pact init

Authenticate with GitHub and set up your pact repository.

Usage

pact init [flags]

Flags

What it Does

1. Check for existing pact

Looks for .pact/ in the current directory tree. Exits if already initialized.

2. Authenticate with GitHub

Checks for an existing token in your OS keychain. If none exists, starts the GitHub Device Flow:

Opening browser for GitHub authentication...
Enter code: ABCD-1234 at https://github.com/login/device
Waiting for authorization...

3. Verify/Create Repository

Checks if {username}/my-pact repo exists on GitHub. If not, creates it automatically.

4. Clone to Local

Clones the repo to ./.pact/ in your current directory.

5. Create Default Config

If no pact.json exists, creates one with this template:

{
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "user": "your-username",
  "modules": {
    "shell": {},
    "editor": {},
    "git": {},
    "ai": {
      "providers": {},
      "prompts": {},
      "agents": {}
    },
    "tools": {
      "configs": {}
    }
  },
  "secrets": []
}

Example

$ cd my-project
$ pact init

Opening browser for GitHub authentication...
Enter code: ABCD-1234 at https://github.com/login/device

Waiting for authorization...
✓ Authenticated as cloudboy-jh

Checking for existing pact repo...
✓ Found cloudboy-jh/my-pact

Cloning to ./.pact/...
✓ Cloned successfully

✓ Pact initialized!

Run 'pact sync' to apply your configurations.

On a New Machine

When running pact init on a machine where you've already set up pact:

$ pact init

Found existing token in keychain.
✓ Authenticated as cloudboy-jh

Cloning cloudboy-jh/my-pact to ./.pact/...
✓ Cloned successfully

✓ Pact initialized!

Your existing configurations are immediately available.

Token Storage

The GitHub token is stored in your OS keychain:

The token is stored globally, so you only need to authenticate once per machine, regardless of how many projects use pact.

Troubleshooting

"pact already initialized"

Pact found an existing .pact/ directory. If you want to start fresh:

pact nuke
pact init

Authentication timeout

The device flow code expires after 15 minutes. If it times out, just run pact init again.

Permission denied

Make sure you have write access to the current directory and that the my-pact repo exists or you have permission to create it.