---
name: ipa-init
description: Initialize IPA documentation by reverse-engineering an existing codebase that has no docs. Use when applying the IPA workflow to a running project, extracting API routes and DB schema from code, or generating a documentation baseline for legacy systems. Trigger phrases: "extract docs from code", "initialize ipa for existing project", "reverse engineer ipa docs".
---

## Overview

Generates IPA-standard documentation from an existing codebase with no docs. Scans code for API routes, DB schema, and UI screens, then infers SRD from business logic. Runs ipa-validate automatically after generation.

## When to Use

- Existing project has no IPA docs
- Existing project has partial docs that need enhancement
- Separate frontend/backend repos need combined docs
- Microservices architecture needs unified documentation baseline

## Don't Use When

- Starting a brand new project from scratch (use lean + ipa-spec)
- Implementation tasks are done and only sync is needed (use ipa-docs-sync)

## Supported Structures

```
# Monorepo
ipa-init
ipa-init ./my-project

# Separate FE/BE repos
ipa-init ./frontend ./backend

# Microservices
ipa-init ./user-service ./order-service ./payment-service
```

## Workflow

### Step 1: Detect Tech Stack

Scan for:
- `package.json` → Node.js ecosystem
- `requirements.txt` / `pyproject.toml` → Python
- `go.mod` → Go
- `Cargo.toml` → Rust

Auto-detect framework, ORM, and UI library. Save to `docs/tech-stack.md` if not exists.

### Step 2: Extract API Routes → API_SPEC.md

Scan for route definitions across frameworks (Express, NestJS, FastAPI, etc.).

### Step 3: Extract DB Schema → DB_DESIGN.md

Scan for schema definitions (Drizzle, Prisma, raw SQL, etc.).

### Step 4: Extract UI Screens → UI_SPEC.md

Scan for page components (Next.js `app/page.tsx`, React routes, etc.).

### Step 5: Infer SRD.md

From collected data, infer:
- Entities (E-xx): From DB tables
- Features (FR-xx): From API endpoints grouped by resource
- Screens (S-xx): From UI pages

### Step 6: Auto-Validate

Run ipa-validate logic automatically.

## After Generation

```
ipa-init complete
    ↓
Auto-validation ran
    ↓
Review generated docs and validation report
    ↓
Enhance manually:
- Add business context to SRD
- Add CJX to UI_SPEC
- Fix any validation warnings
    ↓
Ready for:
- lean [new feature] to extend
- plan to create tasks
```

## Usage

```
# Initialize IPA docs
ipa-init

# Force regenerate (overwrite existing)
ipa-init --force
```

## Important Notes

1. Review generated docs — auto-inference is not perfect
2. Add business context — code doesn't capture "why"
3. Enhance CJX manually — user journeys need human input
4. SRD business rules need domain knowledge

Does not implement code — only generates documentation.