| name | discovery |
| description | Progressive Discovery — Systematically analyzes project ideas through a structured workflow and transforms them into an actionable master plan |
| triggers | ["discovery","project plan","master plan"] |
| user-invocable | true |
| allowed-tools | ["Read","Write","Glob","Grep","WebSearch","WebFetch","AskUserQuestion","Agent"] |
Progressive Discovery
Related rules:
docs/specs/question-principles.md
docs/specs/research.md
docs/specs/c-suite-analysis.md
Transforms a project idea into an actionable master plan through a structured 7-phase workflow (Phase 0-6).
Input
- Project directory (current working directory)
Output
- 30+ research files + master-plan.md under the
docs/00-discovery/ directory
- All discovery documents are produced in the user's conversation language
Pre-output checklist (required before generating the master plan)
Verify every item before generating the master plan. If any item is incomplete, go back and complete it.
Schema compliance check (required before persisting to .ww-w-ai/)
Verify the JSON output before writing to .ww-w-ai/standards/discovery/:
Output persistence
After Phase 6 completes, persist execution metadata to .ww-w-ai/standards/discovery/:
- Create the
.ww-w-ai/standards/discovery/ directory if it does not exist
- Write
latest.json -- structured metadata following templates/schema.json
- Write
latest.md -- execution summary following templates/report.template.md
- Archive to
history/ -- copy latest.json to .ww-w-ai/standards/discovery/history/{timestamp}.json
latest.md is produced in the user's conversation language. JSON field names remain in English regardless of language.
The JSON output captures execution metadata (Phases completed, number of searches, C-Suite consensus, etc.).
The full discovery output is maintained under docs/00-discovery/. Only the metadata is stored under .ww-w-ai/.
Workflow overview
flowchart LR
P0["Phase 0<br/>Context scan"] --> P1["Phase 1<br/>Idea parsing"]
P1 --> GATE{"User confirmation<br/>Idea finalized"}
GATE --> P2["Phase 2<br/>Research<br/>(auto 3 depths)"]
P2 --> P3["Phase 3<br/>C-Suite<br/>(parallel)"]
P3 --> P4["Phase 4<br/>YAGNI filter"]
P4 --> P5["Phase 5<br/>Scope breakdown"]
P5 --> P6["Phase 6<br/>Master plan"]
Key point: Once the idea is finalized in Phase 1, Phases 2-6 proceed automatically without user confirmation.
Phase 0: Context scan
Assess the current project state.
- Scan the current directory structure (
Glob)
- Check existing documentation (
CLAUDE.md, README.md, docs/)
- Identify the tech stack (
package.json, pubspec.yaml, Cargo.toml, etc.)
- Check existing PDCA history
Output: docs/00-discovery/research/context.md -- current-state summary
Phase 1: Idea parsing + execution mode selection
Structure the user's idea and determine the execution mode.
- Ask the user to describe the idea (
AskUserQuestion)
- Extract the core elements:
- Problem: what problem does it solve?
- Target user: who is it for?
- Value proposition: how does it differ from existing alternatives?
- Scope: what is the initial scope?
- Present a structured form and obtain user confirmation
- Execution mode selection (
AskUserQuestion):
Choose how to execute Phases 2-6:
1. Automatic -- non-stop automatic progression through to the master plan (recommended)
2. Manual -- proceed after per-category auto/manual selection
| Mode | Phase 2 | Phases 3-6 | Suitable situation |
|---|
| Automatic | all 8 categories automatic (non-stop) | all automatic | fast results, clear idea |
| Manual | per-category auto/manual selection | confirm after each Phase | deep analysis of specific categories |
Manual mode -- per-category execution selection
When Manual mode is selected, decide the execution method for every category at once before Phase 2 begins (AskUserQuestion, multiSelect):
Select categories to run automatically (the rest will be manual):
[v] 1. User/problem validation
[v] 2. Market size and trends
[v] 3. Competitor/alternative analysis
[ ] 4. Solution/technical approach <- manual (confirm before proceeding)
[ ] 5. Tech stack/infrastructure <- manual
[v] 6. Content/data strategy
[v] 7. Business model
[v] 8. Legal/regulatory environment
- Checked categories: auto-progress through Depth 3, record results only
- Unchecked categories: present per-depth results, obtain user confirmation, allow course correction
Output: docs/00-discovery/01-idea.md -- idea structuring document + execution mode
Phase 2: Progressive research (automatic progression)
Perform deep searches up to Depth 3 automatically per category. All 8 categories complete without user confirmation.
Automatic depth progression: categories progress depth 1 -> 2 -> 3 automatically (details: see ../../docs/specs/research.md)
8 categories (in order, automatic):
- User/problem validation
- Market size and trends
- Competitor/alternative analysis
- Solution/technical approach
- Tech stack/infrastructure
- Content/data strategy
- Business model
- Legal/regulatory environment
Per category:
- Depth 1: 3 broad searches -> whole picture
- Depth 2: 3 deep searches on key points -> dig into core findings
- Depth 3: 3 verification searches -> cross-validation + gap filling
- Early termination possible (once sufficient information is secured)
Cross-category parallelism: independent categories are executed in parallel via the Agent tool. Issue multiple Agent calls simultaneously in one turn to speed up processing.
- Group A (parallel): 1. User, 2. Market, 3. Competition
- Group B (parallel, after A): 4. Solution, 5. Technology, 6. Content
- Group C (parallel, after B): 7. Business model, 8. Legal/regulation
Within each group, categories run concurrently as separate Agent calls:
# Group A execution example (3 Agents invoked concurrently in one turn)
Agent 1: Category 1 User/problem validation depth 1->2->3
Agent 2: Category 2 Market size and trends depth 1->2->3
Agent 3: Category 3 Competitor/alternative analysis depth 1->2->3
Output: docs/00-discovery/research/{NN}-{category}-depth{N}.md (category x depth)
Phase 3: C-Suite validation
Analyze in parallel from 10 executive perspectives.
CEO, CFO, CTO, CMO, COO, CRO, CPO, CLO, CHRO, CSO
(details: see c-suite-analysis.md)
Output: docs/00-discovery/03-csuite-analysis.md (consolidated), docs/00-discovery/research/csuite-raw-*.md (individual raw)
Phase 4: Solution and YAGNI
Remove over-engineering.
- Extract a feature candidate list from the Phase 2-3 results
- Apply the YAGNI test to each feature:
- "Is it needed right now?"
- "Is the MVP impossible without it?"
- "Does adding it later cost roughly the same?"
- Classify as Must-have / Should-have / Could-have / Won't-have (MoSCoW)
Output: docs/00-discovery/04-solution-yagni.md
Phase 5: Sub-plan map (full project scope)
Define every domain that composes the project and each domain's scope.
Include for each domain:
- Domain name
- Item list (concrete features/tasks)
- Priority (MVP / v1.0 / v2.0)
- Dependencies (which domain comes first?)
Domains differ per project. Derive them from the Phase 1-4 results of the project at hand.
Detailed specs are not produced here. The sub-plan for each domain is authored separately in the PDCA Plan (docs/01-plan/features/*.plan.md).
Output: docs/00-discovery/05-sub-plan-map.md
Phase 6: Master plan generation
Generate 00-master-plan.md + detailed chapters.
00-master-plan.md required content:
- Summary (problem/target/value/Go-NoGo)
- Roadmap (
v1.0): Alpha(0.1) -> Beta -> MVP -> Release(1.0)
- Post v1.0: research-grounded expansion directions (user decides)
- Core summary + links for chapters 01-05
- Change log
- Assumptions register
Detailed chapters: 01-idea, 02-research, 03-csuite, 04-yagni, 05-sub-plan-map
The master plan is a decision-support document.
What to do next is decided by the reader.
Output: docs/00-discovery/00-master-plan.md + docs/00-discovery/01~05-*.md + docs/00-discovery/research/
Core rules
HARD-GATE
- Never write code before Phase 6 is complete
- Even if the user requests code, refuse until Discovery is complete
- When refusing, inform the user of the current Phase progress and remaining steps
Execution-mode behavior (Phase 2)
Automatic mode -- fully non-stop:
[Categories 1-8, all depths 1->2->3 automatically]
Independent categories run in parallel via Agent (multiple Agents invoked concurrently in one turn)
Manual mode -- per-category mix:
[Category 1: auto] depth 1->2->3 auto -> record result
[Category 2: auto] depth 1->2->3 auto -> record result
[Category 3: auto] depth 1->2->3 auto -> record result
[Category 4: manual] depth 1 -> present -> confirm -> depth 2 -> present -> confirm -> depth 3
[Category 5: manual] depth 1 -> present -> confirm -> depth 2 -> ...
[Categories 6-8: auto] ...
- Auto categories can run in parallel via Agent
- "Skip" is allowed in manual categories; skips are recorded in the master plan
- Both auto and manual progress through all 3 depths (manual requires per-depth confirmation)
Output directory
docs/00-discovery/
├── 00-master-plan.md <- consolidated summary + roadmap + 01-05 links
├── 01-idea.md <- idea structuring
├── 02-research.md <- 8-category insight consolidation
├── 03-csuite-analysis.md <- 10-perspective consolidation
├── 04-solution-yagni.md <- YAGNI filtering
├── 05-sub-plan-map.md <- full project scope (sub-plan map)
└── research/ <- evidence. Never delete.
├── context.md <- Phase 0 context scan
├── 01-user-problem-depth1~3.md <- per category x per depth
├── ... (up to 24 files)
├── csuite-raw-*.md <- C-Suite individual raw (10)
├── search-log.md
└── brainstorm-notes.md
Related rules
docs/specs/question-principles.md -- 6 principles for question generation
docs/specs/research.md -- deep search methodology (source quality tiers, cross-validation, search protocol)
docs/specs/c-suite-analysis.md -- 10-perspective analysis framework
Template reference
templates/document-guide.md -- master plan document structure
Spec references
For detailed verification criteria, evidence tables, and examples:
- Related rule specs:
../../docs/specs/c-suite-analysis.md, ../../docs/specs/question-principles.md, ../../docs/specs/research.md
- Evidence index:
../../docs/evidence/evidence-registry.md
Permission rationale
- Write: restricted to .ww-w-ai/ output persistence. No modification of project source.
- Bash: restricted to read-only git/system queries. No file modification.