workflow-utilities

name	workflow-utilities
version	5.2.0
description	Shared utilities for file deprecation, directory structure creation, TODO file updates, workflow lifecycle management, archive management, and VCS abstraction (GitHub/Azure DevOps). Used by all other skills. Use when: Need shared utilities, deprecating files, updating TODO, registering/archiving workflows, managing TODO.md manifest, VCS operations, PR feedback handling Triggers: deprecate, archive, update TODO, create directory, register workflow, archive workflow, sync manifest, VCS operations, PR feedback

Quick Reference

# Archive deprecated files
uv run python .claude/skills/workflow-utilities/scripts/deprecate_files.py <desc> <files...>

# List/extract archives
uv run python .claude/skills/workflow-utilities/scripts/archive_manager.py list
uv run python .claude/skills/workflow-utilities/scripts/archive_manager.py extract <archive>

# Validate versions
uv run python .claude/skills/workflow-utilities/scripts/validate_versions.py

Workflow Utilities

Purpose

Provides reusable Python utilities for common workflow tasks that are used across multiple skills.

Scripts

deprecate_files.py

Archive deprecated files with timestamp into ARCHIVED/ directory.

python .claude/skills/workflow-utilities/scripts/deprecate_files.py \
  <todo_file> <description> <file1> [file2 ...]

Arguments:

• todo_file: Path to TODO file (for timestamp extraction)
• description: Short description (e.g., 'old-auth-flow')
• files: One or more file paths to deprecate

Creates:

• ARCHIVED/YYYYMMDDTHHMMSSZ_<description>.zip

directory_structure.py

Create standard directory structure with required files.

python .claude/skills/workflow-utilities/scripts/directory_structure.py \
  <directory>

Arguments:

• directory: Path to directory to create/populate

Creates:

• CLAUDE.md - Context-specific guidance
• README.md - Human-readable documentation
• ARCHIVED/ subdirectory (with its own CLAUDE.md and README.md)

todo_updater.py

Update task status and workflow progress in TODO file.

python .claude/skills/workflow-utilities/scripts/todo_updater.py \
  <todo_file> <task_id> <status> [context_usage]

Arguments:

• todo_file: Path to TODO file
• task_id: Task ID (e.g., 'impl_003')
• status: New status ('pending' | 'complete' | 'blocked')
• context_usage (optional): Context usage percentage

Updates:

• Task status in YAML frontmatter
• completed_at timestamp
• workflow_progress.last_task
• workflow_progress.last_update

archive_manager.py

List and extract archived files.

# List archives
python .claude/skills/workflow-utilities/scripts/archive_manager.py list [directory]

# Extract archive
python .claude/skills/workflow-utilities/scripts/archive_manager.py extract <archive> [output_dir]

workflow_registrar.py

Register new workflow in TODO.md master manifest.

python .claude/skills/workflow-utilities/scripts/workflow_registrar.py \
  <todo_file> <workflow_type> <slug> [--title TITLE]

Arguments:

• todo_file: Path to TODO_*.md file
• workflow_type: Workflow type ('feature' | 'release' | 'hotfix')
• slug: Workflow slug
• --title (optional): Workflow title (auto-generated if not provided)

Updates:

• Adds workflow to TODO.md workflows.active[] array
• Updates TODO.md last_update timestamp

When to use:

• After creating BMAD planning (Phase 1)
• After creating feature worktree (Phase 2)
• Ensures TODO.md tracks all active workflows

workflow_archiver.py

Archive completed workflow and update TODO.md manifest.

python .claude/skills/workflow-utilities/scripts/workflow_archiver.py \
  <todo_file> [--summary SUMMARY] [--version VERSION]

Arguments:

• todo_file: Path to TODO_*.md file to archive
• --summary (optional): Summary of what was completed
• --version (optional): Semantic version (e.g., '1.5.0')

Actions:

1. Moves TODO_.md → ARCHIVED/TODO_.md
2. Updates TODO.md: moves workflow from active[] to archived[] array
3. Updates TODO.md statistics (total_workflows_completed)
4. Extracts metadata from workflow file (version, summary)

When to use:

• Phase 4.3: After PR merged to contrib branch
• Before creating PR contrib → develop

sync_manifest.py

Synchronize TODO.md manifest with filesystem state.

# Preview changes
python .claude/skills/workflow-utilities/scripts/sync_manifest.py --dry-run

# Sync TODO.md
python .claude/skills/workflow-utilities/scripts/sync_manifest.py

Actions:

1. Scans current directory for TODO_*.md files (active)
2. Scans ARCHIVED/ for TODO_*.md files (archived)
3. Rebuilds TODO.md workflows.active[] and workflows.archived[] arrays
4. Updates statistics

When to use:

• Recovery: TODO.md out of sync with filesystem
• Verification: Check TODO.md reflects actual files
• Migration: Rebuilding TODO.md from scratch

Warning: Replaces TODO.md arrays with filesystem state. Manual metadata edits may be lost.

VCS Abstraction Layer (vcs/)

Wrapper functions for GitHub (gh) and Azure DevOps (az) CLI operations.

Location: .claude/skills/workflow-utilities/scripts/vcs/

Key files:

• provider.py - VCS provider enum + detect_provider() (auto-detects from git remote URL, cached)
• operations.py - Wrapper functions: get_username, get_contrib_branch, create_pr, create_release, create_issue, query_pr_review_threads, check_auth

Usage:

from vcs import create_pr, get_contrib_branch, get_username

branch = get_contrib_branch()  # auto-detects provider
username = get_username()

# Create PR
pr_url = create_pr(
    base=branch,
    head="feature/20251103T143000Z_auth",
    title="feat: auth system (v1.6.0)",
    body="PR body content",
)

Key features:

• Auto-detects provider from git remote.origin.url (github.com / dev.azure.com)
• Errors surfaced as RuntimeError(stderr) — callers inspect string contents
• Module-level caching for provider detection
• PR creation, issue creation, release management, auth checking

Usage Examples

Deprecating Old Files

import subprocess

# Deprecate old implementation files
subprocess.run([
    'python',
    '.claude/skills/workflow-utilities/scripts/deprecate_files.py',
    'TODO_feature_20251022T143022Z_json-validator.md',
    'old-validator',
    'src/old_validator.py',
    'tests/test_old_validator.py'
], check=True)

Creating Standard Directories

import subprocess

# Create planning directory with standard structure
subprocess.run([
    'python',
    '.claude/skills/workflow-utilities/scripts/directory_structure.py',
    'planning/json-validator'
], check=True)

Updating TODO Tasks

import subprocess

# Mark task as complete
subprocess.run([
    'python',
    '.claude/skills/workflow-utilities/scripts/todo_updater.py',
    'TODO_feature_20251022T143022Z_json-validator.md',
    'impl_003',
    'complete',
    '35'  # context usage percentage
], check=True)

Managing Workflow Lifecycle

import subprocess

# Register new workflow in TODO.md (Phase 1/2)
subprocess.run([
    'python',
    '.claude/skills/workflow-utilities/scripts/workflow_registrar.py',
    'TODO_feature_20251103T143000Z_auth.md',
    'feature',
    'auth',
    '--title', 'User Authentication System'
], check=True)

# Archive completed workflow (Phase 4.3)
subprocess.run([
    'python',
    '.claude/skills/workflow-utilities/scripts/workflow_archiver.py',
    'TODO_feature_20251103T143000Z_auth.md',
    '--summary', 'Implemented OAuth2 authentication with Google and GitHub',
    '--version', '1.5.0'
], check=True)

# Sync TODO.md with filesystem (recovery)
subprocess.run([
    'python',
    '.claude/skills/workflow-utilities/scripts/sync_manifest.py'
], check=True)

Directory Standards

All directories created by these utilities follow the standard structure:

directory/
├── CLAUDE.md      # Context for Claude Code
├── README.md      # Human-readable documentation
└── ARCHIVED/      # Deprecated files (except if directory IS archived)
    ├── CLAUDE.md
    └── README.md

Integration with Other Skills

All skills can use these helper functions:

# Example from bmad-planner
from pathlib import Path
import subprocess

def create_planning_with_structure(feature_name):
    """Create planning directory with standard structure."""

    planning_dir = Path('planning') / feature_name

    # Create directory structure
    subprocess.run([
        'python',
        '.claude/skills/workflow-utilities/scripts/directory_structure.py',
        str(planning_dir)
    ], check=True)

    # Now create planning documents
    # ...

Best Practices

• Always use these utilities for consistency
• Don't manually create directory structures
• Use deprecation for old files, not deletion
• Update TODO file after each meaningful step
• Check archives before deleting files permanently