What is Trellis

What is Trellis

1.1 One-Line Summary

Trellis is scaffolding for AI coding assistants — it automatically injects your project specs into every AI session, so the AI writes code following your standards instead of improvising.

AI’s capabilities grow like vines — full of vitality but spreading everywhere. Trellis is scaffolding for AI, guiding it along the path of your conventions.

1.2 Pain Points Addressed

Pain Point	Current State	Trellis Solution
AI ignores your specs	You write CLAUDE.md, but AI forgets it after 5 conversation turns	Hook auto-injection ensures specs are included in every conversation
Fix A, break B cycle	AI fixes one bug but introduces another	Thinking Guides + Ralph Loop: think first, then act, then verify
Inconsistent code	AI-generated code runs but doesn’t integrate well	Cross-Layer Guide: map data flow before writing code
Scope creep	You ask for a button, AI writes 9,000 lines	Plan Agent: rejects and splits oversized requirements
Inconsistent team quality	Each person’s AI produces different coding styles	Shared Spec library — one person optimizes, the whole team benefits
Cross-session amnesia	New sessions require re-explaining project context	Session persistence — AI remembers context across sessions

1.3 Comparison with Traditional Approaches

Dimension	.cursorrules	CLAUDE.md	Skills	Trellis
Spec injection method	Manually loaded each conversation	Auto-loaded but easily truncated	User-initiated	Hook auto-injection, precisely loaded per task
Spec granularity	One large file	One large file	One per Skill	Modular files, composed per task
Cross-session memory	None	None	None	Workspace journal persistence
Parallel development	Not supported	Not supported	Not supported	Multi-Agent worktree parallelism
Quality control	None	None	None	Ralph Loop automatic verification
Team sharing	Single user	Single user	Shareable but no standard	Git-versioned Spec library
Platform support	Cursor only	Claude Code only	Per platform	Claude Code + Cursor + Codex + OpenCode + Kilo + Kiro

1.4 Core Concepts at a Glance

Concept	Description	Location
Spec	Your coding standards, written in Markdown. AI reads specs before writing code	.trellis/spec/
Workspace	Each developer’s session logs, letting AI remember what was done last time	.trellis/workspace/
Task	A work unit containing requirements docs and context configuration	.trellis/tasks/
Hook	Auto-triggered scripts that inject context at session start, Agent invocations, etc. [Claude Code exclusive]	.claude/hooks/
Agent	Specialized AI sub-processes such as Implement, Check, Debug, etc. [Claude Code exclusive]	.claude/agents/
Skill	Reusable AI capability modules, shareable across projects	.claude/skills/
Journal	Session log files recording what was done in each development session	.trellis/workspace/{name}/journal-N.md

Hook and Agent systems are Claude Code exclusive features. Cursor, Codex, and other platforms load specs manually via Slash commands, achieving the same effect. Spec, Workspace, Task, Journal, and other core concepts are universal across all platforms.

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