dev-workflow

Feature Development Skill

Enforce configurable 9-phase feature development workflow with phase validation, state management, and approval gates.

Configuration

Read from project's CLAUDE.md:

## Feature Development Workflow

**Phases:** 0,1,2,3,4,7
**TDD:** required
**FeatureDocsPath:** Documentation/Requirements/Feature

Option	Values	Default
Phases	0-8 (comma-separated)	0,1,2,3,8
TDD	required / optional / none	optional
FeatureDocsPath	Path from root	Documentation/Requirements/Feature

Note: Phases 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 are mandatory (auto-added if missing). Phases 6-7 require explicit approval.

9-Phase Workflow

Schema Source: schema/phases.txt (single source of truth for phase names, emojis, statuses)

Phase	Name	Status
0	Worktree + Context Setup + Explore	Required
1	Planning (4 OpenSpec artifacts)	Required
2	Convention & Readiness Review	Required
3	Implementation	Required
4	Code Review — All findings resolved within Phase 4	Required
5	Refactor — Pre-scoped structural improvement, independent of review findings	Required
6	Summarization	Optional*
7	Retrospective	Optional*
8	Approval & Commit	Required

*Phases 6-7 require explicit user approval before execution.

Phase 1 Sub-Phases (OpenSpec Artifacts)

Sub-Phase	Output
1.1 Proposal	proposal.md
1.2 Specifications	specs/*/spec.md
1.3 Design	design.md
1.4 Tasks	tasks.md

Phase 1 delegates to OpenSpec skills (openspec-continue-change or openspec-ff-change).

How to Use

1. Load config from CLAUDE.md
2. Detect mode: context.md exists → resume, otherwise → start Phase 0
3. Phase 0 sequence (mandatory, in order): a. Create worktree — feature branch + worktree is ALWAYS the first step b. All subsequent work happens in the worktree — context.md, OpenSpec, code, everything c. Create context.md + OpenSpec init in the worktree d. Run /openspec-explore — design thinking before artifact generation e. Run /brainstorm (optional — only if available in current context) — structured brainstorming after explore
4. Execute phases 1-8 in configured sequence (all within worktree)
5. Validate completion before transitions
6. Get approvals at gates
7. Update context.md after every step

State Management

• Single file: {FeatureDocsPath}/doing/{feature-name}/context.md
• Skill updates: Status, Current Phase, Last Updated
• Hook updates: What's Been Completed, Next Todo
• After completion: Move to done/ directory

Schema

File	Purpose
schema/phases.txt	Single source of truth for phases, sub-phases, and statuses

The schema file defines:

• Main phases (0-8) with names, emojis, descriptions
• Sub-phases for Phase 1 (1.1-1.4) with OpenSpec output files
• Valid status values (in_progress, complete, blocked, paused)

Both the skill templates and stop hook read from this schema.

References (6 files)

File	Purpose
workflow-rules.md	Phase sequence, validation, approvals, TDD, commit
context-file.md	context.md format, updates, parsing
phase-1-planning.md	Phase 1 sub-activities and WHAT vs HOW
phase-2-convention-review.md	Phase 2 convention loading, cross-check, violation rules
agents.md	Agent orchestration strategy
errors.md	Error scenarios and recovery

Templates

Template	Purpose
context-template.md	context.md structure (includes OpenSpec change link)
code-review-template.md	Phase 4 code review
retrospective-template.md	Phase 7 learnings

Note: Phase 1 uses OpenSpec's own artifact templates (via openspec instructions).

Critical Rules

1. Load configuration from CLAUDE.md first
2. Phases 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 are mandatory
3. Worktree is ALWAYS the first step — create feature branch + worktree before anything else
4. All work happens in the worktree — context.md, OpenSpec, implementation, everything
5. /openspec-explore before Phase 1 — design thinking is mandatory before artifact generation
6. Use ONLY context.md for state
7. Validate phase completion before transitions
8. Phase 1: Delegate to OpenSpec — openspec-continue-change per artifact → Get approval → Next (4 gates)
9. Update context.md header (Status, Current Phase, Last Updated) after every step
10. Never commit without explicit user approval
11. MANDATORY AGENT INVOCATION - See below

MANDATORY: Agent Invocation Protocol

YOU MUST FOLLOW THIS PROTOCOL FOR EVERY PHASE TRANSITION:

Step 1: Announce (REQUIRED)

Before starting any phase, announce which agents are required:

Phase {N} ({Name}) requires these agents:
- {agent-name}: {specific purpose for this feature}

Step 2: Confirm (REQUIRED)

Use AskUserQuestion to get explicit confirmation:

Options:
- "Invoke all agents" (Recommended)
- "Skip agents" (Must provide reason)

Step 3: Invoke (REQUIRED unless user skips)

Use Task tool with appropriate subagent_type for each approved agent.

Step 4: Report (REQUIRED)

After each agent completes, summarize key findings before proceeding.

Required Agents by Phase

Phase	Agent	When Required
0	Explore	ALWAYS
1	Plan	ALWAYS
1	backend-architect	If backend changes
1	database-optimizer	If database changes
2	(none — main agent reads files)	Always
3	test-automator	When TDD: required
3	csharp-developer	For .NET code
3	vue-expert	For Vue/Nuxt code
4	code-reviewer	Always — Wave 0 anchor (plan compliance)
4	architect-reviewer	Always — Wave 1 parallel (SOLID, ADRs)
4	backend-development:security-auditor	Always — Wave 1 parallel (OWASP, auth, injection)
4	performance-engineer	Always — Wave 1 parallel (N+1, slow query patterns, blocking calls)
4	csharp-developer	If {backend}/ or {backend}.Tests/ changed — Wave 1
4	database-optimizer	If {database}/ changed — Wave 1
4	vue-expert	If {frontend}/ changed — Wave 1
4	typescript-pro	If {frontend}/ changed — Wave 1
4	test-automator	Always — Wave 1 parallel (test quality)
5	performance-engineer	If issues found
7	claude-md-management:revise-claude-md	ALWAYS
7	claude-code-setup:claude-automation-recommender	ALWAYS

Phase 4 domain detection (run git diff --name-only main...HEAD before announcing): Wave 0 runs first; Wave 1 agents run in parallel after Wave 0 completes. Announce only applicable agents based on changed directories.

NEVER Skip Silently

If you proceed without invoking required agents:

1. You are violating the workflow
2. User may miss important analysis
3. Quality may suffer

Always announce → confirm → invoke → report

Integration

Schema: Both skill and stop hook read from schema/phases.txt.

Stop hook: Updates "What's Been Completed" and "Next Todo" (supports OpenSpec artifacts with fallback).

Superpowers skills (Phase 0): using-git-worktrees (mandatory — always create worktree first) OpenSpec skills (Phase 0): opsx:explore (mandatory — design thinking before artifacts) OpenSpec skills (Phase 1): openspec-new-change, openspec-continue-change, openspec-ff-change OpenSpec skills (Phase 8): openspec-verify-change, openspec-archive-change, openspec-sync-specs Superpowers skills (Phase 3): test-driven-development, subagent-driven-development, executing-plans, dispatching-parallel-agents Superpowers skills (Phase 4-5): requesting-code-review, receiving-code-review CLAUDE.md management (Phase 7): claude-md-management:revise-claude-md, claude-code-setup:claude-automation-recommender Superpowers skills (Phase 8): verification-before-completion, finishing-a-development-branch

Related skills: mssql-dev for database work. Workflow docs: project workflow directory (e.g. .ai/workflows/implementation.md if present)