How Did I Run This Project Again? Write the Command Down

You come back to a project to fix one small bug. npm start? Missing script. npm run dev? It starts, then fails — something about an env variable. Was there a .env.example? Did you need the backend running first? Which port?

Twenty minutes later it's running, and you've forgotten what the bug was.

Part 6 of No Process — the smallest missing document in most side projects.

The short answer#

• With many repos, you forget how to start each one: the command, the env file, the port, the one step that must run first.
• Write a 'how to run' block in every repo — the exact commands, copy-pasteable, in order.
• Keep it next to the project's state, where both you and the agent look first.
• Ask the agent to update it whenever setup changes, and test it on a fresh clone now and then.

Why you forget your own commands#

With one project you run every day, the commands live in your fingers. With many projects, each on its own stack, touched every few weeks, they don't:

• The app uses npm run dev, the game uses a Unity build, the book uses a Python script.
• One needs an env file, one needs a simulator booted first, one needs a specific Node version.
• The agent set half of it up for you, so you never learned it in the first place.

Every return starts with rediscovery — the same cost as coming back after a break, but for setup.

Write a "how to run" block#

In every repo, write the exact commands, in order, copy-pasteable:

How to run
  cp .env.example .env        # fill API_URL
  npm install
  npm run dev                 # http://localhost:4321
Tests
  npm test

No prose, no explanations unless something is genuinely surprising. The goal is that you — or an agent — can paste it line by line and be running in a minute.

Keep it where you look first#

Put the block where you already look when you open a project: the top of the README, or the project's state file next to the phase and next step. A document in a separate wiki is one you'll forget exists.

Let the agent keep it current#

Setup changes when the agent adds a dependency, a script or a service. Add one line to your end-of-session habit:

"If anything about how to run or test this project changed, update the How to run block."

And once in a while, try it on a fresh clone. If it doesn't work there, it doesn't work.

This is one more piece of the minimum process: small, written once, and saving time on every return.

Keep reading#

• Coming Back to a Project After a Week Away (Without the Dig)
• What Was the Next Step? Write It Down Before You Stop
• No Process, Just Prompts: Why Solo AI Projects Fall Apart