---
title: "Intake Phase"
description: "One-time project onboarding that establishes baseline understanding of an existing codebase. Run once when first adopting a project; results feed every subsequent phase."
type: skill
canonical_url: https://claudary.paisolsolutions.com/skills/intake-phase
source: "Claudary"
difficulty: intermediate
author: "Claude Code Knowledge Pack"
date: 2026-07-10T11:30:12.604Z
license: CC-BY-4.0
attribution: "Intake Phase — Claudary (https://claudary.paisolsolutions.com/skills/intake-phase)"
---

# Intake Phase
One-time project onboarding that establishes baseline understanding of an existing codebase. Run once when first adopting a project; results feed every subsequent phase.

## Overview

# Intake Phase

One-time project onboarding that establishes baseline understanding of an existing codebase. Run once when first adopting a project; results feed every subsequent phase.

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## Purpose

Before any feature work begins, the team needs documented code, behavioral safety nets, and a shared system overview. Intake produces all three artifacts in sequence.

## Commands

| Order | Command | Summary |
|-------|---------|---------|
| 1 | `intake:document-codebase` | Scan and document all undocumented functions, classes, and modules |
| 2 | `intake:capture-behavior` | Write characterization tests asserting current behavior |
| 3 | `intake:create-system-description` | Generate a living system description at `docs/system-description.md` |

## Outputs

- **Documented codebase** — Docstrings/JSDoc/XML docs on every public API and module
- **Characterization tests** — Safety net that detects unintended behavior changes
- **System description** — Architecture overview, API surface, security patterns, external dependencies

## Prerequisites

- Access to the project codebase
- No external tooling (ticketing/documentation) required

## Next Steps

After intake, the system description is available for `feature-forge` to read during feature definition. If discovery is needed, proceed to the [Discovery Phase](discovery-phase.md). Otherwise, skip to [Planning](planning-phase.md).

---

Source: [Claudary](https://claudary.paisolsolutions.com/skills/intake-phase) · https://claudary.paisolsolutions.com