Workflow Feature

Quick Summary

Goal: [Workflow] Trigger Feature Implementation workflow — implement a well-defined feature with investigation, planning, implementation, and review. This workflow is spec-driven with tests by default: test specs (/​spec [mode=tests]) are written and reviewed BEFORE implementation (/​cook), covering former TDD/​test-first use cases.

Workflow:

1. Detect — classify request scope and target artifacts.
2. Execute — apply required steps with evidence-backed actions.
3. Verify — confirm constraints, output quality, and completion evidence.

Key Rules:

• MUST ATTENTION keep claims evidence-based (file:line) with confidence >80% to act.
• MUST ATTENTION keep task tracking updated as each step starts/​completes.
• MUST ATTENTION when creating/​reviewing specs or tests, name Business Intent / Invariant Guarded or the protected business intent/​invariant and ensure the test would fail if that intent breaks.
• MUST ATTENTION define success criteria before execution and loop until observable verification passes.
• MUST ATTENTION require test specs/​tests to name Business Intent / Invariant Guarded and fail if that intent breaks.
• MUST ATTENTION apply the shared SDD Artifact Contract from shared/​sdd-artifact-contract.md in the active skills root; use docs/​project-config.json and docs/​project-reference/​docs-index-reference.md for project-specific conventions.
• MUST ATTENTION preserve expected, unchanged, and no-regression behavior in the plan and review evidence when behavior can change.
• MUST ATTENTION treat code-extracted specs and TCs as reference-only until canonical review accepts them.
• MUST ATTENTION allow any supported AI tool to implement or review when the shared contract, synced context, and local docs are available.
• NEVER skip mandatory workflow or skill gates.

Repeated Steps Disambiguation (CRITICAL for task creation)

This workflow has steps that appear multiple times. When creating tasks, use these descriptions to distinguish them:

NEVER deduplicate — each occurrence is a distinct task with a different purpose.

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Conditional UI Planning

When a feature involves UI changes (detected during /​scout or /​feature-investigation):

• If image/​wireframe/​Figma URL is provided → route to /​design-spec --mode=wireframe or /​figma-design before /​plan
• If /​plan detects frontend phases → ensure ui-wireframe-protocol.md sections are included in plan phases
• This is advisory — NOT a mandatory workflow step change. The existing workflow sequence remains unchanged.

Closing Rule

Every step = TaskUpdate in_progress → Skill tool → complete skill → TaskUpdate completed. No shortcuts.

[TASK-PLANNING] Before acting, analyze task scope and systematically break it into small todo tasks and sub-tasks using TaskCreate.

[IMPORTANT] Analyze how big the task is and break it into many small todo tasks systematically before starting — this is very important.

Existing-behavior trace gate: If the feature modifies an existing final output, persisted state, API response, projection, or user-visible workflow, include an end-to-start trace of the existing path (final reader -> storage/​projection -> writer -> producer/​origin), feeder paths, invariants to preserve, and forward proof for the intended new behavior before implementation.

Goal Contract propagation (workflow-owned): At workflow start, resolve the active Goal Contract per SYNC:goal-contract-satisfaction-loop (active plan goal.md → plans/​goals/​{YYMMDD-HHmm}-{slug}/​goal.md → create from the feature request). Before /​cook, verify the plan's feature success criteria map to the saved criteria. Pass the same goal file reference to every child step — child skills read the SAME saved goal, never a re-derived one from chat memory. Before /​workflow-end, emit the final Goal Satisfaction matrix (PASS/​FAIL/​BLOCKED); workflow completion requires every required criterion PASS or BLOCKED with a user-facing escalation.

IMPORTANT MANDATORY Steps: /​scout -> /​feature-investigation -> /​domain-analysis -> /​why-review -> /​spec -> /​plan -> /​plan-review -> /​plan-validate -> /​why-review -> /​spec [mode=tests] -> /​why-review -> /​review-artifact --type=spec-tests -> /​plan -> /​plan-review -> /​cook -> /​review-domain-entities -> /​spec [mode=tests] -> /​why-review -> /​review-artifact --type=spec-tests -> /​spec [mode=sync] -> /​integration-test -> /​integration-test-review -> /​integration-test-verify -> /​workflow-review-changes -> /​sre-review -> /​security-review -> /​changelog -> /​test -> /​docs-update -> /​workflow-end -> /​watzup

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IMPORTANT MANDATORY Steps: /​scout -> /​feature-investigation -> /​domain-analysis -> /​why-review -> /​spec -> /​plan -> /​plan-review -> /​plan-validate -> /​why-review -> /​spec [mode=tests] -> /​why-review -> /​review-artifact --type=spec-tests -> /​plan -> /​plan-review -> /​cook -> /​review-domain-entities -> /​spec [mode=tests] -> /​why-review -> /​review-artifact --type=spec-tests -> /​spec [mode=sync] -> /​integration-test -> /​integration-test-review -> /​integration-test-verify -> /​workflow-review-changes -> /​sre-review -> /​security-review -> /​changelog -> /​test -> /​docs-update -> /​workflow-end -> /​watzup

[BLOCKING] Each step MUST ATTENTION invoke its Skill tool — marking a task completed without skill invocation is a workflow violation. NEVER batch-complete validation gates.

Activate the workflow-feature workflow. Run /​start-workflow workflow-feature with the user's prompt as context.

Spec check (before investigation): If docs/​specs/ has a spec for the affected service/​module, read the relevant ERD + business-rules + API-contracts files FIRST. Engineering specs provide domain context that reduces investigation time significantly. Command: ls docs/​specs/ to discover available app buckets or flat system folders; then probe ls docs/​specs/​{app-bucket}/ or ls docs/​specs/​{system-name}/ to find the specific service spec.

Steps: /​scout → /​feature-investigation → /​domain-analysis → /​why-review → /​spec → /​plan → /​plan-review → /​plan-validate → /​why-review → /​spec [mode=tests] → /​why-review → /​review-artifact --type=spec-tests → /​plan → /​plan-review → /​cook → /​review-domain-entities → /​spec [mode=tests] → /​why-review → /​review-artifact --type=spec-tests → /​spec [mode=sync] → /​integration-test → /​integration-test-review → /​integration-test-verify → /​workflow-review-changes → /​sre-review → /​security-review → /​changelog → /​test → /​docs-update → /​workflow-end → /​watzup

[PERFORMANCE-SDD ROUTE] If this feature is a performance enhancement (latency, throughput, memory, query speed, load behavior), run /​performance-review and require SLA/​benchmark evidence: target metric, baseline, measurement command, and acceptable regression budget. Run /​cook even on the performance route — never skip it. If behavior can change, run /​test and any relevant functional no-regression checks. Update docs/​specs for changed SLA, performance constraints, or behavior boundaries. Use project-specific performance docs from docs/​project-config.json / docs/​project-reference/ when available.

[AI-SDD CLOSURE] Before /​workflow-end, confirm changed behavior, unchanged behavior, TCs/​tests, docs/​specs, and generated mirror sync are either completed or explicitly skipped with evidence.

[AI-SDD CLOSURE — POST-IMPLEMENTATION SPEC RE-VERIFY (MANDATORY)] The /​spec authored at step 5 (before /​plan) captured intended behavior. After /​cook, re-verify Feature Spec §1-7 (not only §8 TCs) against what was actually built and adjudicate every divergence per shared/​sdd-artifact-contract.md → Drift Gates (SYNC:spec-drift-adjudication): CODE-WRONG → fix code/​test against the spec; SPEC-STALE → run /​spec [update] to record the new intended behavior, then /​spec [mode=tests] [update] + /​spec [mode=sync]; AMBIGUOUS → escalate to the spec owner. A feature that shipped behavior the spec does not describe leaves the spec stale and is NOT closure-ready. This re-verify is not optional cleanup — it is the "after implement, verify and create/​update specs again" half of the SDD cycle.

<!-- SYNC:end-to-start-debugger-trace -->

End-to-Start Debugger Trace — For non-trivial bugs, failed verification, regression fixes, behavior-changing code, or unclear code flow, start from the observed final state and walk backward before proposing a fix.

1. Frame 0: observed end state — Name the exact user-visible output, failing assertion, log line, persisted value, API response, rendered UI, or aggregate bucket. Record the reader/​query/​renderer that produced it with file:line evidence.
2. Walk backward one hop at a time — Trace final reader -> projection/​cache/​storage -> writer -> consumer/​handler/​job -> producer/​caller -> original trigger. At every hop record: input, transformation, output, owner, and evidence.
3. Enumerate all feeder paths — Find every upstream producer/​caller/​event/​job that can write into the final path, including retry, async, cache, background, and alternate UI/​API paths. Mark each path verified, ruled out, or still unknown.
4. Build the hypothesis matrix — For each plausible cause, list evidence for, evidence against, how to reproduce/​verify, blast radius, and status (primary, contributing, ruled out, latent). Do not fix until competing causes are explicitly resolved or bounded.
5. Choose the owning fix layer — Identify the invariant owner and the lowest shared point that protects all downstream consumers. A fix at the symptom site is rejected unless the symptom site owns the invariant.
6. Prove convergence forward — After choosing the fix, walk start -> end again and show how the corrected state reaches the observed final output. Map each root cause to a fix part and each fix part to a test/​proof.

BLOCKED until: final state named · backward trace written · all feeder paths enumerated · hypothesis matrix completed · owning fix layer justified · forward convergence proof mapped to tests.

NEVER: Start at the first suspicious code path. Collapse multiple producers into one "flow". Treat duplicate symptoms as duplicate records without proving the read model. Skip ruled-out hypotheses.

<!-- /​SYNC:end-to-start-debugger-trace --> <!-- SYNC:nested-task-creation -->

Nested Task Expansion Contract — For workflow-step invocation, the [Workflow] ... row is only a parent container; the child skill still creates visible phase tasks.

1. Call TaskList first. If a matching active parent workflow row exists, set nested=true and record parentTaskId; otherwise run standalone.
2. Create one task per declared phase before phase work. When nested, prefix subjects [N.M] $skill-name — phase.
3. When nested, link the parent with TaskUpdate(parentTaskId, addBlockedBy: [childIds]).
4. Orchestrators must pre-expand a child skill's phase list and link the workflow row before invoking that child skill or sub-agent.
5. Mark exactly one child in_progress before work and completed immediately after evidence is written.
6. Complete the parent only after all child tasks are completed or explicitly cancelled with reason.

Blocked until: TaskList done, child phases created, parent linked when nested, first child marked in_progress.

<!-- /​SYNC:nested-task-creation --> <!-- SYNC:critical-thinking-mindset -->

Critical Thinking Mindset — Apply critical thinking, sequential thinking. Every claim needs traced proof, confidence >80% to act. Anti-hallucination: Never present guess as fact — cite sources for every claim, admit uncertainty freely, self-check output for errors, cross-reference independently, stay skeptical of own confidence — certainty without evidence root of all hallucination.

<!-- /​SYNC:critical-thinking-mindset --> <!-- SYNC:ai-mistake-prevention -->

AI Mistake Prevention — Failure modes to avoid on every task:

Check downstream references before deleting. Deleting components causes documentation and code staleness cascades. Map all referencing files before removal. Verify AI-generated content against actual code. AI hallucinates APIs, class names, and method signatures. Always grep to confirm existence before documenting or referencing. Trace full dependency chain after edits. Changing a definition misses downstream variables and consumers derived from it. Always trace the full chain. Trace ALL code paths when verifying correctness. Confirming code exists is not confirming it executes. Always trace early exits, error branches, and conditional skips — not just happy path. When debugging, ask "whose responsibility?" before fixing. Trace whether bug is in caller (wrong data) or callee (wrong handling). Fix at responsible layer — never patch symptom site. Assume existing values are intentional — ask WHY before changing. Before changing any constant, limit, flag, or pattern: read comments, check git blame, examine surrounding code. Verify ALL affected outputs, not just the first. Changes touching multiple stacks require verifying EVERY output. One green check is not all green checks. Holistic-first debugging — resist nearest-attention trap. When investigating any failure, list EVERY precondition first (config, env vars, DB names, endpoints, DI registrations, data preconditions), then verify each against evidence before forming any code-layer hypothesis. Surgical changes — apply the diff test. Bug fix: every changed line must trace directly to the bug. Don't restyle or improve adjacent code. Enhancement task: implement improvements AND announce them explicitly. Surface ambiguity before coding — don't pick silently. If request has multiple interpretations, present each with effort estimate and ask. Never assume all-records, file-based, or more complex path. Keep domain concepts out of generic/​shared/​infrastructure layers. A reusable layer (shared library, framework, infra module) must reference NO consumer-specific domain concept — tenant/​customer/​product IDs, business entities, feature rules. The leak compiles and runs, so it passes review silently while coupling the "reusable" layer to one consumer. Push domain fields/​logic down into the consumer via subclass or composition.

<!-- /​SYNC:ai-mistake-prevention --> <!-- SYNC:incremental-persistence -->

Incremental Result Persistence — MANDATORY for all sub-agents or heavy inline steps processing >3 files.

1. Before starting: Create report file plans/​reports/​{skill}-{date}-{slug}.md
2. After each file/​section reviewed: Append findings to report immediately — never hold in memory
3. Return to main agent: Summary only (per SYNC:subagent-return-contract) with Full report: path
4. Main agent: Reads report file only when resolving specific blockers

Why: Context cutoff mid-execution loses ALL in-memory findings. Each disk write survives compaction. Partial results are better than no results.

Report naming: plans/​reports/​{skill-name}-{YYMMDD}-{HHmm}-{slug}.md

<!-- /​SYNC:incremental-persistence --> <!-- SYNC:subagent-return-contract -->

Sub-Agent Return Contract — When this skill spawns a sub-agent, the sub-agent MUST return ONLY this structure. Main agent reads only this summary — NEVER requests full sub-agent output inline.

## Sub-Agent Result: [skill-name]

Status: ✅ PASS | ⚠️ PARTIAL | ❌ FAIL
Confidence: [0-100]%

### Findings (Critical/​High only — max 10 bullets)

- [severity] [file:line] [finding]

### Actions Taken

- [file changed] [what changed]

### Blockers (if any)

- [blocker description]

Full report: plans/​reports/[skill-name]-[date]-[slug].md

Main agent reads Full report file ONLY when: (a) resolving a specific blocker, or (b) building a fix plan. Sub-agent writes full report incrementally (per SYNC:incremental-persistence) — not held in memory.

<!-- /​SYNC:subagent-return-contract --> <!-- SYNC:end-to-start-debugger-trace:reminder -->

IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION debugger trace gate: for non-trivial bug/​fix/​investigation/​review work, start at the observed final output and trace backward through reader -> storage/​projection -> writer -> consumer/​job -> producer/​trigger. Enumerate all feeder paths and hypotheses before fixing. BLOCKED until trace, hypothesis matrix, owning fix layer, and forward convergence proof exist.

<!-- /​SYNC:end-to-start-debugger-trace:reminder --> <!-- SYNC:nested-task-creation:reminder -->

• MANDATORY Parent workflow rows do not replace child phase tracking; expand phases and link the parent when nested.
• MANDATORY Orchestrators pre-expand child skill phases before invocation; use [N.M] $skill-name — phase prefixes and one-in_progress discipline.

<!-- /​SYNC:nested-task-creation:reminder --> <!-- SYNC:goal-contract-satisfaction-loop:reminder -->

• MANDATORY Resolve the active Goal Contract BEFORE work (active plan goal.md → plans/​goals/​{YYMMDD-HHmm}-{slug}/​goal.md → create from current request) and read saved success criteria before editing.
• MANDATORY Append iteration evidence after execution; emit a Goal Satisfaction matrix (PASS/​FAIL/​BLOCKED) before reporting PASS; loop on validated FAIL; escalate repeated no-progress or blockers. NEVER store secrets in goal files.

<!-- /​SYNC:goal-contract-satisfaction-loop:reminder -->

Closing Reminders

IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION apply Phase 1 compression before structural enhancement; preserve semantic meaning. IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION NEVER alter YAML frontmatter, code blocks, tables, or SYNC-tag bodies during optimization. IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION keep evidence gates and mandatory workflow/​skill steps explicit and enforceable. IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION add a final review task to verify output quality and unresolved risks.