Deep multi-agent audit of the current codebase that ends in an executable artifact — ratchet/AUDIT.md (understanding + findings) and ratchet/BACKLOG.md (prioritized items with evidence, minimal specs, and runnable acceptance criteria, in ratchet:v1 format). Use when the user says "audit this repo", "ratchet audit", "review the codebase and give me a backlog", or before pointing /ratchet-loop at a project for the first time. Read-only: changes no source files.
Create, validate, extend, groom, and migrate ratchet BACKLOG.md files — from TODO/FIXME comments, GitHub issues, a PRD/notes file, or plain conversation. Enforces the ratchet:v1 and ratchet:v2 contracts, especially the core invariant "no acceptance criteria, no item"; v2 adds parallel lanes (per-lane state files) for multi-agent execution. Use when the user says "make a backlog", "ratchet backlog", "validate the backlog", "add an item", "migrate the backlog to v2", or "turn these issues/TODOs into a backlog".
Execute a ratchet BACKLOG.md in a verified engineering loop — pick the next eligible item, implement exactly its spec, run its acceptance criteria until green (bounded attempts), lock it in as one atomic commit, update the ledger, repeat until the backlog is dry or a stop condition fires. Supports ratchet:v2 parallel lanes via --lane, so several agents can work one backlog concurrently. Use when the user says "run the backlog", "ratchet", "work through BACKLOG.md", "run the api lane", or wants autonomous-but-verified execution of a prepared item list. Requires a backlog conforming to the ratchet:v1 or ratchet:v2 format.
Turn a ratchet BACKLOG.md + Ledger into a prioritized, model-routed execution plan (ratchet/NEXT.md) — what to do next, who should do each item (an autonomous cheap model, a supervised cheap model, a senior model, or a human decision), in what order, and with what verification. Read-only. Changes no code, no items, no ledger. Use after /ratchet-audit, after a /ratchet-loop run, or when the user asks "what should I do next?" about a project that has a ratchet backlog.
Release runbook that takes verified local work to a green deploy — full local preflight, diff and secret review, push per the repo's convention, watch CI to completion, run the smoke checklist, and leave rollback notes. Use when the user says "ship it", "ratchet ship", "release", or after /ratchet-loop finishes a batch and the work should go out.