| name | add-detector |
| description | Scaffolds a new detection/analysis module in your platform's extensible service — module code, registry registration, config wiring, telemetry signal contract, and verification at every tier. Use when adding a new detection or analysis capability to a plugin-style service. |
Add a new detection/analysis module
This skill is a TEMPLATE. It encodes the generic workflow for extending a plugin-style service; the placeholders (<your-detection-service>, signal prefixes, tier names) are meant to be replaced. After /init, specialize this skill for your org: document your service's actual extension pattern in .aif/context/ (e.g. .aif/context/detector-pattern.md) and rewrite the placeholder sections below to point at real files, interfaces, and conventions. The workflow shape — find a precedent → learn the contract → implement → register → emit telemetry → test at each tier — survives specialization unchanged.
Overview
Adds a new detection/analysis module to <your-detection-service>, registers it in the service's module registry, wires its config, and confirms its signals flow through your observability pipeline — without breaking the service's dynamic signal-extraction contract (if it has one).
When to use
- Adding a new detection/analysis capability to an extensible service (a new content check, a new classification signal, a new external-API-backed analyzer, etc.)
- The module emits signals that should land in your observability store and surface in your platform's signal UI
Don't use for:
- One-off tweaks to an existing module with no new signal keys
- New non-detection CRUD/admin concepts → use
/new-admin-module
If this introduces a new platform-level promise ("we now detect X"), run /feature-prep FIRST — if your org keeps a spec registry (config key org.spec_registry), it may need a spec-only PR before the module code lands. If org.spec_registry is absent, skip the registry gate and say so.
Before starting, confirm
Ask the user. Do not proceed without all six.
- Module name: match the service's convention (typically snake_case), e.g.
phishing, pattern_repetition
- What does it detect? One sentence
- Tier / category — extensible services usually bucket modules by execution profile, and the bucket picks the directory and config section. Typical tiers (replace with your service's actual ones, documented in
.aif/context/):
builtin (sync, local CPU only — keyword/regex/static analysis)ml (calls an internal model service)cloud (calls an external third-party API)webhook (customer-registered HTTPS endpoint)
- Signal outputs — what the module emits, classified per the service's signal contract (commonly: boolean flags, numeric scores, string labels)
- Target taxonomy category, if the platform maintains a threat/finding taxonomy. If it doesn't, skip and say so.
- Does it need scoped/hot-reloadable config? (e.g. per-tenant keyword lists). If yes, the module must implement the service's config-reload interface; otherwise a plain config struct.
The signal contract (MUST follow)
Most mature pipelines extract module signals dynamically by naming convention — a single extraction function classifies emitted values by type and key pattern, so new modules need zero changes to telemetry code, storage schema, or frontend. Find that function once (in <your-detection-service>'s telemetry layer) and record its rules in .aif/context/.
A typical contract looks like this — replace with your service's actual one:
| Signal type | Value type | Key convention | Telemetry attribute |
|---|
| Flag | bool (often only true is emitted) | descriptive name | <prefix>.flag.<key> |
| Score | numeric | a required suffix, e.g. _score/_confidence/_ratio | <prefix>.score.<key> (often normalized) |
| Label | non-empty string (sentinels like "none"/"unknown" dropped) | descriptive name | <prefix>.meta.<key> |
| Complex (array/map) | any | raw attributes only, no dedicated column | (raw JSON) |
Follow the conventions and no storage / backend / frontend changes are needed. Break them and signals silently disappear — the pipeline drops what it can't classify.
Process
1. Find the precedent module
Every extensible service has a canonical example per tier. Find the module closest to yours (same tier, similar signal shape) and read it end to end, including its tests. If .aif/context/ names the canonical examples, start there; otherwise locate them yourself (list the module directory, pick the most-referenced or best-tested sibling) and record what you found.
2. Understand the interface contract
Read the module interface the service defines (e.g. an interface.go / abstract base class in the module package). Typical members: name/version, tier, the detect/analyze entrypoint, a declaration of the signal keys the module promises to emit, and a health check. Also identify:
- How results carry signals (usually a key→value map on the result object)
- Whether a config-reload interface exists for scoped/hot-reloadable config
Do not invent methods — copy the shape from the precedent module.
3. Implement the module
Create the module file in the directory your tier dictates, alongside its siblings in <your-detection-service>. Emit signals through the result's signal map following the contract from the table above, e.g. (illustrative):
"phishing_detected": true → flag
"phishing_score": 85 → score (suffix-bound)
"phishing_type": "credential" → label
"phishing_urls": [...] → raw attributes only (complex)
Declare the signal contract (the keys you promise to emit, with types) wherever the interface requires it.
4. Add the config struct to central config
Most services keep all module config in one central config file with per-tier sections. Add your module's config struct/section there, matching the convention of the tier you picked. Do not create a per-module config file unless the service's pattern uses them.
5. Register the module
Find where modules of your tier are registered at startup (a per-tier registration function in the service's main/startup path is common). Add the explicit registration call for your module with its config.
Check whether the service auto-discovers modules — most don't. If registration is explicit, forgetting this step means the module compiles but never runs.
6. Add the environment config entry
- Local/dev: the config the local stack consumes. If
local_stack.dir is set in .aif/config.yml, the service's dev config lives under that directory; otherwise ask the user where dev config lives.
- Production: your org's deployed app config for
<your-detection-service>.
Shape per tier — match what's already in the file (enabled flag, endpoints, timeouts, circuit-breaker settings, whatever your tier's siblings declare).
7. Verify telemetry emission
Sanity-check the signal-extraction function you found in step 2. Confirm your keys classify the way you intend (flag vs. score vs. label vs. raw).
No edits should be needed. If you find yourself wanting to edit the extraction function, your signal naming is wrong — rename your keys instead.
8. Confirm the downstream store handles new signals
If your pipeline materializes signals into a store (a materialized view, an ingestion transform, an ETL job), confirm it routes by the same prefix/type conventions — not a hardcoded key list.
No migration should be needed. If the transform uses a hardcoded key list, that's a bug in the transform — every future module would break the same way. Flag it rather than adding your key to the list.
9. Unit-test the module
Sibling test file, following the precedent module's test style (table-driven tests with positive/negative cases are typical):
- An input designed to trigger detection → expected flag/score/label
- A benign input → no signal
Run the service's test suite (e.g. make test in <your-detection-service>).
10. Local integration test
Bring up the local stack. If .aif/config.yml has a local_stack: section, use it:
cd <local_stack.dir>
<local_stack.up_command>
If local_stack: is absent, ask the user how to run the service locally, or fall back to the service's own README/Makefile.
Then exercise the service with input designed to trigger the module, and query the observability store directly to confirm your new signal keys landed in the right buckets (flags/scores/labels or your pipeline's equivalents).
11. Verify the display layer
If your platform has a signal UI, open it against the local stack and confirm the new signals render (flags as indicators, scores as bars/values, labels as rows — whatever the UI's generic rendering does).
No frontend changes should be needed if the UI renders signals generically. If it doesn't render, diagnose your signal naming first — don't add module-specific frontend code.
12. Verify in the shared dev environment after deploy
After merge and deploy to your shared dev environment (environments.dev.name in .aif/config.yml):
- If an MCP server is configured (
mcp.namespace set), use its mcp__<namespace>__* tools to confirm the module is registered, fire it with synthetic positive input, and check for error-rate or latency regressions.
- If no MCP server is configured, say so and use local alternatives: the ordered
environments.dev.observability sequence from config, kubectl if available, or direct queries — never fabricate live state.
- If
environments.dev is absent entirely, skip this step and tell the user shared-environment verification wasn't configured.
13. Add to the taxonomy if needed
If this surfaces a new category and your platform maintains a taxonomy (a taxonomy repo or package):
- Update the taxonomy source
- Rebuild/republish it per its own conventions
- Bump the version if other repos pin it
Skip and say so if there's no taxonomy.
14. Documentation + commit
- Update
<your-detection-service>'s CLAUDE.md if introducing a new pattern
- Update your architecture docs (
org.adr_dir neighborhood, or wherever service docs live) with the module's purpose
- Single PR: module file + config struct + registration + environment config + taxonomy + tests + docs
- Subject:
feat: add <module> detector — must match org.commit_prefix_regex (see ~/.claude/aif-references/commit-prefix-check.md; conventional commits if the key is absent)
- After push, the
pr-shepherd agent handles mechanical CI failures
Rationalizations (and rebuttals)
| You'll be tempted to think… | Why it's wrong |
|---|
| "I'll skip the naming convention; the key reads better without the suffix" | Then the value lands in raw attributes only, not the classified bucket. The UI won't render it. Follow the convention. |
| "I'll add a hardcoded key to the ingestion transform" | The transform is intentionally convention-based. Hardcoding a key means every future module breaks the same way. |
| "I'll emit this count as-is and add a special case downstream" | The contract is convention-driven on purpose. Rename the key to fit the contract instead. |
| "I'll add frontend rendering manually for this one module" | Defeats the dynamic-extraction contract. The frontend is generic; if it doesn't render, your naming is wrong. |
| "An empty/sentinel label is fine, it just shows blank" | Pipelines typically drop empty strings and sentinels. Decide: emit a real value, or don't emit the key. |
| "I'll skip explicit registration; surely the registry auto-discovers" | Verify before assuming. If registration is explicit, the registration call is the only way the module runs. |
Red flags
- You're editing the signal-extraction function in the service's telemetry layer. Your naming is wrong; rename instead.
- You're adding a hardcoded key to the ingestion transform. It should be convention-based; do not hardcode.
- The UI doesn't show your signal. Diagnose in this order: signal naming (convention/type), then startup registration, then the emitted telemetry attribute, then the store's column/bucket types.
- You skipped
/feature-prep because "it's just one module." If this is a new platform promise and your org keeps a spec registry, the spec needs an entry first.
- You haven't verified with synthetic positive input after deploy. Always sanity-check in the shared dev environment (or say why you couldn't).
Verification
Done when:
Common pitfalls
- Score key doesn't follow the required naming convention → emitted but never classified as a score. Rename.
- Label value is a sentinel (
"none"/"unknown"/"N/A") → dropped. Emit a real value or skip the key.
- Complex type emitted as a signal → no dedicated column; lands in raw attributes only. Stick to bool/numeric/string for classified signals.
- Forgot the registration call → compiles, never runs.
- Forgot the config struct/section → config unmarshal silently leaves zero values; module starts with empty config.
- Not running
/feature-prep first → mid-implementation discovery that the spec registry needed an entry. Cheaper upfront.
