Getting Started with DevTrail

This guide walks you through adopting DevTrail in your project.

Prerequisites

  • Git installed
  • A project repository (new or existing)
  • An AI coding assistant (optional but recommended): Claude Code, Cursor, Gemini CLI, or GitHub Copilot

Option 1: Use as GitHub Template (New Projects)

The fastest way to start:

  1. Go to the DevTrail repository on GitHub
  2. Click “Use this template” → “Create a new repository”
  3. Clone your new repository: 
    git clone https://github.com/your-username/your-new-project.git
cd your-new-project
  4. Start working! The framework is already configured.

Option 2: Add to Existing Project

For projects that already exist:

# Clone DevTrail temporarily
git clone https://github.com/Enigmora/devtrail.git devtrail-temp

# Copy the framework files (won't overwrite existing)
cp -rn devtrail-temp/.devtrail ./
cp -n devtrail-temp/CLAUDE.md ./
cp -n devtrail-temp/GEMINI.md ./
cp -n devtrail-temp/.cursorrules ./
mkdir -p .github
cp -rn devtrail-temp/.github/* ./.github/
cp -rn devtrail-temp/scripts ./

# Clean up
rm -rf devtrail-temp

# Commit
git add .devtrail/ CLAUDE.md GEMINI.md .cursorrules .github/ scripts/
git commit -m "chore: adopt DevTrail"

Verify Installation

Run the validation script:

# Linux/Mac
bash scripts/pre-commit-docs.sh

# Windows PowerShell
.\scripts\validate-docs.ps1

You should see:

✓ DevTrail validation passed

What’s Included

After installation, you’ll have:

your-project/
├── .devtrail/                    # Documentation framework
│   ├── 00-governance/           # Policies and rules
│   ├── 01-requirements/         # REQ documents
│   ├── 02-design/decisions/     # ADR documents
│   ├── 03-implementation/       # Implementation guides (Git strategy)
│   ├── 07-ai-audit/             # AILOG, AIDEC, ETH documents
│   ├── templates/               # Document templates
│   └── QUICK-REFERENCE.md       # Quick reference card
├── CLAUDE.md                    # Claude Code configuration
├── GEMINI.md                    # Gemini CLI configuration
├── .cursorrules                 # Cursor configuration
├── .github/
│   ├── copilot-instructions.md  # GitHub Copilot configuration
│   └── workflows/               # CI/CD validation
└── scripts/                     # Validation scripts

Configure Your AI Assistant

Choose your AI platform and follow the setup:

Platform Configuration
Claude Code Automatically reads CLAUDE.md
Cursor Automatically reads .cursorrules
Gemini CLI Automatically reads GEMINI.md
GitHub Copilot Reads .github/copilot-instructions.md

No additional configuration needed! The AI will automatically:

  • Identify itself in documents
  • Create AILOG/AIDEC documents when appropriate
  • Request human review for high-risk changes
  • Follow Git branching strategy (never commit to main directly)
  • Use conventional commits (feat:, fix:, docs:, etc.)

Set Language (Optional)

By default, templates are in English. To use Spanish:

Edit .devtrail/config.yml:

language: es

Next Steps

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