| name | swain-design |
| description | Create, validate, and transition documentation artifacts (Vision, Initiative, Epic, Spec, Spike, ADR, Persona, Runbook, Design, Journey) through lifecycle phases. Handles spec writing, feature planning, epic creation, initiative creation, ADR drafting, research spikes, persona definition, runbook creation, design capture, architecture docs, phase transitions, implementation planning, cross-reference validation, and audits. Chains into swain-do for implementation tracking on SPEC; decomposes EPIC/VISION/INITIATIVE/JOURNEY into children first. |
| license | UNLICENSED |
| allowed-tools | Bash, Read, Write, Edit, Grep, Glob, Skill |
| metadata | {"short-description":"Manage spec artifact creation and lifecycle","version":"1.6.0","author":"cristos","source":"swain"} |
Spec Management
This skill defines the canonical artifact types, phases, and hierarchy. Detailed definitions and templates live in skills/swain-design/references/. If the host repo has an AGENTS.md, keep its artifact sections in sync with the skill's reference data.
Artifact type definitions
Each artifact type has a definition file (lifecycle phases, conventions, folder structure) and a template (frontmatter fields, document skeleton). Read the definition for the artifact type you are creating or transitioning.
| Type | What it is | Definition | Template |
|---|
| Product Vision (VISION-NNN) | Top-level product direction — goals, audience, and success metrics for a competitive or personal product. | definition | template |
| Initiative (INITIATIVE-NNN) | Strategic grouping of Epics under a Vision — provides a mid-level container for prioritization and decision tracking. | definition | template |
| User Journey (JOURNEY-NNN) | End-to-end user workflow with pain points that drive epics and specs. | definition | template |
| Epic (EPIC-NNN) | Large deliverable under a vision or initiative — groups related specs with success criteria. | definition | template |
| Agent Spec (SPEC-NNN) | Technical implementation specification with acceptance criteria. Supports type: feature | enhancement | bug. Parent epic is optional. | definition | template |
| Research Spike (SPIKE-NNN) | Time-boxed investigation with a specific question and completion gate. | definition | template |
| Persona (PERSONA-NNN) | Archetypal user profile that informs journeys and specs. | definition | template |
| ADR (ADR-NNN) | Single architectural decision — context, choice, alternatives, and consequences (Nygard format). | definition | template |
| Runbook (RUNBOOK-NNN) | Step-by-step operational procedure (agentic or manual) with a defined trigger. | definition | template |
| Design (DESIGN-NNN) | UI/UX interaction design — wireframes, flows, and state diagrams for user-facing surfaces. | definition | template |
Choosing the right artifact type
When the user's request doesn't name a specific type, infer it from their intent:
| User intent | Artifact | Signal words |
|---|
| Product direction, why we exist | Vision | "product direction", "what should we build", "north star" |
| Strategic direction, group related work | Initiative | "focus on", "security effort", "group these epics", "strategic", "track" |
| Ship a feature or deliverable | Epic | "build X", "add Y feature", "implement Z" |
| One implementation unit | Spec | "fix this", "add a flag", "refactor", "small change", "bug" |
| Research question | Spike | "should we", "investigate", "compare options", "what's the best way" |
| Record a decision | ADR | "decided to", "choosing between", "why did we" |
Initiative vs Epic — the key distinction:
- Initiative: a direction with multiple deliverables. "Harden security" is an initiative — it spans scanning, gates, policies. The operator steers it.
- Epic: a deliverable with multiple specs. "Build the scanning tool" is an epic — it has clear completion criteria. Agents execute it.
- Rule of thumb: if the work needs 2+ epics to describe, it's an Initiative. If it needs 2+ specs, it's an Epic. If it's one spec, just create the spec.
Spec under Initiative (small work path) — bugs, minor enhancements, and chores that relate to an Initiative's direction but don't warrant an Epic can attach directly to the Initiative via parent-initiative. If small work clusters, suggest promoting it to an Epic.
Updating artifact metadata
When the operator asks to update a field on an existing artifact (e.g., "set VISION-001 priority to high", "re-parent EPIC-017 under INITIATIVE-001"):
- Read the artifact's definition file to confirm the field name and valid values
- Edit the frontmatter field directly (e.g.,
priority-weight: high)
- Update the
last-updated date
- Run
bash skills/swain-design/scripts/chart.sh build to refresh the graph cache
- Commit the change
Common updates:
priority-weight on Visions, Initiatives, and Epics — accepts high, medium, or low. Cascades: Vision → Initiative (can override) → Epic (can override) → Spec (inherits nearest). Affects downstream recommendation scoring and sibling sort order in swain chart.parent-initiative on Epics and Specs — re-parents them under an Initiative. A Spec can have parent-epic OR parent-initiative, never both.parent-vision on Initiatives — attaches to a Vision.
When the operator says "priority" or "weight" in the context of a Vision or Initiative, they mean the priority-weight frontmatter field.
Creating artifacts
Error handling
When an operation fails (missing parent, number collision, script error, etc.), consult references/troubleshooting.md for the recovery procedure. Do not improvise workarounds — the troubleshooting guide covers the known failure modes.
Complexity tier detection (SPEC-045)
Before running the full authoring ceremony, classify the artifact into a complexity tier:
Low complexity (fast-path eligible):
- SPEC with
type: bug or type: fix and no parent-epic and no downstream depends-on links
- SPIKE with no
parent-epic
- Any artifact where the user uses language like "quick", "simple", "trivial", or "fast"
Medium/High complexity (full ceremony):
- Feature SPECs (
type: feature)
- Any SPEC or SPIKE with a
parent-epic
- EPICs, INITIATIVEs, Visions, Journeys, ADRs — always full ceremony
- Any artifact where the user describes significant architectural decisions
When fast-path applies, output: [fast-path] Skipped: specwatch scan, scope check, index update
Workflow
- Scan
docs/<type>/ (recursively, across all phase subdirectories) to determine the next available number for the prefix.
- For VISION artifacts: Before drafting, ask the user whether this is a competitive product or a personal product. The answer determines which template sections to include and shapes the entire downstream decomposition. See the vision definition for details on each product type.
- Read the artifact's definition file and template from the lookup table above.
- Create the artifact in the correct phase subdirectory. Create the phase directory with
mkdir -p if it doesn't exist yet. See the definition file for the exact directory structure.
- Populate frontmatter with the required fields for the type (see the template).
- Initialize the lifecycle table with the appropriate phase and current date, using this rule:
- User-requested →
Active: if the user explicitly asked for this artifact (e.g., "new SPIKE about X", "write a spec for Y"), create it directly in Active. The user has already decided they want this work — Proposed adds no value.
- Agent-suggested →
Proposed: if the agent creates the artifact on its own initiative (e.g., suggesting a SPIKE while the user asked for an EPIC, decomposing a Vision into child Epics), create it in Proposed. The user hasn't explicitly committed — Proposed signals "here's what I recommend, please confirm."
- Fully developed in-session → later phase: an artifact may be created directly in a later phase if it was fully developed during the conversation (see Phase skipping).
- Validate parent references exist (e.g., the Epic referenced by a new Agent Spec must already exist).
- ADR compliance check — run
skills/swain-design/scripts/adr-check.sh <artifact-path>. Review any findings with the user before proceeding.
8a. Alignment check — (skip for fast-path tier) run bash skills/swain-design/scripts/chart.sh scope <artifact-id> and assess per skills/swain-design/references/alignment-checking.md. Report blocking findings (MISALIGNED); note advisory ones (SCOPE_LEAK, GOAL_DRIFT) without gating the operation.
8b. Unanchored check — after validating parent references, check if the new artifact has a path to a Vision via parent edges. If not, warn: ⚠ No Vision ancestry — this artifact will appear as Unanchored in swain chart. Offer to attach to an existing Initiative or Epic. Do not block creation.
- Post-operation scan — (skip for fast-path tier) run
skills/swain-design/scripts/specwatch.sh scan. Fix any stale references before committing.
- Index refresh step — (skip for fast-path tier; batch refresh at session end via
rebuild-index.sh) update list-<type>.md (see Index maintenance).
Superpowers integration
When superpowers is installed, the following chains are mandatory — invoke the skills, do not skip them or do the work inline:
-
Before creating Vision, Initiative, or Persona artifacts: Invoke the brainstorming skill for Socratic exploration. Pass the artifact context (goals, audience, constraints). Capture brainstorming output into swain's artifact format with proper frontmatter and lifecycle table.
-
When a SPEC comes up for implementation: Invoke brainstorming with the SPEC's acceptance criteria and scope. Brainstorming chains into writing-plans automatically. After writing-plans saves a plan file, invoke swain-do for plan ingestion.
-
For Testing → Implemented transitions: Invoke requesting-code-review for spec compliance and code quality review (if the review skills are available).
Detection: ls .agents/skills/brainstorming/SKILL.md .claude/skills/brainstorming/SKILL.md 2>/dev/null — if at least one path exists, superpowers is available. Cache the result for the session.
Read references/superpowers-integration.md for thin SPEC format and full routing details. All integration is optional — swain functions fully without superpowers.
Phase transitions
Phases are waypoints, not mandatory gates — artifacts may skip forward. Read references/phase-transitions.md for phase skipping rules, the transition workflow (validate → move → commit → hash stamp), verification/review gates, and completion rules.
Trove integration
During research phase transitions (Spike Proposed -> Active, ADR Proposed -> Active, Vision/Epic creation), check for existing troves and offer to link or create one. Read references/trove-integration.md for the full hook, trove scanning, and back-link maintenance procedures.
Execution tracking handoff
When implementation begins on a SPEC, invoke swain-do. Read references/execution-tracking-handoff.md for the four-tier tracking model, swain-do: required frontmatter field, intent triggers, and coordination artifact decomposition.
GitHub Issues integration
SPECs link to GitHub Issues via the source-issue frontmatter field. During phase transitions on linked SPECs, post comments or close the issue. Read references/github-issues-integration.md for promotion workflow, transition hooks, and backend abstraction.
Status overview
For project-wide status, progress, or "what's next?" queries, defer to the swain-status skill (it aggregates swain chart + tk + git + GitHub issues). For artifact-specific graph queries, use bash skills/swain-design/scripts/chart.sh — see skills/swain-design/references/specgraph-guide.md. The default output is a vision-rooted hierarchy tree; lenses (ready, recommend, debt, unanchored, etc.) filter and annotate the tree for different decision contexts.
Auditing artifacts
When the user requests an audit, read references/auditing.md for the full two-phase procedure (pre-scan + parallel audit agents including ADR compliance). Include an unanchored check pass: run bash skills/swain-design/scripts/chart.sh unanchored and report any artifacts without Vision ancestry as domain-level findings alongside alignment and ADR compliance results.
Implementation plans
Implementation plans bridge declarative specs and execution tracking. When implementation begins, read references/implementation-plans.md for TDD methodology, superpowers integration, plan workflow, and fallback procedures.
Reference material
Consult these files when a workflow step references them:
Session bookmark
After state-changing operations, update the bookmark: bash "$(find . .claude .agents -path '*/swain-session/scripts/swain-bookmark.sh' -print -quit 2>/dev/null)" "<action> <artifact-ids>" --files <paths>
