wtf-refine

name	wtf.refine
description	Use when new insights change the scope, acceptance criteria, domain language, or technical constraints of an existing Epic, Feature, or Task — for example "refine epic

Refine

Update an existing Epic, Feature, or Task issue based on new insights. Core value: merges insights from any source, determines exactly which sections change, re-runs only the validations those changes require, shows you a precise diff before touching anything, and cascades to children so nothing goes stale.

Process

0. GitHub CLI setup

Run steps 1–2 of ../references/gh-setup.md (install check and auth check). Stop if gh is not installed or not authenticated. Note whether the extensions are available — they are used in step 1 (hierarchy fetch) and step 9 (cascade).

Skip this step if gh-setup was already confirmed this session.

1. Identify the issue and its hierarchy

If an issue number was passed in as context or a CLI argument, use it directly. Otherwise call AskUserQuestion (per ../references/questioning-style.md):

• question: "Which issue are you refining?"
• header: "Issue"
• options: from recently-updated open issues across all WTF labels (epic, feature, task), inferred from:

# Resolve $WTF_CLASS once — see ../references/issue-classification.md.
if [ "$WTF_CLASS" = types ]; then
  gh issue list --search 'state:open (type:"Epic" OR type:"Feature" OR type:"Task")' --json number,title --limit 10
else
  gh issue list --label "epic,feature,task" --state open --json number,title,labels --limit 10
fi

Fetch the issue:

gh issue view <issue_number> --json number,title,body,labels,comments,updatedAt

Detect the issue kind — follow the Detect the kind of an existing issue block in ../references/issue-classification.md (it reads the native issue type in types mode and the kind label in labels mode; compare case-insensitively):

• Epic → type = Epic
• Feature → type = Feature
• Task → type = Task
• Indeterminate (no type set and no kind label) → call AskUserQuestion (per ../references/questioning-style.md):
  • question: "I couldn't detect the kind of this issue. What kind is it?"
  • header: "Issue type"
  • options: Epic / Feature / Task

Fetch the hierarchy for context and cascade planning:

# Parent (always fetch — needed for context)
gh sub-issue list <issue_number> --relation parent

# Children (needed for cascade planning in step 9)
gh sub-issue list <issue_number>

For the parent issue, fetch its body to extract goal, bounded context, and success metrics — these inform whether a change in the child conflicts with the parent's intent.

2. Gather insights from all sources

Merge insights from every available source into a single consolidated list. Process all sources in parallel:

a. CLI argument / conversation context

If the user passed insight text in the invocation (e.g. refine #42 "scope changed — exclude mobile"), treat that as the primary insight. If nothing was passed, call AskUserQuestion (per ../references/questioning-style.md):

• question: "What changed or what new insight should I incorporate?"
• header: "Insight"
• options: from plausible changes inferred from recent issue comments (e.g. the last comment's key point)

b. GitHub comments since last body edit

Extract comments posted after the issue body was last edited:

gh issue view <issue_number> --json comments,updatedAt \
  --jq '.updatedAt as $bodyUpdatedAt | .comments[] | select(.createdAt > $bodyUpdatedAt) | "[\(.author.login)] \(.body)"'

Read each comment and extract actionable insights — discard discussion noise ("+1", "agreed", "thanks"). Synthesise into concrete change signals (e.g. "Stakeholder comment: settlement must support multi-currency").

c. Referenced files

If the user referenced any file paths or URLs in the CLI argument or conversation, read them now:

• File paths → use the Read tool
• URLs → use the WebFetch tool (if available) or ask the user to paste the relevant content

Extract the relevant change signals from each document.

d. Consolidate

Merge all signals into a numbered list of insights. Present them briefly to the user:

"I found [n] insight(s) to incorporate:

1. [insight summary]
2. [insight summary] ..."

Call AskUserQuestion (per ../references/questioning-style.md):

• question: "Does this capture everything you want to incorporate?"
• header: "Insights"
• options:
  • Yes — proceed → continue with these insights
  • Add more → I have additional context to provide
  • Remove one → some of these aren't relevant

Apply any adjustments before continuing.

3. Classify the changes

For each insight, determine which sections of the issue it affects and what type of change it is. This classification drives which validations run in step 4 and which sections are rewritten in step 5.

Change types and their affected sections:

Change type	Affected (Epic)	Affected (Feature)	Affected (Task)
Scope narrowed / expanded	Goal, Success Metrics, Feature Breakdown	ACs, Edge Cases, Proposed Tasks	Gherkin, Functional Description
New constraint	Risks, Bounded Context	ACs, Edge Cases, Rollout	Contracts, Observability, Rollout
Domain language correction	Context, Goal, Bounded Context	Capability name, User Stories, ACs	Gherkin steps, Contracts
New stakeholder / actor	Context, Goal	Capability name, User Stories	—
New domain event	—	Domain Events	Gherkin (When steps), Contracts
Technical constraint	—	Edge Cases	Contracts, Technical Approach
Deadline / priority	Risks	—	—

Produce a change map — a structured internal summary:

Change map:
  scope changed:        yes
  DDD language changed: no
  ACs changed:          yes
  Gherkin affected:     yes  (because ACs changed)
  Contracts affected:   no
  Sections to rewrite:  [Goal, Success Metrics] / [ACs, Edge Cases] / [Gherkin, Functional Description]

4. Re-run relevant validations only

Using the change map from step 3, run only the validations that apply. Skip the rest — do not re-validate unchanged sections.

Scope changed → Vertical slice + Scope gate

Re-run both stages defined in ../references/scope-gates.md on the refined intent, then on the rewritten sections. The per-level split signals live in the matching write-* skill:

• Epic → wtf.write-epic step 7
• Feature → wtf.write-feature step 9
• Task → wtf.write-task step 9

If a split signal fires on the refined issue, present it as a refinement concern (not a blocker). Use the same keep / split / stop ask the write-* skill uses (see ../references/scope-gates.md).

Domain language changed → DDD Language Guard

Re-run the checks from ../references/ddd-writing-rules.md on any section whose text is being rewritten. Flag and correct violations silently; note corrections in the diff (step 5).

ACs changed (Feature or Task) → Gherkin re-derivation

If Feature ACs changed, mark the Proposed Tasks section as potentially stale — note which tasks may need re-scoping. Do not automatically update child Tasks here; that is handled in step 9 (cascade).

If Task ACs changed, re-derive only the Gherkin scenarios that map to the changed AC(s). Keep unchanged scenarios exactly as they are.

5. Draft the section updates and show a diff

Produce the updated content for each section in the change map. Do not touch sections that are not in the change map.

Present a section-by-section before/after diff for every changed section. Format each section's diff as:

## [Section name]

BEFORE:
  [original text]

AFTER:
  [updated text]

Then call AskUserQuestion (per ../references/questioning-style.md):

• question: "Does this diff look right?"
• header: "Diff review"
• options:
  • Looks good — apply it → write the changes to the issue
  • I have corrections → adjust one or more sections
  • Start over → the insights were wrong; re-describe what changed

Apply any corrections, then proceed.

6. Lifecycle label check

Check the current labels on the issue:

gh issue view <issue_number> --json labels --jq '.labels[].name'

Stale label rules by change type:

What changed	Stale labels (Task)	Stale labels (Feature)
Gherkin scenarios changed	implemented, verified	—
ACs changed	verified	DoR: "Acceptance criteria written and reviewed" unchecked
Contracts changed	implemented, verified	—
Functional Description changed	—	—

If any stale labels are present, call AskUserQuestion (per ../references/questioning-style.md):

• question: "The following labels may no longer be accurate after this refinement: [list]. How should I handle them?"
• header: "Stale labels"
• options:
  • Strip stale labels → remove the labels that no longer reflect reality (recommended)
  • Keep labels as-is → leave labels unchanged; I'll manage them manually

Record the decision for the audit comment in step 8.

7. Apply the changes

Read the current issue body, merge only the changed sections (preserving all unchanged content), and write the updated body — through the gh body helper (../references/gh-body-helper.md):

python3 .wtf/gh-body.py read <issue_number>       # prints a temp path

Use the Edit tool to replace each changed section in the printed temp file with its updated content. Preserve all other sections verbatim.

python3 .wtf/gh-body.py edit <issue_number> --body-file "<path-from-read>"

If stale labels should be stripped (from step 6):

gh issue edit <issue_number> --remove-label "implemented,verified"
# Only remove labels that were confirmed stale — use the actual list

Print the updated issue URL.

8. Post the audit trail comment

Post a structured comment summarising the refinement:

# Write the audit comment to a temp file with the Write tool; $COMMENT is that path.
python3 .wtf/gh-body.py comment <issue_number> --body-file "$COMMENT"

The audit comment must include:

## Refinement — <YYYY-MM-DD>

**Insights incorporated:**
- [insight 1]
- [insight 2]

**Sections updated:** [comma-separated list]

**Validations re-run:** [scope gate / DDD guard / Gherkin re-derivation — or "none required"]

**Labels affected:** [stripped: implemented, verified — or "none"]

**Children that may need refinement:** [list with issue numbers and reason — or "none identified"]

9. Cascade to affected children

Using the hierarchy fetched in step 1, determine which children are affected by this refinement:

Epic refined:

• Features whose scope overlaps the changed Goal or Success Metrics
• Features listed in the Feature Breakdown that reference changed bounded context terms

Feature refined:

• Tasks whose Gherkin scenarios directly test the changed ACs
• Tasks whose Proposed Tasks checklist entry was modified or removed

Present the affected children as a numbered list. Then call AskUserQuestion (per ../references/questioning-style.md):

• question: "These child issues may be out of sync with the updated spec: [list]. How would you like to handle them?"

• header: "Cascade"

• options:

  • Refine each one now → walk through wtf.refine for each affected child in order (default)
  • I'll handle them manually → exit; I'll open each child and update it myself
  • Skip → leave children as-is

• Refine each one now → partition the affected children into conflict-free sub-groups using ../references/conflict-graph.md (sub-groups here play the role of sub-phases). For each sub-group, spawn one sub-agent per child in parallel using the Agent tool, following ../references/subagent-protocol.md — read skills/wtf.refine/SKILL.md at spawn time and paste steps 2 onward into each sub-agent prompt. Pass in the child issue number and the parent insight as pre-loaded context so the user is not re-asked. Wait for all sub-agents in a sub-group to complete (resolving any NEEDS_INPUT responses) before starting the next sub-group. After all sub-groups complete, summarise results.

• I'll handle them manually / Skip → exit.

If no children are affected, skip this step entirely.