The-transit-Project/.github/agents/azure-deploy/prereq/references/zero-code-path.md

Important: This skill provides guidance and recommended instructions to assist the AI system. Outputs are not guaranteed to be complete, correct, secure, or applicable to every scenario. Results should be reviewed and validated by a human before being applied. The AI model may choose not to follow all instructions exactly, and additional verification may be required.

Zero-Code Path

When the workspace is empty (no project files, no Dockerfile), prereq scaffolds a starter project before evaluating.

Step 0: Check Existing Context

⛔ Before asking anything, check context.json.intent.userPrompt. The orchestrator (or the user's original message on direct entry) already captured what the user wants. If userPrompt contains an app description (e.g., "build me a todo app", "REST API with auth", "a notes app with three tabs"), treat it as the answer to "what are you building?" and skip directly to Step 2 (recommend stack). Only ask Step 1's question if userPrompt is vague ("help me get started", "deploy to Azure") or empty.

Flow

1. Ask what they want to build (skip if Step 0 resolved it): "What kind of app are you building?" (e.g., "a todo app", "REST API"). Users know what they want, not what stack to use.
2. Recommend a stack based on the app description (from userPrompt or Step 1): "For a REST API with a database, I'd suggest Node.js with a framework like Express or Fastify. Sound good?" User can accept or override.
3. ⛔ Confirm before scaffolding via ask_user.
4. Scaffold minimal starter project — ⛔ You MUST read subagent-starter-scaffold.md. Your NEXT action MUST be a task call with the FULL template text (verbatim) + app description + chosen stack + workspace path + data needs flag + multi-page flag. Do NOT generate code inline — the sub-agent applies starter patterns internally and writes files to the workspace. After the sub-agent returns, verify the file list is non-empty and proceed to Step 5.
5. Validate generated code — ⛔ When the agent has WRITTEN code from scratch, offer to run build validation before evaluation. The generated code has never been tested. Present: "I've scaffolded your app. Want me to install dependencies, build, and run tests? (Yes / Skip)" ⛔ General prior consent (e.g., "yes", "go ahead", "fix it") does NOT constitute consent — the user must answer THIS specific question. If they say Skip, run nothing.
   • If Yes: run npm install → npm run build → npm test (or stack equivalent). If any step fails, fix the issue and retry (max 2 attempts). This is allowed because the agent WROTE the code — it's not an existing repo.
   • If Skip: proceed to Step 6. The deploy phase will handle builds via Oryx/ACR.
   • ⛔ This gate applies ONLY to code the agent generated from scratch. It does NOT apply to existing repos — those follow the deploy-as-is principle with the ABSOLUTE PROHIBITION on npm install during prereq.
6. Run the full 3-axis evaluation (from prereq Step 3) on the scaffolded code.
7. Continue to prereq Step 4 (write artifacts + readiness gate).

Rules

• Max 3 interactions before scaffolding begins (counting from Step 1 — Step 0's userPrompt check doesn't count as an interaction).
• Scaffold dynamically based on app description — no hardcoded templates. Read the stack ecosystem's conventions (e.g., npm init patterns for Node, dotnet new webapi patterns for .NET).
• If user gives no app description after 2 attempts AND userPrompt was also vague: "I can't evaluate an empty workspace without knowing what you want to build. Try: 'I want to build a REST API' or 'Help me scaffold a Node.js API.'"
• ⛔ Do NOT generate Azure infrastructure (Bicep/Terraform/azure.yaml) here. This path creates application source code only. Infrastructure is the scaffold phase's job.
• The generated code should be functional enough to start locally (e.g., node index.js serves HTTP on a port) so prereq's evaluation has something real to assess.