autopilot-pipeline

name	autopilot-pipeline
description	Runs the full feature-delivery SDD pipeline end-to-end without user interaction. When called without arguments, auto-selects the first unchecked epic from specs/project-plan.md. Requires Autopilot enabled in config, a Product Document, and a Technical Context Document. Use when running /sddp-autopilot.

Autopilot Pipeline

- Runs ALL SDD phases in one uninterrupted turn — loads and executes each sub-skill inline. Does not duplicate sub-skill logic. - Execute every phase for real. Not a demo, showcase, dry run, or simulation. - Loading a sub-skill = performing its real work: file edits, installs, builds, tests, validations, retries, QC checks. - Never invent progress, test results, QC verdicts, or artifact state. Never manually create `.completed`, `.qc-passed`, or `qc-report.md` as stand-ins. - If any phase action cannot complete for real → **HALT** and report blocker. Never simulate success. - `AUTOPILOT = true` for every sub-skill invocation. - Never yield control to user between phases — one continuous turn until QC passes or halt. - `$ARGUMENTS` is optional. When empty and `specs/project-plan.md` exists with unchecked epics, the first unchecked epic is auto-selected. - Both Product Document and Technical Context Document are mandatory. - Does not execute bootstrap phases (`/sddp-prd`, `/sddp-systemdesign`, `/sddp-init`). - Report compact progress at each phase boundary: completed phase, blocker delta, next phase. - Halt conditions strictly defined below — no other conditions stop the pipeline. - **Artifact conventions** (`.github/skills/artifact-conventions/SKILL.md`): All sub-skill artifact rules apply. - Write all automatic decisions **and phase lifecycle events** to `FEATURE_DIR/autopilot-log.md` using the schema defined in Step 1d.

0. Acquire Shared Skills

Read .github/skills/compact-communication/SKILL.md for terse runtime communication rules, exact-preservation boundaries, and auto-clarity exceptions.

1. Gate Check

1a. Config & Feature Setup

1. Read .github/sddp-config.md if it exists.
2. If specs/prd.md exists and config has empty ## Product Document → **Path**: → set it to specs/prd.md.
3. If specs/sad.md exists and config has empty ## Technical Context Document → **Path**: → set it to specs/sad.md.
4. If specs/dod.md exists and config has empty ## Deployment & Operations Document → **Path**: → set it to specs/dod.md (optional enrichment, not a prerequisite).
5. Parse config ## Autopilot → **Enabled**:. If false or missing → HALT: "Autopilot is disabled. Set **Enabled**: true in .github/sddp-config.md under ## Autopilot."
6. Auto-select epic when no arguments provided:
   • If $ARGUMENTS not empty → continue to step 7.
   • If specs/project-plan.md exists:
     • Read the file and find the first line matching ^- \[ \] (E\d{3}) .+\} (.+?)(?: \[→ Details\].*)?$ (first unchecked epic in document order).
   • Found → extract EPIC_ID (capture group 1) and epic title (capture group 2, trimmed). Set $ARGUMENTS = "{EPIC_ID} {epic_title}". Log an epic_update row: Phase=Gate, Detail="Auto-selected epic {EPIC_ID}", Outcome="{epic_title}", Rationale="first unchecked epic in document order", Artifacts=[specs/project-plan.md](../project-plan.md).
   • No unchecked epic found → HALT: "All epics in specs/project-plan.md are complete. No remaining work."
   • If specs/project-plan.md does not exist → HALT: "Feature description required. Usage: /sddp-autopilot <feature description>. To enable automatic epic selection, run /sddp-projectplan first."
7. Delegate: Context Gatherer in full mode with autopilot=true, naming_seed=$ARGUMENTS → resolves FEATURE_DIR, PRODUCT_DOC, TECH_CONTEXT_DOC, all context fields.
8. If CONTEXT_BLOCKED = true → HALT: "[BLOCKING_REASON] Fix and re-run /sddp-autopilot."

1b. Document Gate

Both documents required. Either fails → HALT.

Log each gate result as a gate_check row with the checked document linked in Artifacts.

• Config/autopilot enabled check → Artifacts=[.github/sddp-config.md](../../.github/sddp-config.md)
• Product Document existence/sufficiency → Artifacts=[specs/prd.md](../prd.md) or the registered product document path
• Technical Context Document existence/sufficiency → Artifacts=[specs/sad.md](../sad.md) or the registered technical context path
• Feature complete check → Artifacts=[.qc-passed](.qc-passed) when present, else —

Product Document:

1. HAS_PRODUCT_DOC = false → HALT: "Run /sddp-prd or register in .github/sddp-config.md under ## Product Document → **Path**:."
2. Read file at PRODUCT_DOC path. Unreadable → HALT.
3. Sufficiency: Verify ≥3 of 5 categories have substantive content:
   • Product vision/purpose: goal, vision, purpose, problem, objective, mission
   • Target audience/actors: user, customer, persona, actor, stakeholder, audience, role
   • Domain context: ≥2 distinct domain-specific terms
   • Scope/boundaries: scope, in scope, out of scope, boundary, constraint, limitation
   • Success measures: KPI, metric, success, measure, outcome, target
4. <3 categories → HALT: "Product Document insufficient. Missing: [list]. Need ≥3/5 categories. Run /sddp-prd."

Technical Context Document:

1. HAS_TECH_CONTEXT_DOC = false → HALT: "Run /sddp-systemdesign or register in .github/sddp-config.md under ## Technical Context Document → **Path**:."
2. Read file at TECH_CONTEXT_DOC path. Unreadable → HALT.
3. Sufficiency: Verify ≥3 of 5 categories:
   • Language/runtime: language, runtime, python, node, typescript, go, rust, java, C#, .net, ruby, version
   • Framework/libraries: framework, react, vue, angular, express, fastapi, django, spring, next, library, dependency
   • Storage/database: database, storage, postgres, mysql, mongo, redis, cosmos, sqlite, dynamodb, supabase, firebase
   • Infrastructure/deployment: deploy, hosting, cloud, aws, azure, gcp, docker, kubernetes, vercel, CI, CD
   • Architecture/patterns: architecture, monolith, microservice, serverless, REST, GraphQL, event-driven, MVC, pattern, layer
4. <3 categories → HALT: "Technical Context Document insufficient. Missing: [list]. Need ≥3/5 categories. Run /sddp-systemdesign."

1c. Feature Complete Check

FEATURE_COMPLETE = true → HALT: "Feature at FEATURE_DIR already complete (.qc-passed exists). Create a new branch."

1d. Initialize Audit Log

Create FEATURE_DIR/autopilot-log.md:

# Autopilot Execution Log

> Auto-generated. Records every automatic decision, phase event, and gate check during autopilot execution.

| Timestamp | Phase | Event | Detail | Outcome | Rationale | Artifacts |
|-----------|-------|-------|--------|---------|-----------|-----------|

Event types — use exactly one of these values in the Event column:

Event	When to log
phase_start	A phase begins execution (the "═══ Phase N/7 ═══" report).
phase_complete	A phase finishes and its output artifact is verified present.
phase_skip	A phase is skipped (pipeline hint, no checklist queue, etc.).
gate_check	Each gate verification in Steps 1a–1c (config, doc sufficiency, feature-complete).
decision	Autopilot auto-selects a recommended option at any interaction point.
halt	Pipeline halts — include the blocking reason and link the missing/blocking artifact.
epic_update	specs/project-plan.md is read or modified (epic auto-select, mark complete).

Column rules:

• Timestamp: HH:MM:SS (24-hour local time).
• Phase: Gate · Specify · Clarify · Plan · Checklist · Tasks · Analyze · Implement+QC · Post-Pipeline.
• Event: One of the event types above.
• Detail: Concise description of the decision point, action, or check performed.
• Outcome: The chosen value, pass/fail result, or produced status.
• Rationale: Brief reason the outcome was chosen.
• Artifacts: Comma-separated clickable relative Markdown links to every document mentioned in this row. Use paths relative to FEATURE_DIR: feature artifacts stay local (e.g., [spec.md](spec.md), [plan.md](plan.md)), project-level docs under specs/ go up one level (e.g., [specs/project-plan.md](../project-plan.md), [specs/prd.md](../prd.md), [specs/sad.md](../sad.md)), and repo-root docs outside specs/ go up two levels (e.g., [.github/sddp-config.md](../../.github/sddp-config.md)). If no artifact is relevant, write —.

Known artifact paths (always link when mentioned): spec.md, plan.md, tasks.md, analysis-report.md, qc-report.md, manual-test.md, research.md, checklists/, autopilot-log.md, specs/project-plan.md, specs/plan/{EPIC_ID}.md, specs/prd.md, specs/sad.md, specs/dod.md, .github/sddp-config.md.

Log gate check results (Steps 1a–1c) as gate_check rows now.

2. Pipeline Execution

Execute phases sequentially: log phase_start → report start → load and execute SKILL.md inline for real → verify output artifact → log phase_complete (with artifact link) or phase_skip → continue.

Phase 1: Specify

• Log phase_start row: Phase=Specify, Detail="Begin feature specification".
• Report: "═══ Phase 1/7: Specify ═══"
• Execute .github/skills/specify-feature/SKILL.md with $ARGUMENTS.
• Verify: FEATURE_DIR/spec.md exists. Missing → HALT (log halt row linking [spec.md](spec.md)).
• Log phase_complete row: Outcome="spec.md created", Artifacts=[spec.md](spec.md).
• Pipeline hints: If EPIC_ID is resolved and specs/plan/{EPIC_ID}.md exists → read the epic detail file, parse Pipeline hints → store HINT_SKIP_CLARIFY, HINT_SKIP_CHECKLIST, HINT_LIGHTWEIGHT (default all false). Log each parsed hint as a decision row with Artifacts=[specs/plan/{EPIC_ID}.md](../plan/{EPIC_ID}.md).

Phase 2: Clarify

• HINT_SKIP_CLARIFY = true → log phase_skip row: Detail="Pipeline hint: skip_clarify", Rationale="Epic hint from epic detail file", Artifacts=[spec.md](spec.md), [specs/plan/{EPIC_ID}.md](../plan/{EPIC_ID}.md). Report skipped. Skip to Phase 3.
• Otherwise:
  • Log phase_start row: Phase=Clarify.
  • Report: "═══ Phase 2/7: Clarify ═══"
  • Execute .github/skills/clarify-spec/SKILL.md → verify spec.md exists.
  • Log phase_complete row: Artifacts=[spec.md](spec.md).

Phase 3: Plan

• Log phase_start row: Phase=Plan.
• HINT_LIGHTWEIGHT = true → log decision row: Detail="Lightweight mode enabled", Artifacts=[specs/plan/{EPIC_ID}.md](../plan/{EPIC_ID}.md). Pass LIGHTWEIGHT = true to plan skill.
• Report: "═══ Phase 3/7: Plan ═══"
• Execute .github/skills/plan-feature/SKILL.md → verify FEATURE_DIR/plan.md exists. Missing → HALT (log halt row linking [plan.md](plan.md)).
• Log phase_complete row: Artifacts=[plan.md](plan.md).

Phase 4: Checklist (loop)

• HINT_SKIP_CHECKLIST = true → log phase_skip row: Detail="Pipeline hint: skip_checklist", Artifacts=[specs/plan/{EPIC_ID}.md](../plan/{EPIC_ID}.md). Report skipped. Skip to Phase 5.
• No .checklists file → log phase_skip row: Detail="No checklist queue found", Artifacts=—. Report "No checklist queue — skipping."
• Otherwise:
  • Log phase_start row: Phase=Checklist.
  • Report: "═══ Phase 4/7: Checklist ═══"
  • Loop: invoke .github/skills/generate-checklist/SKILL.md repeatedly, each picks next unchecked CHL###, until QUEUE_EXHAUSTED = true. Report count.
  • Log phase_complete row: Outcome="[N] checklists evaluated", Artifacts=[checklists/](checklists/).

Phase 5: Tasks

• Log phase_start row: Phase=Tasks.
• Report: "═══ Phase 5/7: Tasks ═══"
• Execute .github/skills/generate-tasks/SKILL.md → verify FEATURE_DIR/tasks.md exists. Missing → HALT (log halt row linking [tasks.md](tasks.md)).
• Log phase_complete row: Artifacts=[tasks.md](tasks.md).

Phase 6: Analyze

• Log phase_start row: Phase=Analyze.
• Report: "═══ Phase 6/7: Analyze ═══"
• Execute .github/skills/analyze-compliance/SKILL.md. A1 autopilot guard auto-applies remediations.
• CRITICAL project-instructions.md violation → HALT (log halt row: Detail="CRITICAL project-instructions.md violation", Artifacts=[analysis-report.md](analysis-report.md)): "Manual resolution required."
• Verify: FEATURE_DIR/analysis-report.md exists.
• Log phase_complete row: Artifacts=[analysis-report.md](analysis-report.md).

Phase 7: Implement + QC

• Log phase_start row: Phase=Implement+QC.
• Report: "═══ Phase 7/7: Implement + QC ═══"
• Execute .github/skills/implement-qc-loop/SKILL.md (up to 10 iterations).
• Verify: FEATURE_DIR/qc-report.md exists with Overall Verdict: PASS AND .qc-passed exists.
• If missing, verdict ≠ PASS, or .qc-passed missing → log halt row: Detail="QC did not pass", Artifacts=[qc-report.md](qc-report.md). HALTED.
• If manual-test.md generated → log halt row: Detail="Manual verification required", Artifacts=[manual-test.md](manual-test.md). HALTED.
• Otherwise → log phase_complete row: Outcome="QC PASS", Artifacts=[qc-report.md](qc-report.md).

Post-Pipeline: Mark Epic Complete

• Guard: EPIC_ID resolved (from Phase 1 or spec.md frontmatter epic_id) AND specs/project-plan.md exists.
• If guard fails → skip silently (non-blocking).
• Read specs/project-plan.md, locate the line matching ^- \[ \] {EPIC_ID} \[P[123]\].
  • Found → replace - [ ] with - [X] on that line. Log epic_update row: Detail="Epic {EPIC_ID} marked complete", Artifacts=[specs/project-plan.md](../project-plan.md).
  • Already [X] → skip, log epic_update row: Detail="Epic {EPIC_ID} already marked complete", Artifacts=[specs/project-plan.md](../project-plan.md).
  • Not found → skip, log epic_update row: Detail="Epic {EPIC_ID} not found in project-plan.md", Artifacts=[specs/project-plan.md](../project-plan.md).

3. Halt Conditions

Pipeline stops immediately for:

1. CRITICAL project-instructions.md violation — any phase, any Policy Auditor or Analyze check.
2. Implement-QC loop exhausted — 10 iterations without QC pass.
3. manual-test.md generated — manual verification required.
4. Gate artifact missing — phase did not produce expected artifact.
5. Feature already complete — .qc-passed existed at start.
6. Document sufficiency failure — Product or Technical Context Document below threshold.
7. Real execution blocked — required action cannot complete in current environment.
8. Context resolution failure — detached HEAD or blocking git error.

When halting:

• If FEATURE_DIR available → log halt row to autopilot-log.md with: Detail=halt reason, Outcome=blocking condition, Artifacts=clickable link to the missing or blocking document (e.g., [spec.md](spec.md), [qc-report.md](qc-report.md), [.github/sddp-config.md](../../.github/sddp-config.md)).
• Report to user: halted phase, reason, manual resolution guidance.
• Proceed to Final Report (Step 4).

4. Final Report

After pipeline completes or halts, display a summary:

Content: Feature dir, Status (PASSED or HALTED at phase), Phases completed (N/7), per-phase status table (Specify/Clarify/Plan/Checklist/Tasks/Analyze/Implement+QC — each ✓/✗/⊘ + key output), autopilot decision count (ref autopilot-log.md), artifact list with ✓/✗.

If HALTED: Include halt reason, phase, and specific resolution guidance with commands. If PASSED: "Feature is verified and ready for release. Run git add . && git commit -m 'feat: [feature]' and open a PR." If epic was marked complete → append: "Epic {EPIC_ID} marked complete in specs/project-plan.md."

5. Append Run Summary to Audit Log

After displaying the Final Report (Step 4), append a ## Run Summary section to FEATURE_DIR/autopilot-log.md:

## Run Summary

| Phase | Status | Key Artifact |
|-------|--------|--------------|
| Gate | ✓ PASS | [.github/sddp-config.md](../../.github/sddp-config.md) |
| Specify | ✓ COMPLETE | [spec.md](spec.md) |
| Clarify | ✓ COMPLETE / ⊘ SKIPPED | [spec.md](spec.md) |
| Plan | ✓ COMPLETE | [plan.md](plan.md) |
| Checklist | ✓ COMPLETE / ⊘ SKIPPED | [checklists/](checklists/) |
| Tasks | ✓ COMPLETE | [tasks.md](tasks.md) |
| Analyze | ✓ COMPLETE | [analysis-report.md](analysis-report.md) |
| Implement+QC | ✓ PASS | [qc-report.md](qc-report.md) |

**Result**: PASSED / HALTED at {phase} — {reason}
**Epic**: {EPIC_ID} — {disposition} ([specs/project-plan.md](../project-plan.md))
**Duration**: {start_time} → {end_time}

Rules for the Run Summary:

• Use the actual status for each phase: ✓ COMPLETE, ✓ PASS (for Gate and Implement+QC), ⊘ SKIPPED, or ✗ HALTED.
• The Key Artifact column links the primary output of each phase. Use — if the phase did not produce an artifact (e.g., skipped phases with no output).
• If halted, include only phases up to and including the halted phase. Mark the halted phase as ✗ HALTED and omit subsequent phases.
• Result line: PASSED or HALTED at {phase} — {brief reason}.
• Epic line: include only if EPIC_ID was resolved. Disposition is "marked complete", "already complete", or "not found".
• Duration line: {HH:MM:SS start} → {HH:MM:SS end}.