musserlab/quarto-book-setup

Set Up New Quarto Book

When the user invokes /quarto-book-setup, scaffold a new Quarto book project.

Gather Information

Ask the user:

1. Project name — Directory and repo name
2. Book title — Display title for the book
3. Author — Who to credit
4. GitHub org/account — Where to host (optional, can skip GitHub setup)
5. Public or private — Repository visibility

Create Project Structure

project-name/
├── _quarto.yml
├── index.qmd
├── .gitignore
├── .claude/
│   └── CLAUDE.md
├── PLAN.md
├── README.md
├── images/
└── chapters/           # or use part1/, part2/ structure
    └── intro.qmd

_quarto.yml Template

project:
  type: book
  output-dir: _book

execute:
  freeze: auto

book:
  title: "BOOK_TITLE"
  author: "AUTHOR"
  date: today
  date-format: "MMMM YYYY"
  chapters:
    - index.qmd
    - chapters/intro.qmd

format:
  html:
    theme:
      light: cosmo
      dark: darkly
    toc: true
    code-copy: true

.gitignore Template

_book/
_site/
.quarto/
*.quarto_ipynb
.DS_Store
.Rhistory
.RData

Git and GitHub Setup

If user wants GitHub hosting:

1. Initialize git: git init
2. Create initial commit
3. Create repo: gh repo create ORG/REPO --public --source=. --push
4. Create gh-pages branch
5. Run quarto publish gh-pages --no-prompt
6. Provide the live URL

Project CLAUDE.md

Create .claude/CLAUDE.md with:

• Project overview
• Book structure
• Publish workflow (/publish)
• Any project-specific notes
• A Session Log section at the bottom (maintained by /done — see that skill for format)

Final Output

Tell the user:

• Project created at path/to/project
• Preview with quarto preview
• Publish with /publish
• Live URL (if GitHub Pages set up)