| name | 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 — Load config and locate files
Read project config from the orchestrator's ## Project Config block:
ORCHESTRATOR=".claude/skills/orchestrator/SKILL.md"
REPO=$(grep '^REPO=' "$ORCHESTRATOR" | cut -d= -f2)
TEMP_ROOT=$(grep '^TEMP_ROOT=' "$ORCHESTRATOR" | cut -d= -f2)
Use $ARGUMENTS as the issue number N. Verify both files exist:
- Issue file:
{TEMP_ROOT}/issues/<N>/issue.md
- Spec file:
{TEMP_ROOT}/issues/<N>/spec.md
If the spec does not exist, tell the user: "No spec found for issue #N. Run /groom <N>
first to produce one." Stop here.
If only the issue file is missing, sync it:
bash .claude/skills/issue-workflow/scripts/issue-sync.sh <N>
Step 2 — Invoke the challenger agent
Invoke the challenger sub-agent with:
- Issue number
N
- Issue file path:
{TEMP_ROOT}/issues/<N>/issue.md
- Spec file path:
{TEMP_ROOT}/issues/<N>/spec.md
plan_version: 1 (or detect from the spec's Plan v<N> header if present)
CURRENT_MODEL: "standalone"
session_learnings: read Section 13 of AGENTS.md if it exists, else pass empty string
- Runtime values:
TEMP_ROOT={TEMP_ROOT}, REPO={REPO}
STANDALONE MODE — one difference from the normal pipeline run:
Skip the StructuredOutput JSON return. Output the full human-readable verdict
(APPROVED / NEEDS_REVISION / BLOCKED) and findings in a section titled
## Challenge Report, using the same format the orchestrator would receive
(verdict, MoSCoW-classified findings, alternative suggestions).
Step 3 — Offer to post
After the agent responds, display its ## Challenge Report and ask:
Post this challenge report as a comment on issue #<N>?
Reply yes to post, no to finish here.
If yes — post with dedup:
EXISTING_ID=$(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, update the spec at
{TEMP_ROOT}/issues/<N>/spec.md before running /groom <N> again or starting implementation.