Use after either validate-rewrite has returned Approved on a spec rewrite (standard mode) or rewrite-specs has landed an extension rewrite directly on a branch (extend mode), when the user wants to land code that makes the rewrite true. Drives a single-pass implementation where Cohesive owns the substrate-shaped intent (thin paragraph anchored to the spec diff) and the end-of-run reviewer dispatch — dual (delta-coverage-reviewer + cohesive:review-diff, AND-shape) in standard mode, or solo (cross-mirror-reviewer) in extend mode; Superpowers owns plan writing and TDD execution. Triggers on "implement the approved rewrite", "land docs with implementation", "implement-cohesively", "drive implementation against the rewrite", "ship the rewrite", "extend the existing concept". Always preceded by either validate-rewrite Approved (standard) or rewrite-specs extension commit (extend); always pairs with superpowers:writing-plans and superpowers:executing-plans.
Use after either validate-rewrite has returned Approved on a spec rewrite (standard mode) or rewrite-specs has landed an extension rewrite directly on a branch (extend mode), when the user wants to land code that makes the rewrite true. Drives a single-pass implementation where Cohesive owns the substrate-shaped intent (thin paragraph anchored to the spec diff) and the end-of-run reviewer dispatch — dual (delta-coverage-reviewer + cohesive:review-diff, AND-shape) in standard mode, or solo (cross-mirror-reviewer) in extend mode; Superpowers owns plan writing and TDD execution. Triggers on "implement the approved rewrite", "land docs with implementation", "implement-cohesively", "drive implementation against the rewrite", "ship the rewrite", "extend the existing concept". Always preceded by either validate-rewrite Approved (standard) or rewrite-specs extension commit (extend); always pairs with superpowers:writing-plans and superpowers:executing-plans.
Implement cohesively
What this skill produces
The skill operates in one of two modes, picked from the inputs:
Mode
Trigger
Required inputs
End-of-run reviewer dispatch
standard
Reached via implement route, post-validate-rewrite-Approved
Validation review path (with **Rewrite-tip:** SHA) + branch name
Reached via extend route, post-rewrite-specs-extension
Change-surface description + branch name
Solo: cross-mirror-reviewer
The two modes share most of the body — what differs is the input contract (Step 0), how the spec-diff boundary is established (Step 1), and the end-of-run reviewer dispatch (Step 3). The middle (writing-plans + executing-plans + Step 3.5 cleanup) is identical.
Shared outputs across both modes:
A branch with implementation commits that make every promise in the spec diff true in code, test, and CI.
A spec-diff snapshot at .cohesive/tmp/<slug>-spec-diff.patch, captured at Step 1 before any implementation commits land. This is the substrate-shaped source of work.
A single per-pass implementation plan at docs/cohesive/plans/<YYYY-MM-DD>-<slug>.md, authored by superpowers:writing-plans from a thin intent paragraph the skill composes — committed during the run as ephemeral run scaffolding.
An end-of-run reviewer dispatch (dual in standard mode, solo in extend mode — see table above).
On Implemented verdict only: a single cleanup commit at Step 3.5 that strips ephemeral artifacts (per-pass plan, spec-diff snapshot, discovery report if present) before handoff. The cleanup commit is the breadcrumb back from main to pre-cleanup branch history.
A handoff to superpowers:finishing-a-development-branch (or repair to the relevant earlier skill) based on the verdict.
This is the second of Cohesive's flagship skills that owns code-producing work indirectly. The skill itself writes no code: it composes with superpowers:writing-plans (which authors the plan) and superpowers:executing-plans (which writes code with TDD). The Cohesive contribution is the substrate-shaped framing: anchoring the implementation intent to the spec diff, surfacing the diff-size budget gate before invocation, and dispatching the appropriate end-of-run reviewer(s) per mode.
Voice
Read ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/references/output-voice.md before rendering chat output. The voice guide is the load-bearing source for verdict-leads, header-depth cap, density budgets, and forbidden phrasings; the imperative above is what triggers the model to load it via a Read tool call. Do not reproduce the imperative or any citation to the voice guide inside the Output format render template — instructions placed inside render templates leak verbatim into user-facing output.
Hard constraints
Required inputs are mode-conditional, declared as paths. This skill's prereqs are paths, not session state — the canonical clarifying question does not apply. Required inputs differ by mode (see §"What this skill produces"); the dispatching context (the cohesively router via the implement or extend route, a prior validate-rewrite Approved render the user is acting on, a prior rewrite-specs extension run, or direct user invocation) supplies them explicitly.
Standard mode requires the validation review path (with **Rewrite-tip:** SHA) plus the branch name. Extend mode requires the change-surface description plus the branch name; Step 0 dispatches discover-substrate scoped to the change surface to find sibling sites.
If any required input is missing, stop with a directive error. The directive names the missing input and the upstream skill that produces it. Standard-mode directives:
Missing validation review for slug `<slug>`. Run cohesive:validate-rewrite first;
expected output at docs/cohesive/reviews/<date>-<slug>-rewrite-validation.md
with a **Rewrite-tip:** SHA header line on Approved verdict.
Missing rewrite branch for slug `<slug>`. Run cohesive:rewrite-specs and
cohesive:validate-rewrite first; expected branch `design/<slug>` with
rewrite commits and an Approved validation review.
Extend-mode directives:
Missing change-surface description for extend mode. Provide one or two
sentences naming what to extend (e.g., "add HOME to SurfaceRole"), or
route through cohesive:cohesively which will ask the gate question and
collect this input.
Missing rewrite branch for extend mode. Run cohesive:rewrite-specs first
to land the extension commit on `design/<slug>`; expected branch with
at least one `design: rewrite specs for ...` commit ahead of main.
Do not ask the canonical forced-choice question and do not invent paths. Per ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/references/cohesion-rubric.md §"Verdict → severity-floor mapping (validate-rewrite)", Approved is the only verdict that unlocks standard mode — verify the supplied review's verdict line is **Verdict:** Approved before proceeding; on any other verdict, refuse with a pointer to the appropriate upstream skill. Extend mode does not require a validate-rewrite verdict (the route deliberately skips that stage).
Compose with Superpowers; do not reinvent its execution discipline. This skill invokes superpowers:writing-plans once to author the per-pass plan and superpowers:executing-plans once to execute it. The skill never authors a TDD-shaped plan directly and never writes code itself. If Superpowers is not installed, the skill stops with a hard error and recommends installation — the inline 5-line worktree fallback in rewrite-specs does not apply here, because plan-writing and TDD execution are not 5-line operations.
Single per-pass plan covers the spec diff. Every promise in the spec diff (standard mode: git diff $(merge-base main <rewrite-tip>)..<rewrite-tip> using the SHA from the validation review; extend mode: git diff $(merge-base main HEAD)..<rewrite-tip-commit> where <rewrite-tip-commit> is the most recent design: rewrite specs commit on the branch) is covered by the single plan authored from the thin intent paragraph. Step 1 hands the spec diff to writing-plans as the work to do; an uncovered promise is a substrate violation the end-of-run reviewer will flag.
End-of-run reviewer dispatch is mandatory and mode-conditional. Standard mode dispatches delta-coverage-reviewer (Task subprocess, paths-only inputs, fresh eyes, spec-diff-vs-implementation-diff input contract) and cohesive:review-diff (Cohesive skill, substrate alignment scope) in parallel; verdict synthesized AND-shape. Extend mode dispatches cross-mirror-reviewer solo (Task subprocess, paths-only inputs, fresh eyes, sibling-site + extension-shape input contract); its verdict is the run's verdict directly. Skipping the dispatch in either mode is a violation. See §"Verdict synthesis" below.
Step 3.5 cleanup is gated on Implemented verdict. On Implemented (standard: dual Pass; extend: Covered), Step 3.5 strips ephemeral artifacts (per-pass plan, spec-diff snapshot, discovery report when present) via a single cleanup commit before handoff. On Coverage Drift / Substrate Drift / Aborted, Step 3.5 does not fire — ephemeral artifacts remain on the branch for the next attempt or post-mortem. The cleanup commit's body lists removed paths verbatim; a cleanup commit without that list is a violation. See §"Step 3.5. Post-implementation cleanup" for operational steps.
Diff-size budget gate fires above threshold. Step 1 surfaces the spec-diff changed-line count before invoking superpowers:writing-plans. When the count exceeds 1000 (default; tunable in a follow-up substrate change), the skill pauses for user confirmation. The gate is the structural mitigation for mega-plan abandonment risk. Below threshold the gate is invisible; above threshold, skipping the surfacing or invoking writing-plans without confirmation is a violation. Applies in both modes.
Process
The skill body uses Step 0 and Step 4 for preflight and handoff bookends, Step 1 / Step 2 / Step 3 for the three structural steps the named invariant IMPLEMENTATION_COVERS_SPEC_DIFF references, and Step 3.5 for the ephemeral-cleanup step inserted between Step 3 and Step 4. Citations to "Step 1" / "Step 2" / "Step 3" / "Step 3.5" elsewhere in the substrate (the invariant, anti-patterns, acceptance criteria) refer to the headings in this section by exactly those labels.
Step 0. Resolve inputs and confirm prereqs
The first action of Step 0 is mode detection: standard or extend.
Mode detection rule. If the inputs include a validation review path AND no change-surface description, mode is standard. Else if the inputs include a change-surface description AND no validation review path, mode is extend. Otherwise halt with a directive error:
Cannot detect mode for slug `<slug>`. Either both inputs supplied or neither.
Standard mode requires a validation review path (post-validate-rewrite-Approved).
Extend mode requires a change-surface description (post-rewrite-specs-extension).
Supply exactly one. If you intend standard mode, drop the change-surface input;
if extend mode, drop the validation review path.
The rest of Step 0 then branches on mode:
Standard mode inputs:
Validate-rewrite Approved verdict path — usually docs/cohesive/reviews/YYYY-MM-DD-<slug>-rewrite-validation.md. The skill verifies the verdict is Approved and parses the **Rewrite-tip:** SHA from the header.
Branch name — typically design/<slug> from the rewrite worktree. Implementation lands on this branch (or a child branch — see §"Branch shape" below).
Substrate discovery report path (optional) — passed to the end-of-run reviewers for context.
Standard-mode verification: Verify the rewrite-tip SHA exists in branch history via git cat-file -e <SHA>. On missing (e.g., the branch was rebased after Approved), halt with a directive error:
Rewrite tip SHA `<X>` not found on branch `design/<slug>`.
The branch was likely rebased or rewritten after validate-rewrite Approved.
Re-run cohesive:validate-rewrite to capture a fresh rewrite-tip SHA.
Extend mode inputs:
Change-surface description — one or two sentences naming what to extend (e.g., "add HOME to SurfaceRole"). This is what the extend route's dispatch contract supplies.
Branch name — typically design/<slug> from the rewrite worktree (the extension rewrite already landed via rewrite-specs).
Extend-mode discovery dispatch: Dispatch cohesive:discover-substrate via the Skill tool, scoped to the change surface, to enumerate sibling sites (everywhere the existing concept is referenced, pattern-matched, or enumerated). The dispatch prompt names the change surface and instructs discovery to focus on the locations a future implementer would need to update. Capture the discovery report path returned — it is an input to Step 1's intent paragraph and to the end-of-run reviewer dispatch.
Extend-mode verification: Verify the branch has at least one design: rewrite specs for ... commit ahead of main via git log main..HEAD --grep="^design: rewrite specs" -n 1 --format=%H returning non-empty. Capture this SHA as the rewrite-tip commit for Step 1. On missing, halt with the extend-mode directive error per Hard constraint #1.
If any other required input is missing, halt with the directive error per Hard constraint #1; do not ask the canonical forced-choice question and do not invent paths.
Step 1. Capture the spec diff and dispatch writing-plans
Capture the spec diff to a tmp file. The capture command differs by mode:
Standard mode uses the rewrite-tip SHA parsed at Step 0:
REWRITE_TIP=<SHA from validation review file>
mkdir -p .cohesive/tmp
git diff $(git merge-base main $REWRITE_TIP)..$REWRITE_TIP > .cohesive/tmp/<slug>-spec-diff.patch
Extend mode uses the rewrite-tip commit captured at Step 0 (the latest design: rewrite specs commit on the branch):
REWRITE_TIP=<SHA from Step 0's git log lookup>
mkdir -p .cohesive/tmp
git diff $(git merge-base main $REWRITE_TIP)..$REWRITE_TIP > .cohesive/tmp/<slug>-spec-diff.patch
In both modes the spec diff is anchored to a stable SHA, not to "HEAD at invocation time" — this makes Coverage Drift retries and interrupted runs handle cleanly (same SHA → same spec diff, even after partial implementation commits land).
Surface the diff-size budget gate before composing the intent. Count changed lines via wc -l < .cohesive/tmp/<slug>-spec-diff.patch:
If the changed-line count is at or below 1000, proceed silently to intent composition.
If above 1000, render the budget surfacing in chat and pause for user confirmation:
This spec diff has <N> changed lines. Single-pass implementation produces one large plan;
executing-plans runs may abandon on context overflow. Confirm to proceed, or run
cohesive:rewrite-specs to split the rewrite into smaller pieces first.
On confirm: proceed. On abort: exit with Aborted verdict and recommend scope reduction via cohesive:rewrite-specs. The 1000-line threshold is a v0.1 default; tighten or relax in a follow-up substrate change as real-world rewrite sizes inform the budget.
After the gate clears, compose the thin intent paragraph and pass it to superpowers:writing-plans via the Skill tool. The format differs by mode:
Standard mode — three lines:
Make this spec diff true in code: .cohesive/tmp/<slug>-spec-diff.patch.
Constraints: <named invariants the docs cite; reference by INVARIANT_NAME>.
Acceptance: cohesive:implement-cohesively dispatches delta-coverage-reviewer (verifies every spec-diff promise is delivered) and cohesive:review-diff (verifies substrate alignment with the rewritten specs) at end-of-run; both must Pass.
Extend mode — three lines, with sibling sites surfaced from the discovery report:
Make this spec diff true in code: .cohesive/tmp/<slug>-spec-diff.patch.
Sibling sites to update (from discovery): <bulleted list of file:line refs from the discovery report at <path>>.
Acceptance: cohesive:implement-cohesively dispatches cross-mirror-reviewer at end-of-run; it returns Covered (all sibling sites updated + diff stays within extension shape), Sites Missing (close the gaps and re-run), or Bigger than extension (the change went beyond extension; re-route).
The intent paragraph is the substrate-shape→TDD-shape seam. writing-plans reads the spec diff and produces the TDD-shape plan; the intent paragraph names what the plan must accomplish in substrate terms. Capture the plan path that writing-plans returns (docs/cohesive/plans/<YYYY-MM-DD>-<slug>.md); it is an input to the end-of-run reviewer dispatch.
Step 2. Execute the plan
Invoke superpowers:executing-plans via the Skill tool with the persisted plan path. Superpowers owns TDD discipline inside this step: failing test first, minimal implementation, refactor. The skill does not interleave; it waits for the implementation commits to land on the branch.
Implementation commits cite the plan path they implement. The commit-message convention executing-plans produces should include that citation; if it does not, the skill body's Hard constraint #3 plus the named invariant IMPLEMENTATION_COVERS_SPEC_DIFF govern the citation requirement.
Step 3. End-of-run reviewer dispatch
After the last implementation commit lands, dispatch the appropriate reviewer(s) for the mode.
Standard mode — dual dispatch in parallel:
delta-coverage-reviewer (Task subprocess) with subagent_type: delta-coverage-reviewer. The dispatch prompt names: the spec-diff patch path (.cohesive/tmp/<slug>-spec-diff.patch captured at Step 1), the per-pass plan path, the branch name, and the rewrite-tip SHA (so the reviewer can compute the implementation diff = git diff <rewrite-tip>..<branch-tip>). The reviewer compares spec-diff vs implementation-diff and returns one of three verdicts: Covered / Drift / Incomplete. Persist the reviewer's output at docs/cohesive/reviews/<YYYY-MM-DD>-<slug>-coverage-review.md.
cohesive:review-diff (Skill tool dispatch) scoped to the branch with the validation review path (carrying the rewrite-tip SHA) passed as additional context. The skill dispatches its own reviewer agents (substrate-alignment + structure) per its Process. The verdict is one of: Pass / Pass with notes / Needs substrate / Risky / Block. The persisted review lives at docs/cohesive/reviews/<YYYY-MM-DD>-<slug>-final-substrate-review.md.
Both dispatches happen in the same turn (the harness's parallel-tool-call pattern). Wait for both to complete before synthesizing the verdict.
Extend mode — solo dispatch:
cross-mirror-reviewer (Task subprocess) with subagent_type: cross-mirror-reviewer. The dispatch prompt names: the spec-diff patch path (captured at Step 1), the per-pass plan path, the branch name, the rewrite-tip SHA (for computing the implementation diff), the substrate discovery report path (the sibling-site list from Step 0), and the change-surface description. The reviewer compares each sibling site to the implementation diff and checks whether the diff stays within extension shape. It returns one of three verdicts: Covered / Sites Missing / Bigger than extension. Persist the reviewer's output at docs/cohesive/reviews/<YYYY-MM-DD>-<slug>-cross-mirror-review.md.
The extend-mode dispatch is one Task call; the reviewer's verdict is the run's verdict directly (no AND-shape synthesis).
Verdict synthesis
Internal verdict mapping differs by mode but the external vocabulary (Implemented / Coverage Drift / Substrate Drift / Aborted) is unified.
Standard-mode synthesis (AND-shape from the dual reviewers):
delta-coverage-reviewer
cohesive:review-diff
Internal verdict
Covered
Pass / Pass with notes
Implemented
Drift / Incomplete
Pass / Pass with notes
Coverage Drift
Covered
Needs substrate / Risky / Block
Substrate Drift
Drift / Incomplete
Needs substrate / Risky / Block
Substrate Drift (wins on dual-fail; the rewrite was misformulated, which makes coverage gaps downstream)
(not dispatched)
(not dispatched)
Aborted (Step 3 did not run — the user paused before reviewers dispatched, e.g., declined the budget gate or stopped during Step 2)
Extend-mode synthesis (direct from cross-mirror-reviewer's verdict):
cross-mirror-reviewer
Internal verdict
Covered
Implemented
Sites Missing
Coverage Drift
Bigger than extension
Substrate Drift (the diff went beyond extension shape; the change should be re-routed through the heavy path with cohesive:rewrite-specs + cohesive:validate-rewrite)
(not dispatched)
Aborted (Step 3 did not run)
The internal verdict translates to the user-facing label per ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/references/verdict-vocabulary.md §"implement-cohesively". Render the chat trailer per §"Output format" below; persist the synthesis (which reviewer flagged what) in the trailer's ## End-of-run review body block. Aborted does not run reviewers and does not fire Step 3.5.
Step 3.5. Post-implementation cleanup
Fires only on Implemented verdict. On any other verdict, skip directly to Step 4 — ephemeral artifacts remain on the branch for the next attempt or post-mortem.
git rm (or rm for untracked files) the ephemeral paths for this slug — currently docs/cohesive/plans/<YYYY-MM-DD>-<slug>.md, .cohesive/tmp/<slug>-spec-diff.patch, and docs/cohesive/discovery/<slug>.md if present — and produce a single commit whose body lists the removed paths verbatim:
git rm <enumerated paths>
git commit -m "implement: clean up post-implementation scaffolding for <slug>
Removed:
- <path 1>
- <path 2>
Recoverable via 'git log --all -- <pattern>' from pre-cleanup branch history.
"
The verbatim removed-paths body is the breadcrumb a forensic reader on main follows back to branch history. Capture the cleanup commit SHA for the trailer's Branch state slot. Then proceed to Step 4.
Step 4. Hand off
Announce the verdict and the recommended next step. Do not invoke superpowers:finishing-a-development-branch automatically — branch finishing is a user action.
Output format
The skill renders the centralized chat trailer per ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/references/templates/chat-trailer.md. The chat render is the decision-rendering of what landed per ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/references/output-voice.md rule 2a (with sub-rules 2b / 2c).
Verdict translation. The internal verdict (Implemented / Coverage Drift / Substrate Drift / Aborted) renders in the chat trailer as the user-facing label per ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/references/verdict-vocabulary.md §"implement-cohesively". The user-facing label preserves the internal token so dispatch grep targets still resolve.
Body block specification. Per the §"Variants" implement-cohesively row of the centralized template: a ## Code matches locked design slot leads (synthesized from the end-of-run reviewer dispatch — AND-shape in standard mode, direct from cross-mirror in extend mode; this is the build→done verification the user reads first), followed by ## End-of-run review block surfacing the reviewer verdict(s) with path(s) to persisted output(s), and ## Branch state (branch + implementation commit count + plan path). Long-form review detail lives in the persisted reviewer output files, not chat. Render only non-empty sections per the chat-trailer template's §"Render-only-non-empty rule"; the per-section conditions are enumerated in the §"Render-conditional rules for the body block" subsection below.
Render-conditional rules for the body block. The render template below is the agent's literal output template; it does not carry meta-instructions or comments inline (instructions inside render templates leak into user-facing output). The render conditions live here, in prose, instead:
## Code matches locked design — the spec-coverage slot. Render exactly one of three shapes, matching the internal verdict:
Internal Implemented (Covered + Pass / Pass with notes) — render **Code matches locked design:** ✓ and omit the divergent-items list.
Internal Coverage Drift or Substrate Drift — render **Drift detected:** ✗ <count> places followed by a bulleted list of divergent items (file:line + what's divergent), aggregated from the reviewer output(s) (both in standard mode; the cross-mirror output in extend mode).
Internal Aborted (the user paused before Step 3 ran) — omit both lines and the divergent-items list; the slot collapses to its header. The Branch state section below carries the partial state.
## End-of-run review — renders on Implemented / Coverage Drift / Substrate Drift only. Standard mode renders two bullets (coverage + substrate); extend mode renders one bullet (cross-mirror). Each bullet names the reviewer verdict and the path to its persisted output. Omitted on Aborted (Step 3 did not run).
## Branch state — always renders. On Implemented verdict, includes the cleanup commit SHA on a Cleanup commit: line so the user can reference the pre-cleanup boundary for forensic recovery via git log --all -- docs/cohesive/plans/<slug>.md. On Coverage Drift / Substrate Drift / Aborted, the cleanup-commit line is omitted (Step 3.5 did not fire).
### Next — renders one bullet, matching the internal verdict. The four Internal <verdict>: shapes below show the four possible renders; the chat trailer carries exactly one. This implements the per-verdict-branch recommendation rule in the chat-trailer template's §"How ### Next carries payload" — the payload is the matching bullet, not the full set.
# Implementation Complete — <topic>
**Verdict:** <user-facing label per `${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/references/verdict-vocabulary.md` §"implement-cohesively" — e.g., **Implementation complete** / **Coverage gap — re-run to fill** / **Implementation went beyond the design** / **Implementation paused**>
**Thesis:** <one or two sentences — what landed and what it means, in decision-shape>
## Code matches locked design
<one of the three shapes per the prose rules above; omit the slot's content entirely on Aborted>
## End-of-run review
*(Standard mode renders both rows; extend mode renders only the cross-mirror row.)*
- Coverage: <Covered | Drift | Incomplete> — `docs/cohesive/reviews/<YYYY-MM-DD>-<slug>-coverage-review.md` *(standard mode only)*
- Substrate: <Pass | Pass with notes | Needs substrate | Risky | Block> — `docs/cohesive/reviews/<YYYY-MM-DD>-<slug>-final-substrate-review.md` *(standard mode only)*
- Cross-mirror: <Covered | Sites Missing | Bigger than extension> — `docs/cohesive/reviews/<YYYY-MM-DD>-<slug>-cross-mirror-review.md` *(extend mode only)*
## Branch state
- Branch: `design/<slug>`
- Implementation commits: <count>
- Plan: `docs/cohesive/plans/<YYYY-MM-DD>-<slug>.md` (committed during the run at `docs/cohesive/plans/`)
- Cleanup commit: `<SHA>` *(rendered only on Implemented verdict; SHA points at the Step 3.5 commit that stripped ephemeral artifacts)*
### Next
<one decision-shaped bullet, matching the internal verdict — the four shapes are enumerated below; the chat trailer renders exactly one>
The four ### Next bullet shapes (one renders per invocation, matching the internal verdict):
Internal Implemented: Substrate and code agree; ready to ship. (superpowers:finishing-a-development-branch.)Scope: the design/<slug> branch.
Internal Coverage Drift: Repair the named coverage gaps, then re-invoke. (cohesive:implement-cohesively resume.)Scope: the spec-diff hunks the coverage reviewer flagged as Drift / Incomplete. Resume semantics: re-invocation reads the same Rewrite-tip: SHA from the validation review file (or the same rewrite-specs extension commit, in extend mode) — Step 1's spec-diff capture is idempotent across resumes. The user closes the named gaps by landing new implementation commits on the branch; Step 3's end-of-run dispatch re-runs against the updated implementation diff (now wider). No new "resume" input is required — the skill detects partial implementation by computing git diff <rewrite-tip>..HEAD and treating the result as the implementation diff regardless of how many resume cycles produced it.
Internal Substrate Drift: Extend the design to cover what the implementation introduced, or revert the divergent code. (cohesive:rewrite-specs.)Files to edit: . Slug: <derived-from-original-slug>-extension. (Extend mode: this verdict means the change was misclassified as extension and went beyond extension shape. Re-route through cohesive:cohesively and pick "Introducing a new concept" at the change-type gate, OR revert the divergent code and keep the change as a pure extension.)
Internal Aborted: Implementation paused at user request. (No follow-up skill required.) The branch state is whatever the last implementation commit landed.
Anti-patterns (Red Flags)
Anti-pattern
Why it's wrong
Fix
Skipping superpowers:writing-plans to "save tokens"
Collapses the substrate-shape→TDD-shape seam; the end-of-run coverage reviewer cannot distinguish "plan didn't cover spec-diff promise" from "implementation didn't execute plan"
Always invoke writing-plans; the per-pass plan is the inspectable bridge artifact
Authoring TDD-shaped tasks directly from the spec diff
Reinvents superpowers:writing-plans; defeats the composition seam
Pass the thin intent paragraph (which references the spec-diff patch path) to writing-plans; let it produce TDD shape
Producing code from this skill body
The skill orchestrates; it never writes code itself
All code-writing happens inside superpowers:executing-plans
Skipping the end-of-run reviewer dispatch
The reviewer dispatch is the substrate-side enforcement of IMPLEMENTATION_COVERS_SPEC_DIFF. Standard mode: skipping or sequencing the dual reviewers defeats parallel-fresh-eyes. Extend mode: skipping cross-mirror-reviewer leaves sibling-site coverage unverified.
Dispatch the mode-appropriate reviewer(s) per Hard constraint #4; standard mode dispatches both in parallel and waits for both; extend mode dispatches solo.
(Standard mode) Substituting cohesive:review-diff's coverage check for the dedicated delta-coverage-reviewer
Folds two distinct concerns (substrate alignment vs delta coverage) into one prompt; one lens crowds out the other under token pressure
Keep the reviewers separate; the AND-shape synthesis at §"Verdict synthesis" combines them
Ignoring the diff-size budget gate above threshold
The gate is the structural mitigation for mega-plan abandonment; bypassing it makes abandonment silent
Surface the changed-line count and pause for confirmation per Step 1; honor abort as Aborted verdict
Recomputing the spec diff at invocation time instead of using the rewrite-tip SHA
Diff drifts as implementation commits land; Coverage Drift retries become impossible
Step 1 anchors the spec diff to the SHA captured in the validation review file, not to HEAD
Branch finishing is a user action per Cohesive↔Superpowers seam
Recommend; do not invoke
Pre-summarizing the design for the dispatched reviewers
Bypasses fresh-eyes
Pass paths only; never summarize the rewrite for the agent
Branch shape
The implementation lands on the same design/<slug> branch the rewrite produced. The rewrite commit and the implementation commits live on one branch, in commit order. This is what "land docs with implementation" means in practice: the merge brings spec and code together. If the rewrite commit was already merged separately, the implementation lands on a fresh implement/<slug> branch off the merge — but the default is one-branch-end-to-end.
Composition
Preceded by (mode-conditional):
Standard mode:validate-rewrite (Approved verdict required).
Extend mode:rewrite-specs (extension rewrite committed on design/<slug>); validate-rewrite is deliberately skipped per the extend route's design.
Composes with:
superpowers:writing-plans — single per-pass plan authoring (both modes).
superpowers:executing-plans — single per-pass TDD execution (both modes).
Followed by:superpowers:finishing-a-development-branch (Implemented verdict) or repair via cohesive:rewrite-specs (Substrate Drift) or repair via re-invocation (Coverage Drift).
Acceptance criteria
Step 0 detects mode (standard if validation review path supplied; extend if change-surface description supplied; halts otherwise).
Standard mode: an Approved validate-rewrite verdict path is in the inputs; Step 0 parses the **Rewrite-tip:** SHA from the validation review file and verifies it exists in branch history via git cat-file -e.
Extend mode: a change-surface description is in the inputs; Step 0 dispatches cohesive:discover-substrate scoped to the change surface; Step 0 captures the rewrite-tip commit SHA from git log main..HEAD --grep="^design: rewrite specs".
Step 1 captures the spec diff at the rewrite-tip SHA into .cohesive/tmp/<slug>-spec-diff.patch; surfaces the changed-line count when above 1000 and pauses for user confirmation; below threshold the gate is invisible (both modes).
Step 1's thin intent paragraph references the spec-diff patch path; the format is exactly the three lines specified per mode (standard: Make / Constraints / Acceptance; extend: Make / Sibling sites / Acceptance).
Step 2 invokes superpowers:executing-plans against the persisted plan path; implementation commits cite the plan path (both modes).
Standard mode Step 3: dispatches delta-coverage-reviewer and cohesive:review-diff in parallel; both reviewers receive only paths (spec-diff patch, per-pass plan path, branch name, rewrite-tip SHA); never a pre-summarized design narrative.
Extend mode Step 3: dispatches cross-mirror-reviewer solo; the reviewer receives only paths (spec-diff patch, plan path, branch name, rewrite-tip SHA, discovery report path, change-surface description); never a pre-summarized design narrative.
Standard mode: Step 3 synthesizes the verdict AND-shape per §"Verdict synthesis"; only Covered + (Pass | Pass with notes) synthesizes to Implemented.
Extend mode: Step 3's verdict is the cross-mirror-reviewer's verdict directly (Covered → Implemented, Sites Missing → Coverage Drift, Bigger than extension → Substrate Drift).
Step 3.5 fires on Implemented verdict only (both modes) and produces a single cleanup commit whose message body lists removed ephemeral paths verbatim. On Coverage Drift / Substrate Drift / Aborted, Step 3.5 does not fire.
The trailer's ## Branch state slot surfaces the cleanup commit SHA on Implemented verdict; on other verdicts, the cleanup-commit line is omitted.
The skill never invokes superpowers:finishing-a-development-branch — handoff is a user action.
What this skill is not
Not a code generator. It writes no code; superpowers:executing-plans does that.
Not a planner. It produces the thin intent paragraph (substrate-shape); superpowers:writing-plans produces the plan (TDD-shape).
Not a substitute for cohesive:review-diff. The end-of-run substrate-alignment review is a delegation, not a built-in.
Not a substitute for branch finishing. superpowers:finishing-a-development-branch owns merge mechanics.
Not a substitute for validate-rewrite. The Approved verdict is a prereq, not produced here.
