feat: create a project, blank or from a template

[ClayChipps]

Summary

Adds simply gitlab project create and the matching gitlab_project_create MCP tool, so a project can be created from the terminal or by an agent — blank, or from a built-in or custom GitLab template.

Design record: docs/design/0008-project-create.md.

simply gitlab project create --name new-service --namespace platform/apps --template express
simply gitlab project create --name new-service --namespace platform/apps \
  --template service-skeleton --template-group platform/templates
simply gitlab project create --path new-service --template-project platform/templates/skeleton --dry-run

What it does

• Template is optional. A plain --template is a built-in template. --custom-template, --template-group, or --template-project switch to a custom one and set use_custom_template for the caller; GitLab cannot tell the two apart by name, which is why the boolean exists.
• Paths everywhere. --namespace, --template-group, and --template-project take an id or a full path. prepareProjectCreate in core resolves a path to the integer GitLab needs, under --dry-run too, so the printed body is exactly the one that would be sent. Numeric ids issue no request.
• Refusals name the flag. A missing name and path, --template with --template-project, and --template-group or --custom-template without --template are refused before any request.
• The async import is called out. The summary prints import_status, and both the command description and the tool description say a template's files arrive after the response and point at project view to poll.

Where it lives

• Core: createProject and getNamespace on the client; projects.ts with buildProjectCreateBody, prepareProjectCreate, resolveNamespaceId, resolveGroupId, resolveProjectId. Exports pinned in index.test.ts and listed in the README.
• CLI: packages/simply-gitlab/src/commands/gitlab/project/create.ts, a write with --dry-run and --body/--body-file.
• MCP: gitlab_project_create, registered as a write and added to the pinned write list.
• Guides: write-safety and MCP guides, and the MCP README, now count seven writes and carry the async-import caveat.
• Regenerated CLI README and command-snapshot.json.

Testing

• Core: body mapping, use_custom_template on each custom route and never for a built-in, raw-body merge, every refusal; path resolution through /namespaces, /groups, /projects; a refused combination costs no request; an answer without an id is refused.
• CLI: numeric-id dry run sends nothing; a template group path resolves under dry run; the real call POSTs and returns the payload; refusals happen before any request; GITLAB_READ_ONLY refuses it.
• MCP: catalogue cross-check against command-snapshot.json, and the write list.

pnpm run build and pnpm test pass across all three packages.

Left open

--wait to poll until the import finishes, and a project template list for discovering names — both in the design doc's open questions.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code