From 876943468b8257e2d739bc2ebdc2135badda6240 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: centdix <farhadg110@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2026 00:46:59 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] refactor: move init guidance overrides to env vars

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 ai_evals/cli/README.md        |  6 +++---
 cli/README.md                 |  9 +++++----
 cli/src/commands/init/init.ts | 25 +++++++------------------
 3 files changed, 15 insertions(+), 25 deletions(-)

diff --git a/ai_evals/cli/README.md b/ai_evals/cli/README.md
index ad7a262489..5cb8e8538b 100644
--- a/ai_evals/cli/README.md
+++ b/ai_evals/cli/README.md
@@ -160,11 +160,11 @@ addition to the skills bundle:
 }
 ```
 
-That matches the new `wmill init` overrides:
+That matches the internal `wmill init` override env vars:
 
 ```bash
-wmill init --use-default --ai-skills-source ./ai_evals/variants/cli/snapshots/candidate-skills
-wmill init --use-default --ai-skills-source ./ai_evals/variants/cli/snapshots/candidate-skills --ai-agents-source ./my-candidate-AGENTS.md
+WMILL_INIT_AI_SKILLS_SOURCE=./ai_evals/variants/cli/snapshots/candidate-skills wmill init --use-default
+WMILL_INIT_AI_SKILLS_SOURCE=./ai_evals/variants/cli/snapshots/candidate-skills WMILL_INIT_AI_AGENTS_SOURCE=./my-candidate-AGENTS.md wmill init --use-default
 ```
 
 ## Next Steps
diff --git a/cli/README.md b/cli/README.md
index 0a476da9e5..478aa2a936 100644
--- a/cli/README.md
+++ b/cli/README.md
@@ -113,14 +113,15 @@ source <(wmill completions zsh)
 ### AI Guidance Variants
 
 `wmill init` can now materialize alternate AI guidance bundles without changing
-the generated defaults in the repo.
+the generated defaults in the repo, but this is exposed as internal env-var
+overrides rather than public CLI flags.
 
 Examples:
 
 ```bash
-wmill init --use-default --ai-skills-source /path/to/custom/skills
-wmill init --use-default --ai-skills-source /path/to/custom/skills --ai-agents-source /path/to/AGENTS.md
-wmill init --use-default --ai-skills-source /path/to/custom/skills --ai-claude-source /path/to/CLAUDE.md
+WMILL_INIT_AI_SKILLS_SOURCE=/path/to/custom/skills wmill init --use-default
+WMILL_INIT_AI_SKILLS_SOURCE=/path/to/custom/skills WMILL_INIT_AI_AGENTS_SOURCE=/path/to/AGENTS.md wmill init --use-default
+WMILL_INIT_AI_SKILLS_SOURCE=/path/to/custom/skills WMILL_INIT_AI_CLAUDE_SOURCE=/path/to/CLAUDE.md wmill init --use-default
 ```
 
 This is the same guidance-writing path used by the benchmark CLI under
diff --git a/cli/src/commands/init/init.ts b/cli/src/commands/init/init.ts
index 49606479c8..8117dbdd3e 100644
--- a/cli/src/commands/init/init.ts
+++ b/cli/src/commands/init/init.ts
@@ -22,11 +22,12 @@ export interface InitOptions {
   baseUrl?: string;
   configDir?: string;
   bindProfile?: boolean;
-  aiSkillsSource?: string;
-  aiAgentsSource?: string;
-  aiClaudeSource?: string;
 }
 
+const WMILL_INIT_AI_SKILLS_SOURCE = "WMILL_INIT_AI_SKILLS_SOURCE";
+const WMILL_INIT_AI_AGENTS_SOURCE = "WMILL_INIT_AI_AGENTS_SOURCE";
+const WMILL_INIT_AI_CLAUDE_SOURCE = "WMILL_INIT_AI_CLAUDE_SOURCE";
+
 /**
  * Bootstrap a windmill project with a wmill.yaml file
  */
@@ -228,9 +229,9 @@ async function initAction(opts: InitOptions) {
       targetDir: ".",
       nonDottedPaths,
       overwriteProjectGuidance: false,
-      skillsSourcePath: opts.aiSkillsSource,
-      agentsSourcePath: opts.aiAgentsSource,
-      claudeSourcePath: opts.aiClaudeSource,
+      skillsSourcePath: process.env[WMILL_INIT_AI_SKILLS_SOURCE],
+      agentsSourcePath: process.env[WMILL_INIT_AI_AGENTS_SOURCE],
+      claudeSourcePath: process.env[WMILL_INIT_AI_CLAUDE_SOURCE],
     });
 
     if (guidanceResult.agentsWritten) {
@@ -266,18 +267,6 @@ const command = new Command()
   .description("Bootstrap a windmill project with a wmill.yaml file")
   .option("--use-default", "Use default settings without checking backend")
   .option("--use-backend", "Use backend git-sync settings if available")
-  .option(
-    "--ai-skills-source <path:string>",
-    "Use a custom skills directory instead of the generated .claude/skills bundle"
-  )
-  .option(
-    "--ai-agents-source <path:string>",
-    "Use a custom AGENTS.md file for AI guidance"
-  )
-  .option(
-    "--ai-claude-source <path:string>",
-    "Use a custom CLAUDE.md file for AI guidance"
-  )
   .option(
     "--repository <repo:string>",
     "Specify repository path (e.g., u/user/repo) when using backend settings"