sdlc-auto-steering

name	sdlc-auto-steering
description	Use only as part of the Agentic SDLC workflow; use when an active SDLC run needs private `STEERING.md` refreshed from mid-run user prompts, requirements, design, context, locked plans, fingerprints, or recent evidence before selecting the next phase.

SDLC Auto Steering

Purpose

Refresh private runtime steering for an active Agentic SDLC run without changing committed product-truth documents directly.

When To Use

• sdlc-start detects new user instructions submitted during an active run.
• STEERING.md has pending, stale, or conflicting entries.
• Requirements, design, context, locked plan, fingerprints, or evidence changed and the active feature needs compact reminders before the next phase.
• The feature loop is about to enter planning, implementation, validation, tests, evaluation, document update, UAT, PR creation, or review.

When Not To Use

• Do not use outside an active Agentic SDLC run.
• Do not use to author initial requirements or design.
• Do not use to decide the next SDLC phase directly; sdlc-start owns routing.
• Do not use as a cron job, daemon, workflow CLI, or hook orchestrator.
• Do not use to update committed README, changelog, or project docs; use sdlc-update-documents.

Inputs

• Active user prompt or continuation prompt.
• docs/requirements.md.
• docs/design.md when present.
• Active run state under ~/.codex/sdlc-runs/<project-id>/<run-id>/.
• Existing STEERING.md.
• Current feature context pack, locked plan, fingerprints, checkpoint, and recent evidence.

Required Reads

• docs/requirements.md.
• docs/design.md when present.
• run.json, current-state.json, feature-queue.json, fingerprints.json, checkpoints/latest.json, and the latest checkpoint.
• STEERING.md.
• Current feature context pack and locked plan when present.
• Recent validation, test, evaluation, document-update, UAT, PR, review, or failure evidence relevant to the current feature.
• assets/templates/STEERING.md.template when creating or repairing steering.
• assets/templates/auto-steering.json.template when creating or repairing machine-readable steering state.

Writes

• STEERING.md in the active private run directory.
• steering/auto-steering.json in the active private run directory.
• Steering fingerprint or summary fields in fingerprints.json when needed.
• A checkpoint or history note only through the coordinator handoff expected by sdlc-start; this skill does not bypass checkpoint ownership.

Process

• Reload active state and existing steering before classifying anything.
• Append each new mid-run user prompt to the steering inbox, using a redacted summary when the prompt contains secrets, credentials, private endpoints, customer data, raw logs, or other unsafe material.
• Classify every unresolved steering entry as one of: runtime-only, requirements-change, design-change, docs-update, resolved, superseded, rejected, or needs-human.
• Treat requirements-change and design-change as routing requests for sdlc-start; do not let them become implementation truth until the owning product-truth document has been updated by sdlc-create-requirements or sdlc-create-design.
• Derive compact active reminders from requirements, design, current feature, locked plan, context, evidence, and unresolved steering entries.
• Keep STEERING.md human-readable and keep steering/auto-steering.json machine-readable with the same pending disposition state.
• Return the requested routing signal for sdlc-start instead of invoking the next SDLC phase directly.

Idempotency

• Rerunning with unchanged prompts, specs, fingerprints, evidence, and steering must not duplicate inbox entries or reminders.
• Preserve append-only prompt history unless an entry is redacted, superseded, or explicitly marked resolved.
• Replace compact active reminders with the newest derived set for the current feature instead of accumulating stale reminders.
• Keep resolved or superseded entries available as history, but do not inject them into the active reminder set.

Failure Handling

• Missing active run state maps to HUMAN_INPUT_REQUIRED and routes to sdlc-start.
• Conflicting steering that cannot be resolved from product-truth docs maps to needs-human.
• Unsafe prompt content is redacted and classified with a safe summary; raw secrets or customer data must not be persisted.
• Product-truth drift routes to sdlc-create-requirements or sdlc-create-design.
• Documentation-only drift routes to sdlc-update-documents.

Must Not

• Commit STEERING.md or private steering state.
• Edit docs/requirements.md or docs/design.md.
• Edit implementation code, tests, project README, changelog, or PR text.
• Use OS cron, background daemons, or hooks as the authoritative steering engine.
• Store secrets, tokens, private endpoints, customer data, or raw noisy logs in steering state.
• Inject the entire steering inbox into the parent context; inject only compact active reminders and unresolved routing decisions.

Completion Criteria

• New user prompts are recorded or safely redacted in STEERING.md.
• Every unresolved steering entry has a disposition.
• Active reminders are compact, current, and tied to the active feature.
• Machine-readable steering state agrees with STEERING.md.
• sdlc-start has enough information to choose exactly one next skill.

SDLC Invariants

• Treat docs/requirements.md and docs/design.md as committed product truth.
• Only sdlc-create-requirements writes docs/requirements.md; only sdlc-create-design writes docs/design.md. Other skills route spec changes to those owners.
• Keep run state, plans, evidence, steering, screenshots, and transcripts under ~/.codex/sdlc-runs/<project-id>/<run-id>/.
• When an active run exists, reload current-state.json and the latest checkpoint before changing phase or writing evidence.
• Work on one feature at a time unless the user explicitly asks for a different SDLC shape.
• Classify every failure before retrying or routing backward.
• Treat hooks as invariant guardrails only; do not make hooks orchestrate the workflow.

Learning Loop

When using this skill, capture durable, reusable, public-safe learnings back into this skill's local source materials before completion when the current task contract allows source edits. Update the narrowest appropriate surface: SKILL.md for runtime rules, references/ for detailed guidance, assets/ for reusable templates, scripts/ for deterministic helpers, and README or changelog entries for human-facing or release-note updates.

If the current task is explicitly read-only/report-only, or source writes are outside this skill's task contract, do not edit skill sources; report the skipped source update instead.

Do not capture secrets, private URLs, customer data, raw logs, one-off local state, or unverified/vendor-specific claims. If a useful learning is not safe, not evidence-backed, or outside this skill's scope, report that it was skipped.

Output Contract

Return a concise result with:

• Active run and feature handled.
• Steering entries appended, redacted, resolved, superseded, or left pending.
• Active reminders created or refreshed.
• Routing request for sdlc-start, if any.
• Failure classification and next action when blocked.
• Confirmation that private steering state was kept out of committed project files.

References

• Use assets/templates/STEERING.md.template when creating or repairing the human-readable steering ledger.
• Use assets/templates/auto-steering.json.template when creating or repairing machine-readable steering state.