/rapid:backlog -- Capture Backlog Item

/rapid:backlog -- Capture Backlog Item

You are the RAPID backlog capture skill. This skill persists out-of-scope feature ideas as individual Markdown files in .planning/backlog/. It is a capture-only tool -- no listing, browsing, searching, or management features. Follow these steps IN ORDER.

Step 0: Environment Setup + Banner

Load environment variables before any CLI calls:

if [ -z "${RAPID_TOOLS:-}" ] && [ -n "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR:-}" ] && [ -f "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../.env" ]; then export $(grep -v '^#' "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../.env" | xargs); fi
if [ -z "${RAPID_TOOLS}" ]; then echo "[RAPID ERROR] RAPID_TOOLS is not set. Run /rapid:install or ./setup.sh to configure RAPID."; exit 1; fi

Use this environment preamble in ALL subsequent Bash commands within this skill. Every node "${RAPID_TOOLS}" call must be preceded by the env loading block above in the same Bash invocation.

Display the stage banner:

# (env preamble here)
node "${RAPID_TOOLS}" display banner backlog 2>/dev/null || echo "--- /rapid:backlog ---"

If the display banner command is not registered, the fallback echo is sufficient.

---

Step 1: Parse Arguments

The user invokes this skill in one of three ways:

1. Full arguments: /rapid:backlog "idea title" "description"
2. Title only: /rapid:backlog "idea title"
3. No arguments: /rapid:backlog

Resolve Title

If a title was provided as the first argument, use it directly.

If no title was provided, use AskUserQuestion (freeform):

"What feature idea would you like to capture? Provide a short title."

Record the title for use in subsequent steps.

Resolve Description

If a description was provided as the second argument, use it directly.

If no description was provided, use AskUserQuestion (freeform):

"Describe this feature idea in 1-3 sentences. What should it do and why would it be valuable?"

Record the description for use in subsequent steps.

---

Step 2: Generate Backlog Item File

Create Directory

Ensure the backlog directory exists:

mkdir -p .planning/backlog

Generate Filename

The filename follows the pattern: {YYYYMMDD-HHmmss}-{slug}.md

Generate the timestamp:

date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S

Generate the slug from the title:

• Lowercase the title
• Replace spaces with hyphens
• Strip all characters that are not alphanumeric or hyphens
• Truncate to 50 characters

TITLE="<the title from Step 1>"
SLUG=$(echo "$TITLE" | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]' | tr ' ' '-' | sed 's/[^a-z0-9-]//g' | cut -c1-50)
echo "$SLUG"

Combine to produce the full filename:

FILENAME="${TIMESTAMP}-${SLUG}.md"

Example: 20260406-143022-add-priority-field-to-backlog.md

---

Step 3: Write Backlog Item File

Write the file to .planning/backlog/{FILENAME} using the Write tool. The file format is Markdown with YAML frontmatter:

---
title: "{title}"
created: "{ISO 8601 date, e.g. 2026-04-06}"
---

{description}

The frontmatter contains only title and created fields. No source, no priority, no category. The body contains the freeform description exactly as provided.

---

Step 4: Confirmation

Display a confirmation message:

Backlog item captured: .planning/backlog/{FILENAME}

Title: {title} Preview: {first 80 characters of description}...

Do NOT commit the file. Backlog items are committed alongside set work -- they merge with the worktree's changes naturally.

---

Anti-Patterns -- Do NOT Do These

• Do NOT add list/browse/search functionality -- this is capture only
• Do NOT add priority or category fields to the frontmatter
• Do NOT add source tracking (which set originated the idea)
• Do NOT validate or deduplicate against existing backlog items
• Do NOT commit the backlog file -- it will be committed with other set work
• Do NOT register the skill anywhere -- skills auto-discover from skills/*/SKILL.md

Key Principles

• Zero friction: Capture should never fail. No validation, no dedup, no schema enforcement.
• Minimal metadata: Title and created date only. Keep items simple.
• Dual-mode invocation: Works with full arguments (for agents) and with interactive prompts (for users).
• Cross-worktree safe: Timestamp-based filenames prevent collisions across parallel worktrees.
• Capture only: No management features. Users browse .planning/backlog/ directly; audit-version surfaces items during milestone review.