/init hangs / times out on an empty directory instead of failing fast

Summary

Running /init in a freshly-created empty directory causes the command to hang and eventually time out, with no useful diagnostic. The most natural state in which a user would invoke /init — a new project directory with nothing in it yet — is the state in which /init fails most opaquely.

Steps to reproduce

mkdir ~/PycharmProjects/protos
cd ~/PycharmProjects/protos
claude                # start a new Claude Code session here
/init

The directory is genuinely empty:

$ du -sh .
  0B  .
$ find . -type f | wc -l
       0

Expected behavior

/init should fail fast with a clear message — for example:

"This directory is empty; there is nothing to summarize. Would you like me to create a starter CLAUDE.md describing the project you intend to build, or would you like to add a few files first and re-run /init?"

…or simply error with nothing to analyze; add at least one file first. Either is preferable to hanging.

Actual behavior

The command runs without output, then times out without producing a CLAUDE.md, an error message, or any indication of what went wrong. The natural next user action is to assume Claude Code is broken or hung and force-quit the session.

Workaround

Adding any file before invoking /init resolves it:

touch README.md
# or
echo "# Project name" > README.md

/init then completes normally.

Why this matters

/init is positioned as the bootstrap command for a new project — its very purpose is to set up CLAUDE.md for a fresh codebase. The empty-directory case is therefore a first-encounter UX moment for many users. A silent hang here trains users to distrust slash commands.

Environment

• Claude Code: 2.1.142
• macOS: 26.3.1 (build 25D771280a)
• Shell: zsh

Suggested fix

Detect the zero-files-zero-bytes case at command entry and exit fast with either an error or, ideally, an interactive offer to create a starter CLAUDE.md from a one-line user-supplied project description.