and danielmeppiel Oct 29, 2025

Copilot started work on behalf of danielmeppiel October 29, 2025 06:58 View session

Copilot AI and others added 4 commits October 29, 2025 07:01

Initial plan for refactoring apm init to minimal-only mode

ef0e9c9

Co-authored-by: danielmeppiel <51440732+danielmeppiel@users.noreply.github.com>

Refactor apm init to minimal-only mode with auto-detection

c078d02

Co-authored-by: danielmeppiel <51440732+danielmeppiel@users.noreply.github.com>

Apply code formatting with black

2340fc7

Co-authored-by: danielmeppiel <51440732+danielmeppiel@users.noreply.github.com>

Add return code checks for git commands in auto-detection test

72c178d

Co-authored-by: danielmeppiel <51440732+danielmeppiel@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot AI changed the title ~~[WIP] Refactor apm init to create only minimal apm.yml~~ Refactor apm init to minimal-only mode (breaking change) Oct 29, 2025

Copilot AI requested a review from danielmeppiel October 29, 2025 07:20

Copilot finished work on behalf of danielmeppiel October 29, 2025 07:20

danielmeppiel marked this pull request as ready for review October 29, 2025 09:37

Copilot started work on behalf of danielmeppiel October 29, 2025 09:44 View session

Copilot finished work on behalf of danielmeppiel October 29, 2025 09:52

Copilot started work on behalf of danielmeppiel October 29, 2025 10:04 View session

Copilot finished work on behalf of danielmeppiel October 29, 2025 10:08

danielmeppiel merged commit 0674b42 into main Oct 29, 2025
38 checks passed

danielmeppiel deleted the copilot/refactor-apm-init-minimal-mode branch February 27, 2026 09:41

danielmeppiel mentioned this pull request Mar 9, 2026

fix: harden plugin security, validation, tests, and docs (follow-up to #83) #208

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Refactor `apm init` to minimal-only mode (breaking change)#18

Refactor `apm init` to minimal-only mode (breaking change)#18
danielmeppiel merged 7 commits intomainfrom
copilot/refactor-apm-init-minimal-mode

Copilot AI commented Oct 29, 2025 •

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