| name | workflow-feature |
| description | [Workflow] Use when activating the Feature Implementation workflow for implement a well-defined feature with investigation, planning, implementation, and review. Also covers TDD/test-first development and spec-driven feature implementation with test specs written before code. |
| disable-model-invocation | false |
Codex compatibility note:
- Invoke repository skills with
$skill-name in Codex; this mirrored copy rewrites legacy Claude /skill-name references.
- Task tracker mandate: BEFORE executing any workflow or skill step, create/update task tracking for all steps and keep it synchronized as progress changes.
- User-question prompts mean to ask the user directly in Codex.
- Ignore Claude-specific mode-switch instructions when they appear.
- Strict execution contract: when a user explicitly invokes a skill, execute that skill protocol as written.
- Subagent authorization: when a skill is user-invoked or AI-detected and its protocol requires subagents, that skill activation authorizes use of the required
spawn_agent subagent(s) for that task.
- Do not skip, reorder, or merge protocol steps unless the user explicitly approves the deviation first.
- For workflow skills, execute each listed child-skill step explicitly and report step-by-step evidence.
- If a required step/tool cannot run in this environment, stop and ask the user before adapting.
Codex Project-Reference Loading (No Hooks)
Codex uses static project-reference loading instead of runtime-injected project docs.
When coding, planning, debugging, testing, or reviewing, open project docs explicitly using this routing.
Always read:
docs/project-config.json (project-specific paths, commands, modules, and workflow/test settings)docs/project-reference/docs-index-reference.md (routes to the full docs/project-reference/* catalog)docs/project-reference/lessons.md (always-on guardrails and anti-patterns)
Missing/stale context route: If docs/project-config.json, the docs index, lessons.md, CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, or any task-required reference doc is missing or stale, auto-run $project-init or the narrow setup route ($project-config, $docs-init, $scan-all, $scan --target=<key>, $claude-md-init) before ordinary project-specific work. If Codex mirrors or AGENTS.md are missing/stale, ask the user to run $sync-codex; do not auto-run it.
Situation-based docs:
- Backend/CQRS/API/domain/entity changes:
backend-patterns-reference.md, domain-entities-reference.md, project-structure-reference.md
- Frontend/UI/styling/design-system:
frontend-patterns-reference.md, scss-styling-guide.md, design-system/README.md
- Spec authoring,
docs/specs/ pathing, or TC format: feature-spec-reference.md, spec-system-reference.md, spec-principles.md
- Behavior/public-contract changes or spec-test-code sync:
workflow-spec-test-code-cycle-reference.md plus the spec docs above
- Derived spec indexes/ERDs/reimplementation guides:
spec-system-reference.md and source Feature Specs under docs/specs/
- Integration test implementation/review:
integration-test-reference.md
- E2E test implementation/review:
e2e-test-reference.md
- Code review/audit work:
code-review-rules.md plus domain docs above based on changed files
Do not read all docs blindly. Start from docs-index-reference.md, then open only relevant files for the task.
Quick Summary
Goal: [Workflow] Trigger Feature Implementation workflow — implement a well-defined feature with investigation, planning, implementation, and review. This workflow is spec-driven with tests by default: test specs ($spec [mode=tests]) are written and reviewed BEFORE implementation ($plan-execute), covering former TDD/test-first use cases.
Workflow:
- Detect — classify request scope and target artifacts.
- Execute — apply required steps with evidence-backed actions.
- Verify — confirm constraints, output quality, and completion evidence.
Key Rules:
- MUST ATTENTION keep claims evidence-based (
file:line) with confidence >80% to act.
- MUST ATTENTION keep task tracking updated as each step starts/completes.
- MUST ATTENTION when creating/reviewing specs or tests, name
Business Intent / Invariant Guarded or the protected business intent/invariant and ensure the test would fail if that intent breaks.
- MUST ATTENTION define success criteria before execution and loop until observable verification passes.
- MUST ATTENTION require test specs/tests to name
Business Intent / Invariant Guarded and fail if that intent breaks.
- MUST ATTENTION apply the shared SDD Artifact Contract from
shared/sdd-artifact-contract.md in the active skills root; use docs/project-config.json and docs/project-reference/docs-index-reference.md for project-specific conventions.
- MUST ATTENTION preserve expected, unchanged, and no-regression behavior in the plan and review evidence when behavior can change.
- MUST ATTENTION treat code-extracted specs and TCs as reference-only until canonical review accepts them.
- MUST ATTENTION allow any supported AI tool to implement or review when the shared contract, synced context, and local docs are available.
- NEVER skip mandatory workflow or skill gates.
Repeated Steps Disambiguation (CRITICAL for task creation)
This workflow has steps that appear multiple times. When creating tasks, use these descriptions to distinguish them:
| Step | Occurrence | Task Description |
|---|
$plan | 1st (pos 6) | PLAN₁: Feature Spec-backed implementation plan |
$plan | 2nd (pos 13) | PLAN₂: Sprint-ready plan incorporating TDD specs |
$plan-review | 1st (pos 7) | Review PLAN₁ |
$plan-review | 2nd (pos 14) | Review PLAN₂ |
$spec [mode=tests] | 1st (pos 10) | TDD-SPEC₁: Pre-implementation test specs |
$spec [mode=tests] | 2nd (pos 17) | TDD-SPEC₂: Post-implementation test spec update |
$review-artifact --type=spec-tests | 1st (pos 12) | Review TDD-SPEC₁ |
$review-artifact --type=spec-tests | 2nd (pos 19) | Review TDD-SPEC₂ |
NEVER deduplicate — each occurrence is a distinct task with a different purpose.
Conditional UI Planning
When a feature involves UI changes (detected during $scout or $investigate):
- If image/wireframe/Figma URL is provided → route to
$design-spec --mode=wireframe or $figma-design before $plan
- If
$plan detects frontend phases → ensure ui-wireframe-protocol.md sections are included in plan phases
- This is advisory — NOT a mandatory workflow step change. The existing workflow sequence remains unchanged.
Closing Rule
Every step = TaskUpdate in_progress → skill invocation → complete skill → TaskUpdate completed. No shortcuts.
[TASK-PLANNING] Before acting, analyze task scope and systematically break it into small todo tasks and sub-tasks using task tracking.
[IMPORTANT] Analyze how big the task is and break it into many small todo tasks systematically before starting — this is very important.
Existing-behavior trace gate: If the feature modifies an existing final output, persisted state, API response, projection, or user-visible workflow, include an end-to-start trace of the existing path (final reader -> storage/projection -> writer -> producer/origin), feeder paths, invariants to preserve, and forward proof for the intended new behavior before implementation.
Goal Contract propagation (workflow-owned): At workflow start, resolve the active Goal Contract per SYNC:goal-contract-satisfaction-loop (active plan goal.md → plans/goals/{YYMMDD-HHmm}-{slug}/goal.md → create from the feature request). Before $plan-execute, verify the plan's feature success criteria map to the saved criteria. Pass the same goal file reference to every child step — child skills read the SAME saved goal, never a re-derived one from chat memory. Before $workflow-end, emit the final Goal Satisfaction matrix (PASS/FAIL/BLOCKED); workflow completion requires every required criterion PASS or BLOCKED with a user-facing escalation.
IMPORTANT MANDATORY Steps: $scout -> $investigate -> $domain-analysis -> $why-review -> $spec -> $plan -> $plan-review -> $plan-validate -> $why-review -> $spec [mode=tests] -> $why-review -> $review-artifact --type=spec-tests -> $plan -> $plan-review -> $plan-execute -> $seed-test-data -> $review-domain-entities -> $spec [mode=tests] -> $why-review -> $review-artifact --type=spec-tests -> $spec [mode=sync] -> $integration-test -> $integration-test-review -> $integration-test-verify -> $workflow-review-changes -> $production-readiness-review -> $security-review -> $changelog -> $test -> $docs-update -> $workflow-end -> $watzup
IMPORTANT MANDATORY Steps: $scout -> $investigate -> $domain-analysis -> $why-review -> $spec -> $plan -> $plan-review -> $plan-validate -> $why-review -> $spec [mode=tests] -> $why-review -> $review-artifact --type=spec-tests -> $plan -> $plan-review -> $plan-execute -> $seed-test-data -> $review-domain-entities -> $spec [mode=tests] -> $why-review -> $review-artifact --type=spec-tests -> $spec [mode=sync] -> $integration-test -> $integration-test-review -> $integration-test-verify -> $workflow-review-changes -> $production-readiness-review -> $security-review -> $changelog -> $test -> $docs-update -> $workflow-end -> $watzup
[BLOCKING] Each step MUST ATTENTION invoke its skill invocation — marking a task completed without skill invocation is a workflow violation. NEVER batch-complete validation gates.
Activate the workflow-feature workflow. Run $start-workflow workflow-feature with the user's prompt as context.
Spec check (before investigation): If docs/specs/ has a spec for the affected service/module, read the relevant ERD + business-rules + API-contracts files FIRST. Engineering specs provide domain context that reduces investigation time significantly. Command: ls docs/specs/ to discover available app buckets or flat system folders; then probe ls docs/specs/{app-bucket}/ or ls docs/specs/{system-name}/ to find the specific service spec.
Steps: $scout → $investigate → $domain-analysis → $why-review → $spec → $plan → $plan-review → $plan-validate → $why-review → $spec [mode=tests] → $why-review → $review-artifact --type=spec-tests → $plan → $plan-review → $plan-execute → $seed-test-data → $review-domain-entities → $spec [mode=tests] → $why-review → $review-artifact --type=spec-tests → $spec [mode=sync] → $integration-test → $integration-test-review → $integration-test-verify → $workflow-review-changes → $production-readiness-review → $security-review → $changelog → $test → $docs-update → $workflow-end → $watzup
[PERFORMANCE-SDD ROUTE] If this feature is a performance enhancement (latency, throughput, memory, query speed, load behavior), run $performance-review and require SLA/benchmark evidence: target metric, baseline, measurement command, and acceptable regression budget. Run $plan-execute even on the performance route — never skip it. If behavior can change, run $test and any relevant functional no-regression checks. Update docs/specs for changed SLA, performance constraints, or behavior boundaries. Use project-specific performance docs from docs/project-config.json / docs/project-reference/ when available.
[AI-SDD CLOSURE] Before $workflow-end, confirm changed behavior, unchanged behavior, TCs/tests, docs/specs, and generated mirror sync are either completed or explicitly skipped with evidence.
[AI-SDD CLOSURE — POST-IMPLEMENTATION SPEC RE-VERIFY (MANDATORY)] The $spec authored at step 5 (before $plan) captured intended behavior. After $plan-execute, re-verify Feature Spec §1-7 (not only §8 TCs) against what was actually built and adjudicate every divergence per shared/sdd-artifact-contract.md → Drift Gates (SYNC:spec-drift-adjudication): CODE-WRONG → fix code/test against the spec; SPEC-STALE → run $spec [update] to record the new intended behavior, then $spec [mode=tests] [update] + $spec [mode=sync]; AMBIGUOUS → escalate to the spec owner. A feature that shipped behavior the spec does not describe leaves the spec stale and is NOT closure-ready. This re-verify is not optional cleanup — it is the "after implement, verify and create/update specs again" half of the SDD cycle.
End-to-Start Debugger Trace — For non-trivial bugs, failed verification, regression fixes, behavior-changing code, or unclear code flow, start from the observed final state and walk backward before proposing a fix.
- Frame 0: observed end state — Name the exact user-visible output, failing assertion, log line, persisted value, API response, rendered UI, or aggregate bucket. Record the reader/query/renderer that produced it with
file:line evidence.
- Walk backward one hop at a time — Trace final reader -> projection/cache/storage -> writer -> consumer/handler/job -> producer/caller -> original trigger. At every hop record: input, transformation, output, owner, and evidence.
- Enumerate all feeder paths — Find every upstream producer/caller/event/job that can write into the final path, including retry, async, cache, background, and alternate UI/API paths. Mark each path verified, ruled out, or still unknown.
- Build the hypothesis matrix — For each plausible cause, list evidence for, evidence against, how to reproduce/verify, blast radius, and status (
primary, contributing, ruled out, latent). Do not fix until competing causes are explicitly resolved or bounded.
- Choose the owning fix layer — Identify the invariant owner and the lowest shared point that protects all downstream consumers. A fix at the symptom site is rejected unless the symptom site owns the invariant.
- Prove convergence forward — After choosing the fix, walk start -> end again and show how the corrected state reaches the observed final output. Map each root cause to a fix part and each fix part to a test/proof.
BLOCKED until: final state named · backward trace written · all feeder paths enumerated · hypothesis matrix completed · owning fix layer justified · forward convergence proof mapped to tests.
NEVER: Start at the first suspicious code path. Collapse multiple producers into one "flow". Treat duplicate symptoms as duplicate records without proving the read model. Skip ruled-out hypotheses.
Nested Task Expansion Contract — For workflow-step invocation, the [Workflow] ... row is only a parent container; the child skill still creates visible phase tasks.
- Call the current task list first. If a matching active parent workflow row exists, set
nested=true and record parentTaskId; otherwise run standalone.
- Create one task per declared phase before phase work. When nested, prefix subjects
[N.M] $skill-name — phase.
- When nested, link the parent with
TaskUpdate(parentTaskId, addBlockedBy: [childIds]).
- Orchestrators must pre-expand a child skill's phase list and link the workflow row before invoking that child skill or sub-agent.
- Mark exactly one child
in_progress before work and completed immediately after evidence is written.
- Complete the parent only after all child tasks are completed or explicitly cancelled with reason.
Blocked until: the current task list done, child phases created, parent linked when nested, first child marked in_progress.
Critical Thinking Mindset — Apply critical thinking, sequential thinking. Every claim needs traced proof, confidence >80% to act.
Anti-hallucination: Never present guess as fact — cite sources for every claim, admit uncertainty freely, self-check output for errors, cross-reference independently, stay skeptical of own confidence — certainty without evidence root of all hallucination.
AI Mistake Prevention — Failure modes to avoid on every task:
Re-read files after context changes. Context compaction, resume, or long-running work can make memory stale; verify current files before acting.
Verify generated content against source evidence. AI hallucinates APIs, names, claims, and document facts. Check the relevant source before documenting or referencing.
Check downstream references before deleting or renaming. Removing an artifact can stale docs, generated mirrors, configs, and callers; map references first.
Trace the full impact chain after edits. Changing a definition can miss derived outputs and consumers. Follow the affected chain before declaring done.
Verify ALL affected outputs, not just the first. One green check is not all green checks; validate every output surface the change can affect.
Assume existing values are intentional — ask WHY before changing. Before changing a constant, limit, flag, wording, or pattern, read nearby context and history.
Surface ambiguity before acting — don't pick silently. Multiple valid interpretations require an explicit question or stated assumption with risk.
Keep shared guidance role-relevant. Universal guidance must help every receiving skill or agent; code-specific obligations belong only in code-specific protocols.
Incremental Result Persistence — MANDATORY for all sub-agents or heavy inline steps processing >3 files.
- Before starting: Create report file
plans/reports/{skill}-{date}-{slug}.md
- After each file/section reviewed: Append findings to report immediately — never hold in memory
- Return to main agent: Summary only (per SYNC:subagent-return-contract) with
Full report: path
- Main agent: Reads report file only when resolving specific blockers
Why: Context cutoff mid-execution loses ALL in-memory findings. Each disk write survives compaction. Partial results are better than no results.
Report naming: plans/reports/{skill-name}-{YYMMDD}-{HHmm}-{slug}.md
Sub-Agent Return Contract — When this skill spawns a sub-agent, the sub-agent MUST return ONLY this structure. Main agent reads only this summary — NEVER requests full sub-agent output inline.
## Sub-Agent Result: [skill-name]
Status: ✅ PASS | ⚠️ PARTIAL | ❌ FAIL
Confidence: [0-100]%
### Findings (Critical/High only — max 10 bullets)
- [severity] [file:line] [finding]
### Actions Taken
- [file changed] [what changed]
### Blockers (if any)
- [blocker description]
Full report: plans/reports/[skill-name]-[date]-[slug].md
Main agent reads Full report file ONLY when: (a) resolving a specific blocker, or (b) building a fix plan.
Sub-agent writes full report incrementally (per SYNC:incremental-persistence) — not held in memory.
Context budget — the return payload is a SUMMARY, not a transcript: ≤10 finding bullets, no raw file contents / full diffs / verbatim logs inline, no re-pasted source. Everything beyond the summary lives in the Full report on disk. A sub-agent that would exceed the summary shape MUST write the detail to its report and return only the pointer — the orchestrator's context is the scarce resource the whole map-reduce protects.
IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION debugger trace gate: for non-trivial bug/fix/investigation/review work, start at the observed final output and trace backward through reader -> storage/projection -> writer -> consumer/job -> producer/trigger. Enumerate all feeder paths and hypotheses before fixing. BLOCKED until trace, hypothesis matrix, owning fix layer, and forward convergence proof exist.
- MANDATORY Parent workflow rows do not replace child phase tracking; expand phases and link the parent when nested.
- MANDATORY Orchestrators pre-expand child skill phases before invocation; use
[N.M] $skill-name — phase prefixes and one-in_progress discipline.
- MANDATORY Resolve the active Goal Contract BEFORE work (active plan
goal.md → plans/goals/{YYMMDD-HHmm}-{slug}/goal.md → create from current request) and read saved success criteria before editing.
- MANDATORY Append iteration evidence after execution; emit a Goal Satisfaction matrix (PASS/FAIL/BLOCKED) before reporting PASS; loop on validated FAIL; escalate repeated no-progress or blockers. NEVER store secrets in goal files.
Closing Reminders
IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION Goal: [Workflow] Trigger Feature Implementation workflow — implement a well-defined feature with investigation, planning, spec-driven test-first implementation, and review.
Protocols in force (concise digest of the SYNC/shared blocks this skill carries):
- End To Start Debugger Trace: trace observed output backward; matrix hypotheses before fixing.
- Nested Task Creation: expand child phases; link parent when nested.
- Critical Thinking: trace every claim; confidence >80% to act.
- AI Mistake Prevention: verify generated content against evidence, trace downstream references, verify all affected outputs, re-read after context loss, surface ambiguity.
- Incremental Persistence: append findings to report file; never hold in memory.
- Subagent Return Contract: sub-agents return summary only; NEVER inline full output; report on disk.
IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION apply Phase 1 compression before structural enhancement; preserve semantic meaning.
IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION NEVER alter YAML frontmatter, code blocks, tables, or SYNC-tag bodies during optimization.
IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION keep evidence gates and mandatory workflow/skill steps explicit and enforceable.
IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION add a final review task to verify output quality and unresolved risks.
Hookless Prompt Protocol Mirror (Auto-Synced)
Source: .claude/.ck.json + .claude/skills/shared/sync-inline-versions.md (:full blocks) + .claude/scripts/lib/hookless-prompt-protocol.cjs
[WORKFLOW-EXECUTION-PROTOCOL] [BLOCKING] Workflow Execution Protocol — MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST CRITICAL. Do not skip for any reason.
Generic portability boundary: Reusable skills and protocol text stay project-neutral; project-specific conventions are discovered from docs/project-config.json and docs/project-reference/. Apply shared AI-SDD from shared/sdd-artifact-contract.md. Read docs/project-config.json and docs/project-reference/docs-index-reference.md, then open the project reference docs named there. For spec, test-case, behavior-change, public-contract, or docs/specs/ work, route through the local spec docs named by the docs index: feature-spec-reference.md, spec-system-reference.md, spec-principles.md, and workflow-spec-test-code-cycle-reference.md when specs/tests/code must stay synchronized. If either file or a required reference doc is missing or stale, auto-run $project-init (or the narrow lower-level route such as $project-config, $docs-init, $scan-all, or $scan --target=<key>) before ordinary project-specific work. Any supported AI tool may execute when this shared context and local docs are available.
- DETECT: If the prompt starts with an explicit slash skill/workflow command, execute it directly. Otherwise match the prompt against the workflow catalog and skill list.
- ANALYZE: Choose the best option: execute directly, invoke a skill, activate a standard workflow, or compose a custom step combination.
- AUTO-SELECT: Pick the best option yourself. Do not ask the user to choose between direct execution, skill, standard workflow, or custom workflow.
- ACTIVATE: For a selected workflow, call
$start-workflow <workflowId>; for a selected skill, invoke that skill; for a custom workflow, sequence custom steps directly; for direct execution, proceed with the task.
- CREATE TASKS: task tracking for ALL workflow/skill/custom steps before execution when the selected path has multiple steps.
- EXECUTE: Advance per the Workflow Step Advancement & Parallel Phases rule in your context instructions — model-driven; a sub-agent completion advances a step identically to an inline call; a parallel-phase group is an all-return barrier (advance only after ALL members return, never serialize it)
Shared AI-SDD Protocol Markers
Source: .claude/skills/shared/sync-inline-versions.md
SYNC:ai-sdd-artifact-contract
AI-SDD Artifact Contract — Shared spec-driven development rules stay portable and source-owned.
- Keep reusable AI-SDD principles in
.claude; put repository-specific paths, commands, owners, products, and formats in project config/reference docs.
- Preserve cycle:
spec -> plan -> tasks -> implement -> verify -> update spec/docs.
- Trace every requirement or invariant through decision, task, TC/test, source evidence, and docs/spec update.
- Treat code-to-spec extraction as reference-only until accepted by the canonical spec owner.
- Any supported AI tool may plan, implement, review, or verify with synced context; using multiple tools is optional.
- Update
.claude source first, then sync generated mirrors; do not manually edit .agents, .codex, or AGENTS.md. — why: mirrors are generated artifacts; hand-edits are overwritten on the next sync
- If
docs/project-config.json, root instruction files, or a required project-reference doc is missing or stale, auto-run $project-init or the narrow lower-level route before ordinary project-specific work.
Active reference: shared/sdd-artifact-contract.md in the active skills root.
SYNC:ai-sdd-artifact-contract:reminder
- MANDATORY Apply
shared/sdd-artifact-contract.md; keep reusable AI-SDD in .claude and local rules in project docs.
- MANDATORY Code-to-spec extraction is reference-only until canonical acceptance; any supported AI tool may execute with synced context.
- MANDATORY Update
.claude source before syncing generated mirrors; do not manually edit .agents, .codex, or AGENTS.md.
- MANDATORY Missing or stale project config, root instruction files, or required reference docs route project-specific work through
$project-init or the narrow setup route automatically.
[TASK-PLANNING] [MANDATORY] BEFORE executing any workflow or skill step, create/update task tracking for all planned steps, then keep it synchronized as each step starts/completes.
[LESSON-LEARNED-REMINDER] [BLOCKING] Task Planning & Continuous Improvement — MANDATORY. Do not skip.
Break work into small tasks (task tracking) before starting. Add final task: "Analyze AI mistakes & lessons learned".
Extract lessons — ROOT CAUSE ONLY, not symptom fixes:
- Name the FAILURE MODE (reasoning/assumption failure), not symptom — "assumed API existed without reading source" not "used wrong enum value".
- Generality test: does this failure mode apply to ≥3 contexts/codebases? If not, abstract one level up.
- Write as a universal rule — strip project-specific names/paths/classes. Useful on any codebase.
- Consolidate: multiple mistakes sharing one failure mode → ONE lesson.
- Recurrence gate: "Would this recur in future session WITHOUT this reminder?" — No → skip
$learn.
- Auto-fix gate: "Could
$code-review/$code-simplifier/$security-review/$lint catch this?" — Yes → improve review skill instead.
- BOTH gates pass → ask user to run
$learn.
[CRITICAL-THINKING-MINDSET] Apply critical thinking, sequential thinking. Every claim needs traced proof, confidence >80% to act.
Anti-hallucination principle: Never present guess as fact — cite sources for every claim, admit uncertainty freely, self-check output for errors, cross-reference independently, stay skeptical of own confidence — certainty without evidence root of all hallucination.
AI Attention principle (Primacy-Recency): Put the 3 most critical rules at both top and bottom of long prompts/protocols so instruction adherence survives long context windows.
Goal-driven execution: Define success criteria first, loop until verified, and stop only when observable checks pass.
Tests verify intent: Tests must protect business rules/invariants and fail when the protected intent breaks, not only mirror current behavior.
Common AI Mistake Prevention (System Lessons)
- Re-read files after context compaction. Edit requires prior Read in same context; compaction wipes read state. Re-read before editing.
- Grep for old terms after bulk replacements. AI over-trusts find/replace completeness. Grep full repo after bulk edits for missed refs in docs/configs/catalogs.
- Check downstream references before deleting. Deletions cascade doc/code staleness. Map referencing files before removal.
- After memory loss, check existing state before creating new. Compaction wipes prior-work memory. Query current state to resume — never blindly duplicate.
- Verify AI-generated content against actual code. AI hallucinates APIs, class names, method signatures. Grep to confirm existence before documenting/referencing.
- Trace full dependency chain after edits. Changing a definition misses downstream consumers. Trace the full chain.
- When renaming, grep ALL consumer file types. Some file types silently ignore missing refs (no compile error). Search code, templates, configs, generated files.
- Trace ALL code paths when verifying correctness. Code existing ≠ code executing. Trace early exits, error branches, conditional skips — not just happy path.
- Update docs that embed canonical data when source changes. Docs inlining derived data (workflows, schemas, configs) go stale silently. Update all embedding docs alongside source.
- Verify sub-agent results after context recovery. Background agents may finish while parent compacted — grep-verify output, don't trust assumed completion.
- Cross-check full target list against sub-agent assignments. Parallel sub-agents by category miss boundary items. Reconcile union of assignments against target list before proceeding.
- Sub-agents inherit knowledge only from their agent .md definition — use custom agent types, not built-in Explore. Tool adoption = permission + knowledge + enforcement (numbered workflow step).
- Persist sub-agent findings incrementally, not as a final batch. Long sub-agents hit cutoffs before final write — findings lost. Instruct append-per-section to report file.
- When debugging, ask "whose responsibility?" before fixing. Trace caller (wrong data) vs callee (wrong handling). Fix at responsible layer — never patch symptom site.
- Grep ALL removed names after extraction/refactoring. Primary file "done" ≠ secondary files clean. Grep entire scope for every removed symbol before declaring complete.
- Assume existing values are intentional — ask WHY before changing. Pattern-matching as "wrong" skips context. Before changing any constant/limit/flag: read comments, git blame, surrounding code.
