⚡ EXECUTION INSTRUCTIONS FOR CLAUDE

When this command is invoked, YOU (Claude) must execute these steps immediately: This is NOT documentation - these are COMMANDS to execute right now. Use TodoWrite to track progress through multi-phase workflows.

🚨 EXECUTION WORKFLOW

Phase 1: Execute Documented Workflow

Action Steps:

1. Review the reference documentation below and execute the detailed steps sequentially.

📋 REFERENCE DOCUMENTATION

/goal - Goal Definition and Validation Command

Purpose: Define, track, and validate complex goals with structured success criteria and progress monitoring.

Usage

• /goal <goal_definition> - Define a new goal with automatic success criteria extraction
• /goal --template <template_name> - Use predefined goal template with optimized criteria
• /goal --validate - Validate current goal completion status objectively
• /goal --current - Display active goal details and progress
• /goal --clear - Clear current goal and reset tracking
• /goal --history - Show completed goals and success rates

Core Functionality

Goal Definition Protocol

When defining a new goal, the system:

1. Goal Processing: Use direct analysis for structured goal processing

   • Method: Inline goal analysis with structured output
   • Output: Structured goal analysis with success criteria
   • Benefits: Direct processing, persistent storage, standardized format

2. Memory MCP Integration with Query Optimization: Search and integrate with persistent knowledge using enhanced effectiveness

   • Universal Composition: Use /memory search for automatic query optimization and improved goal pattern discovery
   • Smart Search Strategy: Leverage /memory command's automatic compound query transformation
   • Command: /memory search "related goals and patterns" - Search with built-in optimization
   • Command: /memory recall "historical goal contexts" - Retrieve specific goal learnings
   • Result Merging: Automatic through /memory command's built-in deduplication and scoring
   • Extract similar goal patterns and success strategies from enhanced memory retrieval
   • Identify anti-patterns and failure modes from improved search results
   • Performance Enhancement: Improve goal pattern discovery from ~30% to 70%+ success rate

3. Guidelines Consultation: Command: /guidelines - Consult mistake prevention system before goal processing

   • Apply CLAUDE.md rules and constraints to goal definition
   • Check PR-specific guidelines for context-aware goal setting
   • Use base guidelines for goal quality standards and anti-patterns
   • Ensure goal aligns with project protocols and best practices

4. Process Goal Structure: Parse structured goal specification

5. Validate and Enhance: Verify output and add context-specific enhancements

6. Memory Persistence: Captures goal definition in persistent knowledge graph with machine-readable patterns

   • Command: mcp__memory-server__create_entities - Create goal entity with structured metadata
     • Entity Type: goal_pattern with template classification and complexity scoring
     • Structured Metadata: Goal type, success criteria count, estimated complexity, template used
   • Command: mcp__memory-server__create_relations - Link to related projects, patterns, and contexts
     • Pattern Relations: Links to similar goals, template usage, success/failure patterns
     • Context Relations: PR numbers, project phases, team members, timeline constraints
   • Command: mcp__memory-server__add_observations - Store goal definition, criteria, and analysis
     • Machine-Readable Format: JSON structure with goal classification, success predictors, failure modes
     • Pattern Recognition: Template effectiveness, criteria validation rates, convergence indicators

7. Stores Goal Context: Saves goal.md file with complete specification (guidelines-compliant structure)

Goal Storage Structure

Goals are stored in goals/YYYY-MM-DD-HHMM-[slug]/ with:

• 00-goal-definition.md - Original goal statement and auto-generated criteria
• 01-success-criteria.md - Measurable validation points
• 02-progress-tracking.md - Current status and completion percentage
• 03-validation-log.md - Historical validation attempts and results
• metadata.json - Status, timestamps, and configuration

Automatic Success Criteria Generation

Pattern Recognition: Automatically identifies success criteria from goal language:

• File operations → "File exists with correct content"
• Test requirements → "All tests pass"
• PR operations → "PR in correct state (OPEN/MERGED/CLOSED)"
• Implementation tasks → "Feature works as specified"
• Bug fixes → "Issue no longer occurs"

Examples:

Goal: "Create authentication system with tests"
Auto-generated criteria:
✅ Authentication system implemented and functional
✅ All authentication tests pass
✅ Security requirements met
✅ Integration with existing codebase complete

/goal --validate Implementation

Validation Process

1. Memory Context Retrieval: Load relevant validation patterns and historical data

   • Command: /memory search "validation scenarios and outcomes" - Find similar patterns with optimization
   • Command: /memory recall "validation methods and success patterns" - Retrieve specific validation contexts
   • Apply learned validation strategies from successful goal completions
   • Identify common validation failure points and mitigation strategies

2. Guidelines Consultation: Command: /guidelines - Consult mistake prevention guidelines before validation

   • Apply validation standards from base and PR-specific guidelines
   • Use evidence-based development patterns for validation methods
   • Follow tool selection hierarchy (Serena MCP → Read tool → Bash commands)
   • Apply systematic change management principles to validation process

3. Load Active Goal: Read current goal specification and success criteria

4. Systematic Validation: Check each success criterion objectively (per guidelines standards and memory patterns)

5. Evidence Collection: Gather concrete evidence for each validation point (following evidence protocols)

6. Status Calculation: Determine completion percentage and overall status

7. Memory Learning: Capture validation results and patterns in persistent knowledge

   • Command: mcp__memory-server__add_observations - Store validation evidence and outcomes
   • Command: mcp__memory-server__create_relations - Link validation patterns to goal success/failure
   • Update goal entity with completion status and validation learnings

8. Update Progress: Record validation results and current state (guidelines-compliant documentation)

Validation Methods by Criteria Type

• File Existence: Use Read tool to verify file presence and content
• Test Completion: Run test commands and analyze results
• PR Status: Query GitHub API for current PR state
• Feature Functionality: Execute feature tests and validate behavior
• Integration Status: Check system integration points and compatibility

Validation Output Format

## Goal Validation Report

**Goal**: [Original goal statement]
**Validation Date**: [Current timestamp]
**Overall Status**: CONVERGED ✅ / CONVERGING 🔄 / STALLED ⚠️ / BLOCKED 🛑

### Success Criteria Results:

1. ✅ [Criterion 1]: Evidence - [Specific validation proof]
2. 🔄 [Criterion 2]: Partial - [Current progress and remaining work]
3. ❌ [Criterion 3]: Failed - [Specific failure reason and fix needed]

**Completion**: 67% (2/3 criteria met)
**Next Actions**: [Specific steps to address remaining criteria]

Integration with /converge

Convergence Goal Setting

# Instead of inline goal definition in /converge

/goal "Implement PR #1307 roadmap - close 5 PRs, create 7 focused PRs, fix 6 existing PRs"
/converge  # Uses currently active goal from /goal command

Validation Integration

# Step 5 of convergence loop automatically uses:

/goal --validate  # Provides objective validation against defined criteria

Goal Templates System

Available Templates

PR Management Template

/goal --template pr-management "Process PR #1234 - fix security issues, respond to comments"

# Auto-generates:

# ✅ All PR comments analyzed and categorized

# ✅ Security issues identified and fixed

# ✅ Code changes implement requested improvements

# ✅ All CI/CD checks passing

# ✅ PR ready for review or merge

Test Suite Template

/goal --template test-suite "Create comprehensive testing for authentication module"

# Auto-generates:

# ✅ Test files created with comprehensive coverage

# ✅ All test cases pass successfully

# ✅ Edge cases and error conditions covered

# ✅ Integration tests validate module interactions

# ✅ Test coverage meets quality thresholds (>90%)

Feature Implementation Template

/goal --template feature-impl "Implement user dashboard with analytics"

# Auto-generates:

# ✅ Feature requirements analyzed and documented

# ✅ Implementation completed with all functionality

# ✅ User interface meets design specifications

# ✅ Backend APIs implemented and tested

# ✅ Integration tests validate end-to-end workflow

# ✅ Documentation updated with feature details

Bug Fix Template

/goal --template bug-fix "Fix authentication timeout issue in production"

# Auto-generates:

# ✅ Root cause identified and analyzed

# ✅ Fix implemented without breaking existing functionality

# ✅ Regression tests added to prevent reoccurrence

# ✅ All existing tests continue to pass

# ✅ Production deployment validated

Refactoring Template

/goal --template refactor "Refactor payment processing module for better performance"

# Auto-generates:

# ✅ Code refactored with improved structure

# ✅ Performance improvements measurably achieved

# ✅ All existing functionality preserved

# ✅ Tests updated and passing

# ✅ Documentation reflects architectural changes

Goal Examples

Template-Based Goals

# Use optimized templates for common patterns

/goal --template pr-management "Complete PR #1307 roadmap implementation"
/goal --template test-suite "Add testing coverage for convergence system"
/goal --template feature-impl "Build autonomous status reporting system"

Custom Goals (Fallback to Auto-Generation)

# Custom goals still use automatic success criteria generation

/goal "Create 3 test files with specific content"
/goal "Implement complete user authentication with OAuth, tests, and documentation"

Goal Persistence and History

Active Goal Tracking

• Only one goal active at a time
• Current goal stored in goals/.current-goal
• All validation attempts logged with timestamps
• Progress tracked continuously until completion
• Memory Integration: Active goal linked to persistent knowledge graph

Goal History with Memory MCP

• Memory Persistence: All goals stored in persistent knowledge graph with rich metadata
  • Command: mcp__memory-server__create_entities - Goal entities with completion status and metrics
  • Command: mcp__memory-server__create_relations - Relationships between goals, strategies, and outcomes
  • Command: mcp__memory-server__add_observations - Detailed success/failure patterns and learnings
• Pattern Recognition: Memory MCP enables cross-goal pattern analysis
  • Success rate correlation with goal types and complexity
  • Validation method effectiveness across different goal categories
  • Common failure patterns and successful mitigation strategies
• Learning Integration: Historical insights automatically inform new goal definitions
  • Similar goal detection and strategy recommendation
  • Anti-pattern prevention based on previous failures
  • Success criteria optimization using proven patterns

Configuration Options

Goal Defaults

{
  "max_validation_attempts": 50,
  "auto_criteria_generation": true,
  "evidence_collection": "automatic",
  "progress_tracking": "continuous",
  "completion_threshold": 100
}

Validation Settings

• Strict Mode: 100% criteria completion required
• Partial Mode: Accept high percentage completion (>90%)
• Evidence Level: Minimum evidence required per criterion
• Retry Logic: Automatic retry on validation failures

Error Handling

Common Scenarios

• No Active Goal: Prompts to define goal first
• Validation Failures: Provides specific failure reasons and suggested fixes
• Criteria Ambiguity: Requests clarification or provides interpretation
• Evidence Collection Issues: Falls back to alternative validation methods

Graceful Degradation

• Missing validation tools → Use available alternatives
• API failures → Cache previous results and note limitations
• File access issues → Report specific problems and continue with accessible criteria
• Network issues → Use local validation where possible

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Implementation Method: This command provides structured goal definition and validation that integrates with /converge for systematic goal achievement tracking.