My best onboarding was in a startup that created a big PowerShell script to (re)install all the necessary software from Winget/Choco and gave instructions on the repositories to clone. The accounts were created before I arrived, but the fact that I could compile the code right from the start was a big improvement. I lacked the knowledge, but the tools themselves were not a burden.

Compare that experience where you have to ask 10 different people what you must install and which version, I wasted weeks every time I had to do this.

We use ~~arch~~ nix BTW

I think, least for us, this is tablestakes stuff. You should be able to get the repo going day 1 and get a commit in

But there's just a fuckload of context beyond the code. You can get it from the RFCs we write internally, but there's still a lot to absorb

Happy to answer any questions. This all seems very obvious in retrospect, but I wanted to share for any other early stage companies in the hopes people can avoid some scaling pains!