67 The first session on an empty repository

What people usually ask

Set up the repository and start building.

What comes back

A folder of code and a rules file written after it, naming packages, paths and commands that were never run.

Ask this instead

This repository is empty. Before any code, write the rules file you read at the start of every session: the project in two lines, the folder layout, the command that runs the tests, the command that starts the app, what must never be committed, and how to report to me.
Then list every name, path and command in that file that you have not verified against something real on this machine: a package not installed, a folder not made, a command not run. Mark each one pending in the file itself, and clear the mark only when it has been verified.
Make the first commit with the rules file and .gitignore only. Then run git and read the author name and address back to me. Stop there.

Attach: Nothing.

Why it works: The rules are checked before any code depends on them, and the author is checked before a wrong name goes on every commit that follows.