Initialize a Project

Monday Morning stores all project state inside a .mm/ directory at the root of your repository. The desktop app sets this up when you add a project from the command bar; mm init does the same from the terminal.

Initialize

Navigate to your project root and run:

cd /path/to/your/project
mm init

The command is idempotent — it never overwrites existing files. You can run it multiple times safely.

What gets created

mm init generates the following structure:

• Directory.mm/

  • config.json — Project configuration
  • Directoryspecs/ — Feature specifications (the primary unit of work)

    • …
  • Directorytasks/ — Standalone quick tasks

    • tasks.md — Tasks dashboard
  • Directoryissues/ — Bug and problem tracking

    • issues.md — Issues dashboard
  • Directorynotes/ — Decisions, meeting notes, context

    • notes.md — Notes dashboard
  • Directoryfeatures/ — Optional feature groupings

    • …
  • Directorydocs/ — Living reference documents

    • …
  • Directoryproduct/ — Mission, roadmap, tech stack

    • …
  • Directoryproposals/ — Legacy (see below)

    • …
  • Directorysession/ — Session context for agents

    • …
  • Directorystandards/ — Coding standards and conventions

    • …
• Directory.claude/

  • settings.json — Enables the bundled MCP servers
  • Directorycommands/mm/ — Monday Morning workflow commands

    • …
  • Directoryagents/mm/ — Agent definitions

    • …
  • Directoryskills/ — Reusable skill definitions

    • …

proposals/ is legacy

mm init still creates .mm/proposals/ for backward compatibility, but it is deprecated. New ideas go to .mm/ideas/ (created on demand by /mm:idea or mm_create with entity: "idea"), and client documents go through /mm:doc into .mm/docs/.

Other directories appear on demand as you use the product rather than at init time: .mm/ideas/ (captured ideas), .mm/index/ (the specs index and the ledger/ embedding index built by mm_index), .mm/reviews/ (project reviews), .mm/conversations/ (archived conversations), and .mm/specs/order.json (the build order written by /mm:order-specs).

mm init also registers the project in ~/.claude/projects-registry.json so the desktop app and cross-project commands can find it.

config.json

The project configuration file stores metadata and feature flags:

{
  "project_name": "my-project",
  "project_path": "/path/to/my-project",
  "created": "2026-08-08 10:00",
  "version": "1.4.1",
  "features": {
    "project_management": true,
    "tasks_as_source_of_truth": true
  },
  "hooks": {
    "auto_context": {
      "enabled": true,
      "include_mission": true,
      "include_session": true,
      "include_active_tasks": true,
      "include_issues": true,
      "include_notes": false
    }
  }
}

Field	Description
project_name	The project name, derived from the directory name.
project_path	Absolute path to the project root.
version	The Monday Morning version that initialized this project.
created	Timestamp when the project was initialized.
features / hooks	Feature flags and automatic-context settings for agent sessions.

Machine-local overrides live in config.local.json alongside it.

.claude/settings.json

Init writes (or updates) .claude/settings.json with "enableAllProjectMcpServers": true, so the project’s bundled MCP servers are auto-approved and agents can use the mm_* tools without a per-machine approval step. If the file already exists, only that key is added — nothing else is touched.

Dashboard Files

Each tracking directory gets a dashboard file (tasks.md, issues.md, notes.md). These dashboards act as indexes — they link to individual entity files and organize them by status. For example, tasks/tasks.md contains Active, Backlog, and Completed sections.

Version Control

.mm/ is gitignored by default — this is by design, not something to fix. Your project context stays local-first and out of your commit history:

• Everything is plain Markdown and JSON you can read and edit with any tool.
• Team sharing happens through the cloud lane: turn on team visibility in the app’s Settings, and teammates see the shared artifacts without .mm/ ever entering git.
• A legacy git-mirror sharing toggle exists in Settings → Git sharing, default off. Use the cloud lane unless you have a specific reason not to.

Note

Don’t force-add .mm/ past the gitignore or commit it by hand. Gitignored does not mean hidden from teammates — sharing is a Settings toggle, not a git operation.

Re-running init

If Monday Morning ships new directories or dashboard files in a future version, run mm init again to add them. Existing files are never modified or overwritten.

Next Steps

• The .mm/ Data Model — Understand each entity type and file format.
• Your First Workflow — Create a spec and start tracking work.