Use when a grounded idea needs to be grilled into a formal spec — runs a relentless one-decision-at-a-time requirement interview, resolving mechanical questions via workers and putting only real decisions to the user, then dispatches mma-spec. Not for grounding a raw idea (use mma-explore first) or for work where a spec already exists (use mma-plan).
Use when you have an ad-hoc implementation or research task WITHOUT a plan file on disk and you want it to run on a cheap worker instead of consuming main-context tokens
Use when a plan or spec file exists on disk (any markdown with task headings — .mma/plans/*.md, a TODO list, a spec doc) and you need to implement one or more tasks from it sequentially in one worker session
Use when a raw idea or problem needs grounding before it's designed — captures a braindump, fans out divergent internal-codebase investigation + external research + prior-learnings recall in parallel, then synthesises the results into a written exploration.md (Background · Current State · Rough Direction). Not for "where is X" single-answer questions (use mma-investigate).
Claude Code command: /mma-flow — MMA-native design-to-merged-code SDLC playbook that resumes from durable artifacts
Use when you're about to design or attempt something and want to know what THIS project already learned — ask a vague conceptual question (no tags or keywords needed); a read-only worker searches the learnings graph and returns the relevant prior lessons + how they relate. Fire before re-treading ground that may already have been explored. NOT for recording a new learning (mma-journal-record), codebase questions (mma-investigate), or external research (mma-research).
Use when you've learned something worth remembering — a decision, design rationale, user behavior pattern, process learning, research finding, or style convention. Records it to the persistent team knowledge graph for future sessions.
Use when you have a spec file on disk and need a TDD implementation plan written by a worker — produces ordered tasks with complete code blocks, exact file paths, and verification commands