Co Math Init

> Author: Moran Koren, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (korenmor@bgu.ac.il). Part of the Theorist Toolbox.

co-math-init

Bootstrap a new research project for the personal AI co-mathematician system, modelled after the Google DeepMind AI Co-Mathematician paper (Zheng et al., 2026-05-07).

This skill creates the directory layout, copies the LaTeX template, initializes the per-project hook configuration, and sets up the workstream registry. After init, the user can spawn workstreams via the project-coordinator sub-agent.

When to invoke

Trigger phrases:

• /co-math-init
• "start a new co-math project"
• "init a research project"
• "new mathematician project"

Steps

1. Gather inputs from the user

Ask via AskUserQuestion:

1. Project name — short, lowercase-kebab-case (e.g., ambidextrous-sofa). This becomes the directory name.
2. Initial research question — one sentence. Goes into goals.md. The user can refine later.
3. Strict mode — strict (default) or pragmatic. Strict means the prover sub-agent must mark every gap with \unproven{...} and never hand-wave. Pragmatic allows informal prose for minor steps. Default is strict unless the user explicitly says otherwise; this default is recorded in user memory and must be respected.
4. Parent directory — where to create the project. Default: current working directory.

2. Create the directory structure

Inside //:

paper.tex
goals.md
decisions.md
PROJECT_README.md
co-math-config.json
workstreams/
  .gitkeep
references/
  .gitkeep
failed-explorations/
  .gitkeep
.co-math/
  approvals/
    .gitkeep
  workstream-registry.json
.claude/
  settings.json        # per-project hooks (Phase 3 — empty for now)

3. Populate files from templates

Templates live in this skill's templates/ directory. For each entry below, Read the template, do placeholder substitution, then Write to the project path:

| Template | Destination in project | |---|---| | templates/paper.tex | paper.tex | | templates/goals.md | goals.md | | templates/decisions.md | decisions.md | | templates/PROJECT_README.md | README.md | | templates/co-math-config.json | co-math-config.json | | templates/claude-settings.json | .claude/settings.json |

Placeholders to substitute in each file:

| Placeholder | Replace with | |---|---| | {{PROJECT_NAME}} | the project name | | {{RESEARCH_QUESTION}} | the user's initial question | | {{DATE}} | today's date in YYYY-MM-DD | | {{STRICT_MODE}} | true or false (lowercase, JSON literal) |

4. Initialize the workstream registry

Write .co-math/workstream-registry.json:

{
  "project": "",
  "created": "",
  "strict_mode": ,
  "next_id": 1,
  "workstreams": []
}

5. Print next steps to the user

After scaffolding, output a concise message:

• Confirm the directory was created (with absolute path).
• Explain the files: goals.md for refining the question, paper.tex is the living working paper, workstreams/ will fill up as the project-coordinator spawns work.
• Tell them to invoke the project-coordinator sub-agent (once Phase 2 ships) to start the first workstream, OR — if Phase 2 isn't built yet — to manually edit goals.md and start drafting in paper.tex.
• Note the verification ladder available to the coordinator: an informal prover proof (\unproven{} for any gap), or — for results worth machine-checking — a lean-prover workstream that formalises the lemma in Lean 4 and verifies it with lake build, closing the theorem with \leanproved{W{NNN}}. After any proof is APPROVED, a proof-readability pass can polish the exposition without touching the mathematics.
• Note that hooks are not yet wired up (Phase 3 deliverable).

What this skill does NOT do

• It does not start any workstream itself. That is the project-coordinator sub-agent's job.
• It does not invoke any agent. Pure scaffolding.
• It does not modify global Claude Code settings, only writes a per-project .claude/settings.json.

Notes on respecting prior user decisions

The default strict_mode value is always strict. If the user has previously asked to relax this for a specific project, that is recorded in that project's decisions.md, not as a global default. Each new project starts strict.

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: morankor
• Source: morankor/theorist-toolbox
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.