Pipeline Orchestration

Orchestrate the full kiro spec-driven lifecycle for a feature -- from description to validated code -- with quality gates, an audit trail, and automatic implementation mode selection.

Invocation

/kiro:pipeline "feature description..."                        # New feature
/kiro:pipeline {feature-name}                                  # Resume existing spec
/kiro:pipeline {feature-name} --from=design                    # Resume from specific phase
/kiro:pipeline {feature-name} --sequential                     # Force sequential implementation

Phase Detection

On invocation, determine the starting point:

1. If argument is a quoted string: New feature. Start at Phase 1 (Init).
2. If argument matches a directory in .kiro/specs/: Existing spec. Read spec.json to determine current phase.
3. If --from= flag present: Override auto-detection, start at specified phase.
4. If pipeline-log.md exists: Read it to understand prior decisions.

Phase-to-Resume Mapping

spec.json phase	Resume from
initialized	Phase 2: Requirements
requirements	Phase 3: Gap Analysis or Phase 4: Design
design	Phase 5: Tasks
tasks-generated	Phase 6: Implementation
implementation-complete	Phase 7: Validation
completed	Nothing -- inform user spec is done

Pipeline Phases

Phase 1: Init

Skip if: spec already exists.

1. Invoke /kiro:spec-init with the feature description
2. Log to pipeline-log.md:
   • Feature name, timestamp, description

Phase 2: Requirements

1. Invoke /kiro:spec-requirements {feature}
2. Quality Gate -- Mechanical Checks:
   • Read generated requirements.md
   • Verify at least one requirement covers unit test coverage (threshold from project config, default 80%+)
   • Verify at least one requirement covers E2E test scenarios
   • Verify requirements use EARS format with numeric IDs
   • If missing: report which test requirements are absent, re-invoke with guidance
3. Log: requirement count, test requirement IDs, reviewer verdict, issue count by severity, deferred issues
4. Proceed to next phase automatically (no manual approval gate)

Phase 3: Gap Analysis (conditional)

Run gap analysis.

1. Invoke /kiro:validate-gap {feature}
2. Log: existing components found, integration points, strategy
3. Quality Gate -- Substantive Review:
   • Invoke /kiro:reviewer {feature} requirements
   • The reviewer runs as an autonomous subagent: it explores the codebase, applies the review checklist, fixes fixable gaps directly in requirements.md, and returns a final verdict
   • If NO-GO (HIGH issues the reviewer could not fix): log issues, present to user, re-invoke requirements generation with feedback
   • If GO or GO-with-conditions: the reviewer has already fixed fixable issues; only deferred concerns remain. Proceed automatically.
   • If NEEDS-INPUT: present the reviewer's question to the user, get answer, re-invoke reviewer with answer

Phase 4: Design

1. Invoke /kiro:spec-design {feature}
2. Quality Gate -- Structural Review:
   • Invoke /kiro:validate-design {feature}
   • Require GO decision
   • Verify testability section is present in design.md
   • Verify data isolation strategy is addressed
   • If NO-GO: log critical issues, present to user, re-invoke design with feedback
3. Log: validate-design verdict, reviewer verdict, combined critical issue count, testability check, deferred issues
4. Proceed to next phase automatically (no manual approval gate)

Phase 5: Tasks

1. Invoke /kiro:spec-tasks {feature}
2. Quality Gate -- Mechanical Checks:
   • Read generated tasks.md
   • Verify dedicated unit testing task group exists
   • Verify dedicated E2E testing task group exists
   • Verify coverage targets specified (project default or 80% statements)
   • Verify all requirements traced to at least one task (_Requirements: X.X_)
   • Verify testing tasks are NOT marked optional (- [ ]*)
   • If missing: report gaps, re-invoke with corrections
3. Quality Gate -- Substantive Review:
   • Invoke /kiro:reviewer {feature} tasks
   • The reviewer runs as an autonomous subagent: it verifies requirements traceability in both directions, checks task actionability, validates parallel analysis against actual file targets, fixes fixable gaps directly in tasks.md, and returns a final verdict
   • If NO-GO (HIGH issues the reviewer could not fix): log issues, present to user, re-invoke tasks generation with feedback
   • If GO or GO-with-conditions: the reviewer has already fixed fixable issues; only deferred concerns remain. Proceed automatically.
   • If NEEDS-INPUT: present the reviewer's question to the user, get answer, re-invoke reviewer with answer
4. Parallel Stream Analysis: Count (P) markers to determine implementation mode
5. Log: task count, testing task IDs, reviewer verdict, parallel stream count, coverage target, deferred issues
6. Proceed to next phase automatically (no manual approval gate)

Phase 6: Implementation

1. Invoke /kiro:spec-impl {feature} (all pending tasks)
2. If --sequential was set, note in log
3. Log: mode, task execution order

Post-implementation completeness check: After execution finishes, read tasks.md and verify ALL tasks are [x]. Do NOT log Phase 6 as COMPLETE if any tasks remain [ ]. Either execute the remaining tasks or explicitly log them as deferred with a reason. A Phase 6 status of COMPLETE means every task in tasks.md is checked.

Phase 7: Validation

Step 1 -- Tasks completeness gate (mandatory): Read tasks.md and verify ALL tasks are [x]. If any tasks remain [ ], Phase 7 verdict is NO-GO. List the unchecked tasks in the log. Do NOT proceed to verification commands until every task is checked.

Step 2 -- Automated verification:

1. Invoke /kiro:validate-impl {feature}
2. Run the project's verification commands:
   • Build command (e.g., npm run build, make build, cargo build) -- compilation/transpilation
   • Unit test command (e.g., npm run test, pytest, go test) -- unit tests pass
   • Coverage command (if available) -- coverage thresholds met

Discover project commands from: steering docs (.kiro/steering/tech.md), package.json scripts, Makefile/justfile targets, or README.md. If unclear, ask the user.

Step 3 -- E2E test gate (mandatory when E2E tasks exist): If tasks.md contains E2E test tasks, E2E tests MUST run before the pipeline can declare GO. Ask the user for permission to run E2E tests. If the user declines, the Phase 7 verdict is GO-PENDING-E2E (not GO). spec.json phase stays implementation-complete (not completed). The pipeline log marks Status: COMPLETE (pending E2E). The feature is NOT done until E2E tests pass.

Step 4 -- Verdict:

• GO: All tasks [x], build passes, unit tests pass, coverage met, E2E tests pass
• GO-PENDING-E2E: All automated checks pass but E2E tests were not run (user declined or deferred)
• NO-GO: Any check fails -- log issues, present remediation plan

3. Log: validation result, test pass/fail, coverage numbers, E2E status

Audit Trail

All pipeline activity is logged to .kiro/specs/{feature}/pipeline-log.md.

Rules:

• Append-only -- never modify previous entries
• Every phase gets a timestamped section header
• Log decisions, approvals, quality gate results, and key metrics
• Log failures and re-invocations with reasons

Format:

# Pipeline Log: {feature-name}

## Phase N: {name} -- {ISO-8601 timestamp}
- Key metric 1: value
- Key metric 2: value
- Quality gate: PASS/FAIL (reason)
- User approval: APPROVED/REJECTED (feedback if rejected)
- Status: COMPLETE/FAILED/SKIPPED

Quality Standards Reference

These thresholds are enforced at quality gates:

Standard	Threshold	Enforced At
Unit test coverage	Project default (80%+ recommended)	Phase 2 (requirement), Phase 7 (validation)
E2E test coverage	Project default (80%+ recommended)	Phase 2 (requirement), Phase 7 (validation)
Substantive requirements review	GO from /kiro:reviewer	Phase 3
Design review (structural)	GO from /kiro:validate-design	Phase 4
Requirements traceability	All reqs mapped to tasks	Phase 5
Tasks review (substantive)	GO from /kiro:reviewer	Phase 5
Testing tasks	Dedicated groups, not optional	Phase 5
All tasks checked	Every [ ] in tasks.md must be [x]	Phase 6 (post-impl), Phase 7 (pre-validation)
Build passes	Project build command succeeds	Phase 7
E2E tests pass	All E2E scenarios green (when E2E tasks exist)	Phase 7 (mandatory gate)

Error Recovery

Failure	Recovery
Mechanical quality gate fails	Log failure reason, present to user, re-invoke phase with guidance
/kiro:reviewer returns NO-GO	Log HIGH issues with evidence, revise artifact to address them, re-invoke reviewer
/kiro:reviewer returns GO-with-conditions	Log deferred issues in pipeline-log.md. Proceed automatically. Do NOT pause for user acknowledgment -- deferred issues are informational, not blocking.
/kiro:reviewer returns NEEDS-INPUT	Present the reviewer's specific question and options to the user. Wait for answer. Re-invoke reviewer with the answer.
Design gets NO-GO from validate-design	Log critical issues, re-invoke /kiro:spec-design with review feedback
Implementation fails	Log error, identify failing task, re-invoke for that specific task
Tests fail in validation	Log failures, create remediation tasks, re-invoke implementation
User rejects phase output (when asked via NEEDS-INPUT)	Log rejection reason, re-invoke phase

Anti-Patterns

Do NOT	Do Instead
Pause the pipeline for manual approval when reviewer gave GO	Proceed automatically -- only NEEDS-INPUT and NO-GO pause the pipeline
Continue after NO-GO design review	Fix design issues before proceeding to tasks
Mark testing tasks as optional (*)	Testing is mandatory -- first-class tasks
Run implementation after NO-GO verdict	Fix issues before proceeding -- but GO/GO-with-conditions proceed automatically
Modify pipeline-log.md entries retroactively	Append new entries -- the log is immutable
Run E2E tests without permission	Ask the user before running E2E tests
Escalate fixable gaps to user as "conditions"	Fix them in the artifact, re-review, then present clean results
Declare Phase 6 COMPLETE with unchecked tasks	Verify every [ ] is [x] before marking COMPLETE
Skip E2E gate in Phase 7 because user hasn't given permission yet	Ask for permission. If declined, use GO-PENDING-E2E verdict -- never plain GO
Set spec.json phase to completed without E2E passing	Phase stays implementation-complete until E2E tests run and pass