| name | comet-archive |
| description | Use only when explicitly invoked as /comet-archive or routed by the root Comet skill/runtime to the archive phase; confirm archive, merge delta specs, and finish the branch. |
Comet Phase 5: Archive (Archive)
Prerequisites
- Verification passed (Phase 4 complete)
- Archive commit and branch handling are still pending (
branch_status: pending)
verify_result: pass in openspec/changes/<name>/.comet.yaml
Steps
0. Output Language Constraint
Archive summaries and lifecycle closure notes must use the configured Comet artifact language from comet state get <name> language.
0. Entry State Verification (Entry Check)
Use the stable comet CLI described in comet/reference/scripts.md, then run entry verification. When resuming from any entry point, first run the recovery check in comet/reference/context-recovery.md:
comet state select <change-name>
comet state check <name> archive
Proceed to Step 1 after verification passes. The script outputs specific failure reasons when verification fails.
If the select / check output is BLOCKED because bound_branch does not match the current branch, immediately pause under comet/reference/decision-point.md and let the user choose one option: switch back to the bound branch and rerun entry verification, or run comet state rebind <change-name> after the user explicitly confirms the current branch should take over this change, then rerun entry verification. Do not switch branches or rebind on your own.
1. Final Archive Confirmation (Blocking Point)
After entry verification passes, must follow the comet/reference/decision-point.md protocol to pause and wait for the user to confirm whether to archive immediately. Must not run comet archive "<change-name>" before user confirmation.
Before confirmation, show the user a brief summary:
- Change name
- Verification report path and result
- Current branch/workspace and attribution summary for pre-existing dirty changes
- Irreversible actions this archive will perform: merge main specs with OpenSpec delta semantics, annotate design doc / plan, and move the change to the archive directory
The user confirmation question must be presented as a single-select question with these options:
- "Confirm archive" — record the final confirmation state, then run the archive script to complete spec merge and change movement
- "Needs adjustment or re-verification" — do not archive; run
comet state transition <change-name> archive-reopen to return to phase: verify, then invoke /comet-verify. If verification confirms fixes are needed, follow /comet-verify's verification-failure decision flow back to /comet-build
- "Do not archive yet" — do not archive; keep the current
phase: archive state and wait for the user to invoke /comet-archive again later
After the user selects "Confirm archive", immediately run:
comet state transition <change-name> archive-confirm
If the transition returns a non-zero exit code, report the error and stop. Only after the transition succeeds may Step 2 continue. After the user selects "Needs adjustment or re-verification", must first run the archive-reopen state transition; do not edit .comet.yaml manually.
2. Execute Archive
Run the archive script:
comet archive "<change-name>"
The script automatically executes:
- Entry state validation (phase=archive, verify_result=pass, archive_confirmation=confirmed, archived=false)
- Design doc frontmatter annotation (archived-with, status)
- Plan frontmatter annotation (archived-with)
- OpenSpec archive for delta-merge semantics and moving the change to the archive directory
- Main spec guard against leaked delta-only section headings
- Update archived state in the actual OpenSpec archive directory and reconcile pending recovery metadata
If script returns non-zero exit code, report error and stop.
If script returns zero exit code, archive is complete.
The summary X/Y steps succeeded counts real executed steps and does not double-count delta spec sync or document annotation.
The script calls OpenSpec archive to merge ADDED/MODIFIED/REMOVED/RENAMED delta semantics into main specs, then verifies main specs do not contain delta-only section headings.
Use --dry-run flag to preview without executing.
3. Lifecycle Closed Loop
Spec lifecycle completes here:
brainstorming → delta spec → implementation → verification → main spec merge → design doc annotation → archive
4. Commit Archive Changes with Exact Paths
The archive script only moves files and merges the spec; it does not commit. After archiving, the worktree holds these uncommitted changes:
- The change directory moved from
openspec/changes/<name>/ to openspec/changes/archive/YYYY-MM-DD-<name>/
- The main spec content merged via delta semantics
- Archive metadata annotations on the design doc / plan
After archive, read git status --short and compare it with the pre-archive dirty-worktree attribution baseline. Stage only paths attributable to this change: the original active path, actual archive path printed by the command, main specs changed by this delta, and archive metadata on this Design Doc/Plan. Stop if any path cannot be attributed.
Use explicit pathspecs, then inspect the staged diff. Never stage the whole repository or mix the user's pre-existing changes into the archive commit:
git add -- <individually verified archive paths...>
git diff --cached --stat
git commit -m "chore: archive <change-name>"
Stop if the commit fails or the staged diff contains unrelated paths.
5. Handle the Branch After the Archive Commit
After the archive commit succeeds, first read comet state get <change-name> isolation and route by isolation:
isolation !== current: immediately execute: use the Skill tool to load Superpowers finishing-a-development-branch. This ordering ensures the final branch or PR contains the main-spec merge and archive metadata. If the skill is unavailable, stop and prompt the user to enable/install it; do not mark branch_status handled. After loading it, pause under comet/reference/decision-point.md and let the user choose: merge locally into the main branch, push and create a PR, or keep the current branch for later.isolation === current: skip Superpowers finishing-a-development-branch. Pause under comet/reference/decision-point.md and let the user choose one option: push the current branch, or do not push yet and keep the local state.
Archive is already complete, so do not offer "discard work". Only after the selected operation succeeds, the user explicitly keeps the branch, or the user explicitly chooses not to push in current mode, run:
comet state set <change-name> branch_status handled
comet guard <change-name> archive
The archive guard must verify both archive completeness and branch_status: handled; a failure means the workflow is still incomplete.
Exit Conditions
- Archive script executed successfully (exit code 0)
- Archive directory
openspec/changes/archive/YYYY-MM-DD-<change-name>/ exists
- Archived
.comet.yaml contains archived: true
- Archive changes were committed with exact pathspecs
- The user's branch decision completed and archived state has
branch_status: handled
comet guard <change-name> archive passes
The archive script moves openspec/changes/<name>/ to openspec/changes/archive/YYYY-MM-DD-<name>/.
comet guard <change-name> archive resolves the actual archive directory from the original change name; do not construct a dated archive path manually.
Complete
Comet Classic workflow complete. To start new Classic work, invoke /comet-classic or /comet-open.
Context Compression Recovery
Follow comet/reference/context-recovery.md with phase set to archive. If archived: true and archive directory exists, archival is complete — do not re-execute archive operations.
