Meta-Project & Ecosystem Guide (v1.6.0)

A Meta-Project is a coordination project that manages strategy, roadmaps, and cross-project plans for a group of related projects (an ecosystem). It has no source code — only documentation and plans.

Scenario	Solution
Single product, single repo	Standard project (`type: standard`)
Single product, multiple repos	Meta-Project (`type: ecosystem`)
Unrelated products	No need — each project is independent

Creating an Ecosystem

Using `/new-project --meta`

/new-project my-ecosystem --meta

This scaffolds an ecosystem project (no repo/ directory):

Projects/my-ecosystem/
├── project.md            ← type: ecosystem, satellites: []
├── artifacts/
│   ├── tasks/backlog.md  ← Ecosystem-level backlog
│   └── plans/            ← Cross-project plans
├── docs/                 ← Strategy, architecture docs
└── sessions/             ← Session logs

Manual Setup

# Projects/my-ecosystem/project.md
---
goal: "Coordinate the product ecosystem"
status: "active"
type: "ecosystem"
satellites:
  - my-app
  - my-lib
  - my-docs
---

Linking Satellites

Each satellite project declares its parent ecosystem:

# Projects/my-app/project.md
---
ecosystem: "my-ecosystem"
---

/para-audit validates bidirectional consistency — both sides must reference each other.

Cross-Project Plans

Create a shared plan

Place plans in the ecosystem’s artifacts/plans/ directory:

Projects/my-ecosystem/artifacts/plans/
└── feature-rollout.md

Reference from a satellite

Use the @{ecosystem}/ prefix in active_plan:

# Projects/my-app/project.md
active_plan: "@my-ecosystem/plans/feature-rollout.md"

Resolution: @my-ecosystem/plans/feature-rollout.md → Projects/my-ecosystem/artifacts/plans/feature-rollout.md

Rules:

@{name}/ resolves to Projects/{name}/artifacts/
Read-only — satellites cannot modify ecosystem files
Workflows validate the referenced file exists

Workflow Differences

Step	Standard Project	Ecosystem Project
Git status	✅ Runs	⏭️ Skipped (no repo/)
Git log	✅ Runs	⏭️ Skipped
Satellites list	❌ N/A	✅ Displayed
Backlog	✅ Read	✅ Read (ecosystem-level)
Active plan	✅ Read	✅ Read

Schema Reference

Field	Type	Default	Description
`type`	`"standard"` \| `"ecosystem"`	`"standard"`	Project type
`ecosystem`	`string` \| `null`	`null`	Parent ecosystem (for satellite)
`satellites`	`string[]` \| `null`	`null`	List of satellite project IDs
`active_plan`	`string`	`""`	Supports `@{ecosystem}/path`

All fields are optional — existing projects work without changes.

FAQ

Does an ecosystem project have a Git repo? No. Ecosystem projects have no repo/ — they only contain strategy docs, plans, and backlogs. Source code lives in satellites.

Can a satellite belong to multiple ecosystems? Currently no. The ecosystem field is single-valued.

Do I need an ecosystem for a single project? No. Ecosystems are only useful when you have ≥2 related projects that need coordination.

Added in v1.6.0. See also: Ecosystem Architecture · Kernel Architecture

→ Learn: Ecosystem Architecture → Learn: Strategy → Plan Flow → Learn: Planning & Backlog Guide