From ddfe254f4ae2180a6f1feb83c455ce8cd75d9245 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Joe Danziger <joe@ticc.net>
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2026 12:11:38 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] fix(project-onboard): use correct brain_path key in Phase 1
 resolution

Phase 1 told agents to look for `$PBRAIN_BRAIN_ROOT` and the `brain_root`
key in `~/.pbrain/config.json`, but `pbrain init` writes `brain_path`
(env var `$PBRAIN_BRAIN_PATH`). The config-file lookup always missed on
correctly initialized installs, forcing every invocation to fall through
to the filesystem scan or user prompt.

Replace with the real key/env var, add a concrete `jq` command so agents
don't invent parsing logic, and leave an explicit "do NOT look for
brain_root" note to prevent regression from stale docs in training data.
---
 skills/project-onboard/SKILL.md | 10 +++++++---
 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/skills/project-onboard/SKILL.md b/skills/project-onboard/SKILL.md
index 94bb026c..b630686b 100644
--- a/skills/project-onboard/SKILL.md
+++ b/skills/project-onboard/SKILL.md
@@ -112,8 +112,12 @@ Before any fetch or write, resolve the absolute filesystem path of the brain. Do
 
 Resolution order (stop at first hit):
 
-1. **`$PBRAIN_BRAIN_ROOT` env var** — if set and the directory exists.
-2. **`~/.pbrain/config.json`** — read the `brain_root` key if present.
+1. **`$PBRAIN_BRAIN_PATH` env var** — if set and the directory exists.
+2. **`~/.pbrain/config.json`** — read the `brain_path` key if present. Concrete command:
+   ```bash
+   jq -r '.brain_path // empty' ~/.pbrain/config.json 2>/dev/null
+   ```
+   (This is the key `pbrain init` writes. Do NOT look for `brain_root` — that key does not exist.)
 3. **Filesystem scan** — look for a directory containing all five taxonomy subdirectories (`projects`, `repos`, `libraries`, `ai-tools`, `companies`). Search in this order and take the first match:
    - `~/brain`
    - `~/Documents/brain`
@@ -127,7 +131,7 @@ Resolution order (stop at first hit):
          [ -d "$d/projects" ] && [ -d "$d/libraries" ] && [ -d "$d/ai-tools" ] && echo "$d" && break
        done
    ```
-4. **Ask the user** — if none of the above resolves, ask: *"Where does your brain live? (absolute path to the folder containing `projects/`, `libraries/`, etc.)"*. Once they answer, offer to persist it to `~/.pbrain/config.json` as `brain_root` so future runs skip this step.
+4. **Ask the user** — if none of the above resolves, ask: *"Where does your brain live? (absolute path to the folder containing `projects/`, `libraries/`, etc.)"*. Once they answer, offer to persist it to `~/.pbrain/config.json` as `brain_path` so future runs skip this step.
 
 **Guardrails:**
 - Never write into a directory that does not already contain at least `projects/` and `libraries/`. An empty git repo named `brain` or `pbrain-content` is **not** evidence of a brain — it is evidence of a placeholder.