| name | maestro:challenge |
| description | Adversarially review a grooming spec before implementation starts. Finds hidden risks, unvalidated assumptions, and missing dependencies. Standalone entry point for the challenger agent. |
| argument-hint | <issue-number> |
Challenge
Standalone adversarial spec review. Runs the full challenger analysis on an existing
grooming spec and outputs a verdict (APPROVED / NEEDS_REVISION / BLOCKED) with
MoSCoW-classified findings. Posting to the GitHub issue is your choice — you are
prompted at the end.
Step 1 — Read config and locate files
Read .claude/maestro.json. Extract:
TEMP_ROOT = .ai.temp_root
REPO = .ai.repo
Use $ARGUMENTS as the issue number N. Then verify both files exist:
- Issue file:
{TEMP_ROOT}/issues/<N>/issue.md
- Spec file:
{TEMP_ROOT}/issues/<N>/spec.md
If the spec does not exist, tell the user: "No spec found for issue #N. Run
/maestro:groom <N> first to produce one." Stop here.
If only the issue file is missing, run the issue sync to fetch it:
bash .claude/skills/issue-workflow/scripts/issue-sync.sh <N>
Step 2 — Invoke the challenger agent
Invoke the challenger sub-agent with:
- Issue number
N
- Issue file path:
{TEMP_ROOT}/issues/<N>/issue.md
- Spec file path:
{TEMP_ROOT}/issues/<N>/spec.md
plan_version: 1 (or detect from the spec's Plan v<N> header if present)
CURRENT_MODEL: "standalone"
session_learnings: read Section 13 of AGENTS.md if it exists, else pass empty string
STANDALONE MODE — one difference from the normal pipeline run:
Skip the StructuredOutput JSON return. Output the full human-readable verdict
(APPROVED / NEEDS_REVISION / BLOCKED) and findings in a section titled
## Challenge Report, using the same format the orchestrator would receive
(verdict, MoSCoW-classified findings, alternative suggestions).
Step 3 — Offer to post
After the agent responds, display its ## Challenge Report and ask:
Post this challenge report as a comment on issue #<N>?
Reply yes to post, no to finish here.
If yes — post as an issue comment with dedup:
EXISTING_ID=$(gh api repos/{REPO}/issues/<N>/comments \
--jq '[.[] | select(.body | contains("<!-- ai-pipeline:challenge -->"))] | last | .id // empty')
Update with PATCH if found, otherwise post a new comment. Body always starts with
<!-- ai-pipeline:challenge -->.
If no — finish. Remind the user: if the verdict is NEEDS_REVISION, the spec at
{TEMP_ROOT}/issues/<N>/spec.md should be updated before running /maestro:groom <N>
again or starting implementation.