nWave

Cross-agent collaboration protocols, workflow handoff patterns, and commit message formats for TDD/Mikado/refactoring workflows

Orchestrates the full DELIVER wave end-to-end (roadmap > execute-all > finalize). Use when all prior waves are complete and the feature is ready for implementation.

Acceptance test creation methodology for the DISTILL wave. Domain knowledge for the acceptance designer agent: port-to-port principle, prior wave reading, wave-decision reconciliation, graceful degradation, and document back-propagation.

Creates a phased roadmap.json for a feature goal with acceptance criteria and TDD steps. Use when planning implementation steps before execution.

Dispatches one unit of DELIVER work to a specialized agent for TDD execution. Runs a single roadmap.json step through the TDD cycle.

Deep knowledge for Outside-In TDD - double-loop architecture, ATDD integration, port-to-port testing, walking skeletons, and test doubles policy

Queues a deferred self-update of nwave-ai. Writes a PendingUpdateFlag that the SessionStart hook replays on the next Claude Code launch, so the current session is not interrupted. Falls back to manual instructions when the package manager cannot be detected.

Canonical AT completeness gate — research-anchored 7-category taxonomy (C1-C7) + 15-item mechanical checklist. Paradigm-neutral. Drives acceptance-designer reviewer verdict deterministically.

How the nWave buddy agent reads a project to answer questions — detection, order of inspection, and citation discipline.

Bug fix workflow: root cause analysis → user review → regression test + fix via TDD

Detects current wave progress for a feature and resumes at the next step. Scans docs/feature/ for artifacts.

Conducts Jobs-to-be-Done analysis, UX journey design, and requirements gathering through interactive discovery. Use when starting feature analysis, defining user stories, or creating acceptance criteria.

Fast-forwards through remaining waves end-to-end without stopping for review between waves.

Archives a completed feature to docs/evolution/, migrates lasting artifacts to permanent directories, and cleans up the temporary workspace. Use after all implementation steps pass and mutation testing completes.

Runs feature-scoped mutation testing to validate test suite quality. Use after implementation to verify tests catch real bugs (kill rate >= 80%).

Minimizes test count while preserving coverage. Detects byte-identical pairs, parametrize-inflation, language-guarantee tests, AST-shape tests, stale migration nets. Approval gate before any change.

Dispatches an expert reviewer agent to critique workflow artifacts. Use when a roadmap, implementation, or step needs quality review before proceeding.

Root cause analysis and debugging

Test design mandate enforcement, test budget validation, TDD phase validation (3-phase canon per ADR-025), and external validity checks for the software crafter reviewer

Methodology for minimizing test count while maximizing behavioral coverage - behavior definition, anti-pattern catalog, consolidation patterns, stopping criterion, coverage-preserving validation

nWave concierge — ask any question about methodology, project state, commands, migration, or troubleshooting. Read-only, contextual answers.

Shared density-resolution contract for wave skills. Canonical detail on the D12 cascade, density resolver call, ad-hoc override workflow, and DocumentationDensityEvent telemetry emission. Referenced from nw-discover / nw-discuss / nw-design / nw-devops / nw-distill / nw-deliver.

Designs system architecture with C4 diagrams and technology selection. Routes to the right architect based on design scope (system, domain, application, or full stack). Two interaction modes: guide (collaborative Q&A) or propose (architect presents options with trade-offs).

Designs CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure, observability, and deployment strategy. Use when preparing platform readiness for a feature.

Property-based testing strategies, mutation testing, shrinking, and combined PBT+mutation workflow for test quality validation

Applies the Refactoring Priority Premise (RPP) levels L1-L6 for systematic code refactoring. Use when improving code quality through structured refactoring passes.

Roadmap concision rules, step decomposition efficiency, AC abstraction guidelines, and step-to-scenario mapping. Load when creating implementation roadmaps.

Speculative parallel implementation methodology — dispatch N candidate implementations, audit all, score, pick best. Auditability mandate: ALL candidates logged (not just winner).

Teaches agents how to run a timeboxed spike - throwaway code that validates one assumption before DESIGN

Port the state-delta + property-based testing paradigm to languages other than Python. DIY recipes per language; canonical Python ref shipped in nwave_ai.state_delta.

Design mandates for acceptance tests - hexagonal boundary, business language abstraction, user journey completeness, pure function extraction, 3 Pillars (domain language / chained narrative / production composition), and the layered ATD discipline (Universe-bound assertion, layer-dependent PBT mode, two-tier acceptance, example-based sad paths)

Shared rules for feature ID derivation and wave detection used by /nw-new, /nw-continue, and /nw-fast-forward wizards

Wave methodology knowledge for the buddy agent — what each wave does, its inputs and outputs, and how to route questions.

Conducts evidence-based product discovery through customer interviews and assumption testing. Use at project start to validate problem-solution fit.

Quality gates - 11 commit readiness gates, build/test protocol, validation checkpoints, and quality metrics

Selects a quality-vs-token-consumption profile (lean, standard, thorough, exhaustive, custom, inherit) and persists it globally (~/.nwave/global-config.json) or per-project (.nwave/des-config.json). Use when tuning how much rigor wave commands apply.

DIVIO/Diataxis four-quadrant documentation framework - type definitions, classification decision tree, and signal catalog

Requirements quality critique dimensions for peer review - confirmation bias detection, completeness validation, clarity checks, testability assessment, and priority validation

Runs a timeboxed PROBE to validate one core assumption, then optionally PROMOTES the probe into a walking skeleton — the first e2e thin slice of the feature, committed and demo-able. Use after DISCUSS when the feature involves a new mechanism, performance requirement, or external integration.

Single Source of Truth detection — where truth lives in an nWave repo and how to avoid contradicting it.