disciplined-workflow

Disciplined Development Workflow

This skill enforces a rigorous, traceable development process inspired by the Rue language project. Every implementation traces back to specifications, every specification has tests, and every decision is recorded.

Core Principles

1. Specification-First: Write specs before code. Specs define WHAT, not HOW.
2. Test-Driven: Tests verify specs are met. Write tests before implementation.
3. Traceable: Every line of implementation traces to a spec paragraph.
4. Documented Decisions: ADRs capture WHY we chose an approach.
5. Managed Work: Tasks tracked with dependencies, ready work identified.

The Development Loop

For any non-trivial work, follow the 7-phase loop:

Orient → Specify → Decide → Test → Implement → Review → Close

See references/workflow.md for the full workflow reference with commands.

Scaling Up

For large features (multi-file, multi-task), use these tools to manage complexity:

• Spec Decomposition (/dp:decompose): Transforms specs into dependency-aware, context-window-sized work items. Ambiguities become first-class "holes" that block downstream work. Use after the Specify phase for feature-scale work.
• Progress Reporting (/dp:progress): Generates structured reports from Beads and git state. Reports serve both humans (status updates, action items) and AI agents (context recovery for fresh sessions via docs/progress/latest.md). Use during Close phase or in watch mode for ongoing projects.

Workflow Integration

Starting Work

Before implementing anything:

# Check what's ready to work on
/dp:task ready

# Claim a task
/dp:task update <task-id> --status in_progress

# Review the task context
/dp:task show <task-id>

During Implementation

When you discover related work:

# File discovered issues, linked to parent
/dp:task discover "Found: <issue>" --from <parent-id> -p <priority>

Completing Work

# Run quality gates (tests, lint, build)
# Close the task
/dp:task close <task-id> --reason "Implemented per spec [SPEC-ID]"

# Commit with task reference
git add -A && git commit -m "feat: <description> (<task-id>)"

Project Structure

The disciplined process expects this structure:

project/
├── CLAUDE.md                    # Project-specific adaptations
├── .claude/
│   └── settings.json            # Hooks and permissions
├── .beads/                      # Task tracking (or alternative)
├── docs/
│   ├── spec/                    # Specifications with paragraph IDs
│   │   ├── 00-overview.md
│   │   ├── 01-<domain>.md
│   │   └── ...
│   ├── adr/                     # Architecture Decision Records
│   │   ├── 0001-<decision>.md
│   │   └── template.md
│   └── process/                 # Process documentation
│       ├── code-review.md
│       └── workflow.md
├── tests/                       # Test suites by type
│   ├── unit/
│   ├── integration/
│   ├── property/
│   └── e2e/
└── src/                         # Implementation

Enforcement Modes

This workflow supports three enforcement levels (configured in .claude/settings.json):

1. Strict (default): Hooks block commits without passing tests and spec references
2. Guided: Hooks warn but don't block; skills suggest best practices
3. Minimal: Skills available but no enforcement; for exploratory work

Related Skills

• spec-tracing: Detailed specification format and traceability
• tdd-methodology: Test-first patterns for different test types
• adr-authoring: Architecture Decision Record format and process
• task-executor: Working from decomposed task files or Beads issues created by spec-decompose