debt-ops-add

name

debt-ops-add

description

Register a deferred decision in the tech-debt registry. Trigger by judgment, not a marker scan, whenever a future reader would ask "why this way?": an unmade decision, stub, loosened type, bypassed check, swallowed error, a default picked "for now", or a TODO/FIXME/HACK/XXX marker. Trigger immediately whenever you defer work, or when the user asks to log/register tech debt. Over-register freely; the developer drops with "drop A", "drop A,C", or "drop all".

debt-ops-add — register a tech-debt entry

Call the bundled register.py via your shell tool. It lives in this skill's scripts/ directory — reference it with the relative path below (your agent resolves it against the skill root). The helper writes the entry under the repo's detected registry dir (default docs/debt/), assigns a short batch letter (A, B, C…), and prints exactly one line: +1 entry: <slug> (<letter>). That stdout IS the user-facing announcement — add no commentary before or after.

The call

python3 scripts/register.py \
  --slug <slug> \
  --principal <effort, e.g. 2d, 1w, unknown> \
  --interest <ongoing cost, e.g. "+30min/incident", unknown> \
  --hotspot <path or module, e.g. pricing/engine.ts, unknown> \
  --business-capability <e.g. checkout, billing, unknown> \
  --payoff-trigger <concrete trigger, or "unknown"> \
  --quadrant <reckless-inadvertent|reckless-deliberate|prudent-inadvertent|prudent-deliberate> \
  --category <migration|documentation|testing|code_quality|dead_code|code_rot|expertise|release|infrastructure|planning> \
  --ai-authored <true|false> <<'EOF'
<body: 2-5 sentences — what the debt is, why it exists, observed symptoms>
EOF

The helper:

• Generates the timestamp id itself (no date call needed).
• Resolves filename collisions when two registrations land in the same second.
• Tracks the letter mapping in ~/.cache/debt-ops/cache/<repo-hash>/current-turn.txt (override the base with DEBT_OPS_CACHE) so the user can drop by letter.

Slug

1–4 word kebab-case label of what the debt is. Examples: cancelled-promotion-callback, legacy-auth-shim, unfinished-rate-limiter. Keep it short — the body carries the context.

Schema notes

• Quadrant (Fowler): reckless-inadvertent (didn't know better), reckless-deliberate (knew, did it anyway), prudent-inadvertent (learned afterward), prudent-deliberate (deliberate, with a payoff plan).
• Category (Google / Jaspan-Green): pick the closest match.
• payoff_trigger: unknown is first-class. Don't manufacture a trigger to fill the field — unknown ages into stale review and that's the point.
• ai_authored: true is the leading behavioral signal — be honest.

Drops

• drop A, drop A,C, drop all — on tools with a debt-ops hook adapter this is handled automatically. Without an adapter (skills-only tool), delete the matching entry yourself: read ~/.cache/debt-ops/cache/<repo-hash>/current-turn.txt for the letter → filename mapping, then rm <registry-dir>/<filename>.
• drop it or drop <slug> — delete it yourself: rm <registry-dir>/<id>-<slug>.md (default registry dir docs/debt/). Treat dropping as cheap — over-registering is the intended posture.

Don't

• Don't ask the developer for confirmation before writing. The discipline is "no permission prompt; just do it."
• Don't write the file directly with an editor tool — letter assignment depends on going through register.py.
• Don't echo or paraphrase the helper's output. The shell tool result is already visible to the user.
• Don't fill payoff_trigger with a guess to seem certain.