scope

name	scope
allowed-tools	Bash, Read, Grep, Glob, Write, Edit, Task, AskUserQuestion
description	Run /scope to turn a product idea into a living, coarse scope in docs/scope/ and keep it current — plan a new product, plan the next slice, enroll one named feature, or run with no argument to reconcile after shipping and queue what is next. Seeds WHAT to build; /architect designs, /develop builds.

Output style (plain words, no dashes)

All output (scope and messages): plain simple language; keep meaningful technical terms but explain each in plain words. Zero dashes of any kind (no em dash, en dash, or hyphen as punctuation); use short sentences, commas, or parentheses instead.

What this skill does

Turns an idea into an ordered, coarse, living plan and keeps it honest as the product ships. Answers "what do I build, in what order, how heavy, which need a decision first?", not "how do I build this one thing?" (that is /architect and /develop).

Scope shape, coarse and small: a slim At a glance table (# · Feature · Phase · Status) + feature sections grouped by phase (see scope-template.md). Each section: heading ### N. Name with short tags only when they matter (needs a decision, an approach override, full weight), a 1 to 2 line intent, one Done when: line (acceptance-criteria seeds, the WHAT), checkbox steps.

Feature shape lifecycle: not yet designed → one box, its entry command. On ADR capture, /architect fills the built-ready shape: Design it (ADR) ticked, ADR linked, Build it: /develop <feature> with 2 to 5 milestone sub-items rolled up from the ADR's ## Build plan, then Verify it: /check verify <feature> and Test it: /test <feature>. Atomic build tasks stay in the ADR's ## Build plan, never here; every box is a command or tracked milestone. Status: in the table and beside the heading; ADR and code pointers once they exist. /scope seeds the what; /architect designs the how and defines milestones; /develop builds; /check verify and /test close; /sync reconciles conventions after.

One command, inferred intent (/scope [what], never a subcommand):

• plan (default): no scope yet + a product-sized idea, or asking for the next slice. Full pass: ask → decompose into coarse feature sections → order + phase → write.
• replan: scope exists + no argument. Opens with a short where-things-stand readout (git branch and ahead/behind the remote, feature counts by status, and each in-progress feature's resume point) so a bare /scope doubles as the "where was I, what is safe to pick up" orientation, then reconciles what shipped, surfaces plan-vs-reality drift (code or ADRs with no scope row), enrolls needs surfaced during the build, reorders, and queues the next slice. The normal living rhythm, not rare: run bare /scope again.
• add: scope exists + argument names a single feature. Enroll one coarse row (intent + order + weight + Needs ADR) without re-planning: /scope <a feature>.

Asks vs acts

Senior product engineer, thorough across all dimensions. Same infer / ask / recommend discipline as /architect: INFER what the idea states (category, obvious capabilities); ASK the un-inferable across business, product, go-to-market in batched rounds (up to 4 questions per round; see Decision panels); RECOMMEND build approach, build order, each feature's weight, which need an ADR (expert calls: present them, let the engineer override).

Never pick tools: no provider, library, ORM, host, or BaaS chosen or named; that is /architect's job per feature in the ADR. A feature implying a tool choice is exactly Needs ADR: yes. Keep the scope tool-agnostic so it doesn't rot.

Decision panels (every user-facing choice)

Every choice is an options panel, never a neutral menu: 2 to 4 concrete options real to this product; exactly one marked (recommended) with a one-line why (make the call, let them override). Never add your own Other option, the picker appends a free-text Other automatically; offer free text yourself only in a plain-text fallback with no picker. Capability-first: use the agent's picker (AskUserQuestion on Claude Code), else the same options as plain text; batched rounds same rule, up to 4 per round.

Artifact ownership

docs/scope/ is the feature scope, owned by this skill; /architect owns docs/adr/. Other skills find a feature by scanning docs/scope/ for its row. Living document: plan, replan, add all edit in place (reconcile and append, never a new dated file). Writes nothing else: no ADRs, code, or AGENTS.md. docs/scope/ holds scope files only; inventories, analyses, research docs live with the ADR in its rationale.md (owned by /architect).

File shape:

• Small product: one file, docs/scope/scope.md (At-a-glance table + phase-grouped sections + legend).
• Large product: epic-split: docs/scope/index.md (At-a-glance table across epics + one-line status rollup per epic, each linking its epic file) + one file per epic named by area (docs/scope/auth.md, …).
• Promote on demand: start single-file; when scope.md outgrows a comfortable scan (roughly a dozen-plus features across clearly distinct areas), rename to index.md (keep table + per-epic rollup), move each area's sections into its own <epic>.md. Never pre-split. Names semantic (scope.md / index.md / <epic>.md), never numbered.
• Keep every file coarse and small; a long epic file needs finer features and tighter intent, not a build-task dump.

Status lifecycle (/scope sets initial status; the pipeline advances it):

• New features start planned. Brownfield: also enroll pre-existing features as existing (complete) or in-progress (partial), the only other statuses /scope writes.
• /develop advances pipeline-built work (planned → in-progress → done); /sync reconciles against the diff.
• done ≠ existing: done = this pipeline built and verified it; existing predates the workflow; /develop and /sync never touch existing rows.
• replan may set a de-scoped feature to dropped, never deletes rows; dropped keeps history, excluded from active counts and work; /develop and /sync skip it.

Process weight (absorbs the old /triage): every feature carries Weight lean · medium · full, one column turning downstream process on or off. lean: trivial, low-risk, well-understood; skip the fresh-model review; often Needs ADR: no. medium: moderate scope or a real decision; normal path. full: high risk, large scope, or compliance-sensitive; a fresh-model /check review warranted; almost always Needs ADR: yes. /scope sets the initial weight (same signals /architect and /develop use; README Tiers are the reference); downstream skills read this column.

Artifact base: docs/ by default; if docs/ is a published docs site (docusaurus.config.*, .vitepress/, mkdocs.yml, Astro Starlight, or Nextra detected), use .workflow/ (.workflow/scope/…). Always follow whichever base already exists (paths here assume docs/).

Concurrency: shared across sessions and teammates. Re-read immediately before writing; surgical edits only (append rows in order, reconcile changed cells, never rewrite the file); flag rather than clobber unexpected state; append with the next free numbers so adders don't collide.

Reference files

• scope-template.md: format rules, At-a-glance table, per-feature sections (heading + intent + Done-when + checkbox tasks + pointer line), brownfield-enrollment and epic-split shapes, the ## /scope complete report block. Read it when writing the scope and the report.

Portability (any OS, any agent)

Any Agent Skills client on macOS, Linux, Windows. Detection snippets are POSIX reference; use your agent's cross-platform file tools. Planning runs inline; the two subagents below (Step 1 brownfield code-scan, Step 6b sourcing) are optional and capability-first, degrade to inline. No interactive picker: ask every panel as plain text, same options.

Execution

Step 0 — Infer intent & idea check

No subcommand. First check whether a scope exists under docs/scope/ (or .workflow/scope/ if that is the artifact base), then infer:

• Scope exists + no argument (or a re-run described as "reconcile / what's next") → replan behavior (modes/replan.md).
• Scope exists + argument names a single feature → add behavior (modes/add.md).
• No scope yet + a product-sized idea, or scoping the next slice (including brownfield) → plan behavior, below.

Ambiguous (a new slice vs a single feature): infer the most likely reading from scope, say which behavior you chose in the report; truly unclear → one-line clarifying question.

Plan behavior, no idea given (no argument, no scope to extend): stop and ask before anything else:

"What are you building? Describe the product or the slice of it you want to plan (one or two sentences about what it does and who it's for)."

Wait for the answer; use it as the product idea.

Step 1 — Load the inferred behavior

After Step 0 infers the behavior, read exactly one mode file and follow it:

• modes/plan.md for plan behavior (new scope, product-sized idea, or next slice planning).
• modes/replan.md for replan behavior (scope exists and no argument).
• modes/add.md for add behavior (scope exists and the argument names one feature).

Do not read the other mode files unless the inferred behavior changes. All common rules above still apply, and scope-template.md remains the format reference for any write/report.

Reference

• scope-template.md: see Reference files above.