39 Commits
Author SHA1 Message Date
Matt PocockandGitHub 04fee67571 Merge pull request #533 from mattpocock/yagni-scope-improve-architecture
improve-codebase-architecture: scope the scan to where change is landing (YAGNI)
2026-07-13 11:27:15 +01:00
Matt PocockandGitHub 33dfc9b28f Merge pull request #538 from mattpocock/wayfinder/research-subagents
wayfinder: burn research tickets down with subagents
2026-07-13 11:18:20 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 3bb587fa5c Rename "design tree" → "decision tree" across skills and docs
Align the remaining callers and docs pages with grilling's body, which now
says "decision tree".

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-13 11:13:55 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 2602257241 feat(wayfinder): burn research tickets down with subagents
Research stays a real ticket type — it's a shared blocker downstream
decisions hang on, which the frontier's blocking edges exist to render.
What changes is resolution: because research is AFK, charting doesn't
stop and read. After creating the tickets, the charting session fires a
/research subagent for each research ticket to burn it down in parallel,
capturing findings on a throwaway research/<name> branch with a context
pointer.

Charting's "fire the research subagents" step owns how research is
handled; the Ticket Types bullet just names the resolver, and the
one-ticket-per-session rule carries the research exception.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-13 11:10:46 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 45afd8074a improve-codebase-architecture: scope the scan to where change is landing (YAGNI)
Before scanning, decide where to look. If the user named a direction, take
it; otherwise read the last ~20 commit messages to bias exploration toward
actively-developed paths. A deepening opportunity in code nobody touches is a
refactor you'll never cash in — leverage only pays off where you keep editing.

Syncs the docs page and adds a changeset.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-13 11:01:18 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 7d694b7ae9 Name the wayfinder unit a "decision ticket"
People kept reading a wayfinder ticket as an ordinary implementation
ticket — a slice of a build to execute — when wayfinder uses them as
decision tickets: questions whose resolution is a decision.

Introduce "decision ticket" as a light leading word: the skill
description and its opening line name it (and say what makes it one),
and the ask-matt / engineering README blurbs and the docs page match,
while "ticket" stays the everyday word once the term is established.
Record "Decision ticket" in CONTEXT.md so the "avoid: ticket" domain
rule no longer contradicts wayfinder's deliberate use of the word.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-13 10:50:29 +01:00
Matt PocockandGitHub 2ee14df19c Merge pull request #488 from mattpocock/prototype-primary-secondary-source
prototype: keep the prototype as a primary source
2026-07-10 11:45:42 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 19c50d50fd fix(to-tickets): remove stray </content> tag from skill and docs
The final line of to-tickets/SKILL.md carried a stray `</content>`
closing tag with no matching opening tag — a packaging/serialization
artifact from the planning-skills refactor (386d4ff), not valid skill
content. The same stray tag had leaked into the generated landing
docs for to-tickets and to-spec. Strip it from all three.

Fixes #495

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-10 09:45:20 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 371b9c9c94 prototype: capture the prototype, don't dispose of it
Reframe the artifact handling as capturing the prototype somewhere out
of main — a throwaway branch — with a context pointer to it left on the
implementation issue, instead of "disposing" of it. The main branch
still keeps only the validated decision.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-10 09:39:52 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 44eed54518 refactor: friendlier setup flow + one-file-per-ticket local tracker
Rework /setup-matt-pocock-skills to ask fewer, friendlier questions and
align the local-markdown issue tracker with the current spec.

- Triage labels: asked only when the `triage` skill is installed, and then
  as a single recommended-yes question ("keep the default triage labels?")
  instead of an override interrogation. When triage isn't installed, the
  section and docs/agents/triage-labels.md are skipped.
- External PRs as a request surface: no longer a setup question. The
  GitHub/GitLab templates still carry the flag, defaulted off; flip it in
  docs/agents/issue-tracker.md later.
- Domain docs: default to single-context without asking; multi-context is
  only offered when the repo shows monorepo signals.
- Local-markdown tickets: one file per ticket under
  .scratch/<feature>/issues/<NN>-<slug>.md, never a single combined
  tickets.md. /to-tickets, ask-matt, and the local template now agree, and
  the spec file is spec.md (not PRD.md) to match /to-spec.
- Re-sync docs pages for setup-matt-pocock-skills and to-tickets; changeset.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-10 09:37:25 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 cdec9f6eb2 prototype: simplify to single primary-source idea; dedup branch files
Drop the secondary-source label — the actionable distinction is just
that the prototype is a primary source to retain on a throwaway branch.
Collapse the re-descriptions in LOGIC/UI so they point to SKILL for the
disposal concept and add only branch-specific nuance.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-09 14:57:48 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 d6274600ab prototype: reframe disposal around primary vs secondary source
Retain the prototype as a primary source on a throwaway branch linked
from the relevant issue, rather than deleting it, while the distilled
answer remains the secondary source. Keeps prototype scaffolding out of
the main branch without destroying the runnable evidence.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-09 14:53:43 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 0557d57579 docs: settle wayfinder as a situational on-ramp, not the main entry flow
The grill-led idea→ship chain stays the documented front door; wayfinder
is a situational on-ramp (greenfield / huge feature build), reserving
"new default spine" for a potential v2.

- ask-matt router: name wayfinder's concrete triggers
- grill-me / grill-with-docs: signpost up to wayfinder as the
  too-big-for-one-session on-ramp

Resolves the main-flow decision on the Skills v1.1 wayfinder map (#120).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-08 14:18:36 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 639df6e738 Graduate wayfinder to engineering; unify changesets for v1.1
Graduate `wayfinder` out of in-progress into the engineering bucket
(plugin.json, top-level + Engineering READMEs under User-invoked, docs
page, ask-matt on-ramp, disable-model-invocation).

Consolidate the 22 pending changesets into 10 coherent v1.1 entries:
one `wayfinder` (rename from decision-mapping + full reframe +
graduation), one `grilling`, one `code-review`, one `tdd`; fold the
superseded to-issues changeset into unify-to-tickets and drop its stray
`</content>` tag. Highest bump is minor → 1.0.1 becomes 1.1.0.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-08 14:18:36 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 386d4ff719 refactor: unify planning skills into /to-spec + /to-tickets
Executes the `unify-to-tickets` decision (personal-wiki #23), reworking
this PR from "add /to-plan" into the full planning-skills unification.

- Rename /to-prd → /to-spec. "spec" is now the single through-line term
  (the skill still opens with "you may know this document as a PRD" for
  discoverability).
- Merge /to-plan + /to-issues into one /to-tickets skill; delete
  /to-issues. /to-tickets emits a set of tickets, each declaring its
  blocking edges — one medium-agnostic artifact that reads as a
  sequential plan (local `tickets.md`, edges as text) or a parallelizable
  DAG (real tracker, native blocking links). The edges live in the ticket
  either way; the medium only decides whether anything acts on them in
  parallel.
- ask-matt now routes idea → /to-spec → /to-tickets → /implement.
- Sweep every cross-reference (docs pages, chain diagrams, CONTEXT.md,
  ADRs, .agents, setup templates) to the new names and vocabulary.
- Rewrite the changeset to describe the unification.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-08 14:18:36 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 93f73198e3 feat(to-plan): add sequential plan skill
Add a user-invoked `to-plan` skill — the sequential, HITL sibling of
`to-issues`. Both slice work into tracer-bullet vertical slices, but
`to-plan` produces one ordered sequence you drive by hand, one phase per
fresh context, rather than parallel independently-grabbable issues.

It publishes to the tracker `/setup-matt-pocock-skills` configured, shaped
to it: a single sequential `plan.md` for a local tracker, or a parent
issue with ordered sub-issues (native sub-issues where supported) for a
real one.

Registers the skill everywhere CLAUDE.md requires (plugin.json, top-level
and bucket READMEs, docs page), updates the `ask-matt` router's main-flow
fork to offer both to-issues and to-plan, and adds a changeset.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-08 14:11:05 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 aa591116bf to-issues: split into Process + Reference tiers
Revert the description change and keep the wide-refactor material in
one place. Reshape the skill into a lean Process (steps) and a
Reference section holding the vertical-slice rules, the wide-refactor
expand–contract rules, and the issue body template as co-located
blocks the steps point to.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-07 16:35:39 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 a0329ba957 to-issues: slice wide refactors by expand–contract
Add a wide-refactor exception to the tracer-bullet rule: a single
mechanical change whose blast radius fans across the codebase can't
land as one green vertical slice. Seed "wide refactor" / "blast radius"
across the description, the explore step (detection), and the drafting
step (strategy), and give the expand–contract sequence in prose.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-07 16:32:47 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 0e9a072792 grilling: add confirmation gate and grill leading word
Add a hard stop so the agent won't enact the plan until the user
confirms shared understanding is reached. Recruit the pretrained
"grill" leading word in the description, and re-sync the docs page
with the new gate behaviour.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-03 09:47:48 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 0d74d01cbc feat: add the research skill
A small, model-invoked skill that spins up a background agent to
investigate a question against high-trust primary sources, then leaves a
single cited Markdown file wherever the repo keeps such notes.

Wires it into the plugin set, both READMEs (Model-invoked), a docs page,
and the ask-matt router, per the repo's promoted-skill conventions.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-01 16:32:15 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 770a0504db ask-matt: map the full skill set, add router maintenance rule
Ask Matt was missing five skills that now exist and are user-reachable:
tdd (the red-green engine implement drives), diagnosing-bugs (there was
no route for "something's broken"), domain-modeling and codebase-design
(the two vocabulary references), and grilling (the shared primitive).

- SKILL.md: add a "Something's broken" on-ramp for diagnosing-bugs, a
  "Vocabulary underneath" section for domain-modeling/codebase-design,
  weave tdd into the main flow, flesh out prototype, broaden the
  description from "user-invoked skills" to "the skills".
- docs/engineering/ask-matt.md: re-sync the framing to match.
- CLAUDE.md: add a maintenance rule so any future skill change triggers
  an Ask Matt re-check, beside the existing docs-page re-sync rule.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-01 12:25:31 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 8010ddb2bb docs: thread code-review through the full build-chain flow
The build chain now ends at code-review. Update every flow doc that draws
the chain so it reads end-to-end:

    grill-with-docs → to-prd → to-issues → implement → code-review

- grill-with-docs / to-prd / to-issues: extend the diagram; point the
  downstream neighbour at implement (which drives tdd internally).
- tdd: reframe from "final step" to the engine inside implement's step.
- implement: extend the diagram to include the review pass.
- ask-matt: narrate the flow ending in review (docs) and note that
  /implement closes out with /code-review (SKILL.md).
- writing-docs guide: refresh the example chain.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-01 12:05:16 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 14c13c5bf9 Rename review skill to code-review and promote to engineering
Rename the in-progress `review` skill to `code-review` and move it from
`skills/in-progress/` into the promoted `skills/engineering/` bucket.

- Add it to `.claude-plugin/plugin.json` and the Model-invoked sections of
  the top-level and Engineering READMEs; drop it from the in-progress README.
- Add a docs page at `docs/engineering/code-review.md`.
- Point `/implement` and its docs at `/code-review`.
- Update the smell-baseline changeset reference; add a changeset for the move.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-01 12:04:12 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 f72b3d5bd4 docs: end the build chain at implement, not tdd
The canonical build chain is grill-with-docs → to-prd → to-issues →
implement, with tdd as the red-green loop implement drives internally
rather than a chain step of its own.

- Update the chain diagram on grill-with-docs, to-prd, to-issues, and tdd.
- Reframe tdd's "Where it fits": it's the engine inside the implement
  step, still independently reachable, no longer the terminal.
- Point to-prd and to-issues at implement as the thing that builds the
  tickets, giving implement the inbound links it previously lacked.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-01 11:43:08 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 8fa032a8fd docs: exclude misc/ skills from the public docs
misc/ skills are niche — they stay promoted (README + plugin manifest,
so they're installable) but no longer get a public aihero.dev docs
page. Remove the four misc pages and decouple the docs rule from the
promotion rule in CLAUDE.md and the writing-docs guide.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-01 11:31:29 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 ade35dc0d8 docs: drop the formulaic "load-bearing constraint:" label
The repeated "The load-bearing constraint:" opener on every page read
as an agent tell. Strip the label across all skill pages and let the
constraint stand as a plain declarative sentence; update the
writing-docs template so it isn't regenerated.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-01 11:27:36 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 995fceec7a docs: name the reference skills other skills lean on
codebase-design, domain-modeling and grilling are pulled out as
standalone, model-invoked skills precisely so other skills can point
at them and so you can reach them as a reference independently of the
steps any wrapper mandates. Add a "Pulled out on purpose" section to
each that names who leans on it and why it stands alone, and slim the
overlapping "Where it fits" prose to avoid duplication.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-01 11:27:36 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 f5ed5657bd docs: add human-facing pages for the remaining 22 promoted skills
Adds a docs page for every promoted skill that lacked one, following
.agents/writing-docs.md and using docs/engineering/to-prd.md as the
worked exemplar. Covers all of engineering/ (bar to-prd, already done),
productivity/, and misc/.

Each page states its load-bearing constraint, its invocation mode and
trigger boundary, surfaces the skill's leading word, and routes back to
ask-matt so the set forms a connected router with no dead ends.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-01 11:18:17 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 340d01b145 docs: add "It's working if" convention; flesh out PRD section
- Replace the inline "watch for the leading words" line with an
  optional `## It's working if` section — a short list of observable
  signals the skill is doing its job. Keeps observability from being
  hammered onto leading words specifically.
- Build out to-prd's "What the PRD includes" with proper casing and a
  one-line explainer per section.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-01 11:05:35 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 77cc47773c docs: rework the skill docs-page template
Reframe docs pages around cognitive-load relief: most skills are
user-invoked, so the human is the index that must remember when to
reach for each one. Each page's job is to make one skill memorable
and situate it in the system.

Template changes (.agents/writing-docs.md):
- Quickstart block: install + `npx skills update`, install-first
- New `## When to reach for it` (invocation mode + trigger boundary)
- New optional `## Prerequisites` (workspace/state, prior setup, tooling)
- Free-form middle with one firm rule: surface the leading word
  (also an observability signal in the agent's output)
- `## Where it fits`: role-based, absorbs "Pairs well with", links ask-matt
- No H1; every cross-link absolute

Nest docs under bucket folders (docs/<bucket>/<name>.md); the
published URL stays skills-<name> regardless. Re-sync to-prd as the
worked exemplar.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-01 11:00:54 +01:00
Matt Pocock 72748b9519 Fix command syntax in to-prd installation instructions 2026-07-01 09:51:25 +01:00
Matt Pocock 94cac3a3c7 Fix links in the to-prd documentation for better accessibility 2026-07-01 09:50:21 +01:00
Matt Pocock 3525dcd9b2 Add documentation for the to-prd skill 2026-07-01 09:48:39 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 6e178c6826 Move docs/ into .agents/
Relocate this repo's ADRs and invocation.md from docs/ to .agents/,
and update the CLAUDE.md reference.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-01 09:46:14 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 e112a6b03c Remove zoom-out skill and all references
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-06-17 14:19:52 +01:00
Matt Pocock 801a01cc7d refine: Update terminology from Commands/Skills to User-invoked/Model-invoked and enhance documentation 2026-06-17 14:18:05 +01:00
Matt Pocock 221ffca967 feat: Add new skills and templates for domain modeling, bug diagnosis, and architectural improvement
- Introduced a human-in-the-loop script for bug diagnosis to capture user feedback.
- Created ADR and CONTEXT formats to standardize architectural decision records and domain context documentation.
- Developed a domain modeling skill to refine terminology and maintain a shared language.
- Enhanced the improve-codebase-architecture skill to provide visual reports and deepening opportunities.
- Consolidated grilling and handoff skills for better user interaction and documentation.
- Updated existing skills to improve clarity and consistency in descriptions and functionality.
2026-06-12 09:25:19 +01:00
Matt PocockandCopilot 179a14e721 Swapped 'backlog' for 'issue tracker
Co-authored-by: Copilot <copilot@github.com>
2026-04-28 19:06:32 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.7 7afa86d3a5 Add setup-matt-pocock-skills; rename github-triage to triage; migrate engineering skills to vague prose
Engineering skills no longer hard-code GitHub or specific label strings.
A new setup skill scaffolds an `## Agent skills` block in
AGENTS.md/CLAUDE.md plus `docs/agents/` so each repo can declare its own
backlog backend, triage label vocabulary, and domain doc layout. Skills
that need the mapping (to-issues, to-prd, triage) point at the setup
skill; skills that only soften with it (diagnose, tdd,
improve-codebase-architecture, zoom-out) stay vague. ADR-0001 records
the split.

Closes #88, #89.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-04-28 16:33:37 +01:00