Making this the default for new repos

There are two layers: the global layer (applies everywhere automatically) and the per-repo layer (committed, shared with a team).

1. Global — already automatic everywhere

After make install, ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md loads in every Claude Code session in any directory, and ~/.codex/AGENTS.md (a symlink to the same file) loads for Codex. You don't scaffold anything per repo to get the operating manual, hooks, subagents, commands, skills, status line, and MCP servers — they're global. This is the main answer to "make it the default."

2. Per-repo — committed CLAUDE.md / AGENTS.md (+ optional team pin)

A repo-specific CLAUDE.md (build/test commands, invariants) is worth committing. git init.templateDir can't do this — it only seeds .git/ (hooks/excludes), not working-tree files. Use the scaffolder instead:

~/compass/scripts/new-repo.sh ./my-service          # starter CLAUDE.md + AGENTS.md symlink
~/compass/scripts/new-repo.sh ./my-service --team   # also pins compass@compass

Then fill CLAUDE.md from the real code with Claude's /init or the bootstrap-agent-config skill.

Make it a one-word command

Add to ~/.zshrc (or ~/.bashrc):

newrepo() { ~/compass/scripts/new-repo.sh "$@"; }

Now newrepo ./thing or newrepo ./thing --team anywhere.

Seed git hooks into every new repo (optional)

init.templateDir is the right tool for .git/ contents like a pre-commit hook:

mkdir -p ~/.git-template/hooks
git config --global init.templateDir ~/.git-template
# put an executable hook at ~/.git-template/hooks/pre-commit

Every future git init/git clone copies it into .git/hooks/. (This is separate from CLAUDE.md, which lives in the working tree.)

3. One source for Claude + Codex (cross-tool)

AGENTS.md is the open standard Codex and 20+ other agents read; CLAUDE.md is Claude Code's. To avoid drift, keep one file:

• Global: ~/.codex/AGENTS.md is a symlink to ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md — byte-identical.
• Per-repo: AGENTS.md → CLAUDE.md symlink (the scaffolder and the bootstrap skill do this; an internal repo is set up this way).

Edit the manual once; both tools pick it up. See docs/07-practices.md for why this is convention rather than a spec requirement.