I recently downloaded MavensMate for the Atom text editor, since it supports development of Lightning Component bundles so that I can get them into source control.  After downloading these tools though, I’ve seen some issues when you have an existing force.com project locally (non-MavensMate), but you want to create a MavensMate Project from that repository.  In Mavensmate for Sublime, it’s pretty straight-forward and you can follow the docs found here.  But here’s an approach to use in Atom.

All credit for this must go to Jason Clark – who iterated through this process enough times to get a working approach that seems to work around a couple bugs.

1. Make sure the parent folder of your project folder is in the Mavensmate “workspaces” list.
2. Open the project folder (this will be the folder that includes .git/) in an Atom window by itself. I like to drag the folder from Finder to the Atom icon.
3. Cmd-Shift-P, “Mavensmate: New Mavensmate Project from Existing Directory”
4. MM app should appear. The workspace (parent folder) should be selected and the project name (project folder name) should be pre-completed. Supply login credentials.
5. If all goes well, you will be returned to Atom after MM is finished. Now for the important part: Close this Atom window. There appears to be a bug where the newly-configured project doesn’t connect to the MM App.
6. Open a new Atom window (“File->New Window”) this is because the menu item we need doesn’t exist when Atom has no windows.
7. From the MavensMate Menu, choose Project -> Open Project. You should see a list of projects that have been set up for MM, including your new project.
8. Select your project. It should load, and you should see a status message in the Mavens panel inside Atom that the MM is initialized.

Please leave any comments if this helps you or if you have any alternative methods you’ve found that work!