pdca

PDCA Skill

Unified Skill for managing PDCA cycle. Supports the entire Plan → Design → Do → Check → Act flow.

Arguments

Argument	Description	Example
pm [feature]	Run PM Agent Team analysis (pre-Plan)	/pdca pm user-auth
plan [feature]	Create Plan document	/pdca plan user-auth
design [feature]	Create Design document	/pdca design user-auth
do [feature]	Do phase guide (start implementation)	/pdca do user-auth
analyze [feature]	Run Gap analysis (Check phase)	/pdca analyze user-auth
iterate [feature]	Auto improvement iteration (Act phase)	/pdca iterate user-auth
report [feature]	Generate completion report	/pdca report user-auth
archive [feature]	Archive completed PDCA documents	/pdca archive user-auth
cleanup [feature]	Cleanup archived features from status	/pdca cleanup
team [feature]	Start PDCA Team Mode (requires Agent Teams)	/pdca team user-auth
team status	Show Team status	/pdca team status
team cleanup	Cleanup Team resources	/pdca team cleanup
status	Show current PDCA status	/pdca status
next	Guide to next phase	/pdca next

Action Details

pm (PM Analysis Phase)

Run PM Agent Team for product discovery and strategy analysis before Plan phase.

1. Call pm-lead Agent (orchestrates 4 sub-agents)
2. pm-lead runs Phase 1: Context Collection (project info, git history)
3. pm-lead runs Phase 2: Parallel Analysis (3 agents simultaneously)
   • pm-discovery: Opportunity Solution Tree (Teresa Torres)
   • pm-strategy: Value Proposition (JTBD 6-Part) + Lean Canvas
   • pm-research: 3 Personas + 5 Competitors + TAM/SAM/SOM
4. pm-lead runs Phase 3: PRD Synthesis via pm-prd agent
   • Beachhead Segment (Geoffrey Moore) + GTM Strategy
   • 8-section PRD generation
5. Output PRD to docs/00-pm/{feature}.prd.md
6. Create Task: [PM] {feature}
7. Update .rkit-memory.json: phase = "pm"
8. Guide user to next step: /pdca plan {feature}

Output Path: docs/00-pm/{feature}.prd.md

Requirements:

• Agent Teams enabled: CLAUDE_CODE_EXPERIMENTAL_AGENT_TEAMS=1
• Project level: Dynamic or Enterprise (Starter not supported)

plan (Plan Phase)

0. PRD Auto-Reference: Check if docs/00-pm/{feature}.prd.md exists
   • If found: Read PRD and use as context for Plan document (improves quality significantly)
   • If not found: Proceed normally (tip: run /pdca pm {feature} first for better results)
1. Check if docs/01-plan/features/{feature}.plan.md exists
2. If not, create based on plan.template.md
3. If exists, display content and suggest modifications
4. Create Task: [Plan] {feature}
5. Update .rkit-memory.json: phase = "plan"
6. Write ## Executive Summary at document top with 4-perspective table (Problem/Solution/Function UX Effect/Core Value), each 1-2 sentences
7. MANDATORY: After completing the document, also output the Executive Summary table in your response so the user sees it immediately without opening the file

Output Path: docs/01-plan/features/{feature}.plan.md

Tip: For features with ambiguous requirements or multiple implementation approaches, use /plan-plus {feature} instead. Plan Plus adds brainstorming phases (intent discovery, alternatives exploration, YAGNI review) before document generation for higher-quality plans.

design (Design Phase)

1. Verify Plan document exists (required - suggest running plan first if missing)
2. Create docs/02-design/features/{feature}.design.md
3. Use design.template.md structure + reference Plan content
4. Create Task: [Design] {feature} (blockedBy: Plan task)
5. Update .rkit-memory.json: phase = "design"

Output Path: docs/02-design/features/{feature}.design.md

do (Do Phase)

1. Verify Design document exists (required)
2. Provide implementation guide based on do.template.md
3. Reference implementation order from Design document
4. Create Task: [Do] {feature} (blockedBy: Design task)
5. Update .rkit-memory.json: phase = "do"

Guide Provided:

• Implementation order checklist
• Key files/components list
• Dependency installation commands

analyze (Check Phase)

1. Verify Do completion status (implementation code exists)
2. Call gap-detector Agent
3. Compare Design document vs implementation code
4. Calculate Match Rate and generate Gap list
5. Create Task: [Check] {feature} (blockedBy: Do task)
6. Update .rkit-memory.json: phase = "check", matchRate

Output Path: docs/03-analysis/{feature}.analysis.md

iterate (Act Phase)

1. Check results (when matchRate < 90%)
2. Call pdca-iterator Agent
3. Auto-fix code based on Gap list
4. Auto re-run Check after fixes
5. Create Task: [Act-N] {feature} (N = iteration count)
6. Stop when >= 90% reached or max iterations (5) hit

Iteration Rules:

• Max iterations: 5 (adjustable via rkit.config.json)
• Stop conditions: matchRate >= 90% or maxIterations reached

report (Completion Report)

1. Verify Check >= 90% (warn if below)
2. Call report-generator Agent
3. Integrated report of Plan, Design, Implementation, Analysis
4. Include ## Executive Summary with ### 1.3 Value Delivered reflecting actual results (4 perspectives with metrics)
5. MANDATORY: After completing the report, also output the Executive Summary table in your response
6. Create Task: [Report] {feature}
7. Update .rkit-memory.json: phase = "completed"

Output Path: docs/04-report/{feature}.report.md

team (Team Mode) - v1.5.1

Start PDCA Team Mode using Claude Code Agent Teams (requires CLAUDE_CODE_EXPERIMENTAL_AGENT_TEAMS=1).

team [feature] - Start Team Mode

1. Check if Agent Teams is available: call isTeamModeAvailable() from lib/team/coordinator.js
2. If not available, display: "Agent Teams is not enabled. Set CLAUDE_CODE_EXPERIMENTAL_AGENT_TEAMS=1 to enable."
3. Detect project level via detectLevel() - Starter projects cannot use Team Mode
4. Generate team strategy via generateTeamStrategy(level):
   • Dynamic: 3 teammates (developer, frontend, qa) — CTO Lead orchestrates
   • Enterprise: 5 teammates (architect, developer, qa, reviewer, security) — CTO Lead orchestrates
5. CTO Lead (cto-lead agent, opus) automatically:
   • Sets technical direction and selects orchestration pattern
   • Distributes tasks to teammates based on PDCA phase
   • Enforces quality gates (90% Match Rate threshold)
6. Show strategy and confirm with AskUserQuestion before starting
7. Assign PDCA tasks to teammates via assignNextTeammateWork()

team status - Show Team Status

1. Call formatTeamStatus() from lib/team/coordinator.js
2. Display: Team availability, enabled state, display mode, teammate count
3. Show current PDCA feature progress per teammate if active

Output Example:

📊 PDCA Team Status
─────────────────────────────
Agent Teams: Available ✅
Display Mode: in-process
Teammates: 4 / 4 (Enterprise)
─────────────────────────────
Feature: user-auth
  architect: [Design] in progress
  developer: [Do] waiting
  qa: idle
  reviewer: idle

team cleanup - Cleanup Team Resources

1. Stop all active teammates
2. Record team_session_ended in PDCA history via addPdcaHistory()
3. Return to single-session PDCA mode
4. Display: "Returning to single-session mode"

Required Environment: CLAUDE_CODE_EXPERIMENTAL_AGENT_TEAMS=1

Level Requirements:

Level	Available	Teammates	CTO Lead
Starter	No	-	-
Dynamic	Yes	3	cto-lead (opus)
Enterprise	Yes	5	cto-lead (opus)

archive (Archive Phase)

1. Verify Report completion status (phase = "completed" or matchRate >= 90%)
2. Verify PDCA documents exist (plan, design, analysis, report)
3. Create docs/archive/YYYY-MM/{feature}/ folder
4. Move documents (delete from original location)
5. Update Archive Index (docs/archive/YYYY-MM/_INDEX.md)
6. Update .pdca-status.json: phase = "archived", record archivedTo path
7. Remove feature from status (or preserve summary with --summary option)

Arguments:

Argument	Description	Example
archive {feature}	Archive with complete cleanup (default)	/pdca archive user-auth
archive {feature} --summary	Archive with summary preservation (FR-04)	/pdca archive user-auth --summary

Output Path: docs/archive/YYYY-MM/{feature}/

Documents to Archive:

• docs/01-plan/features/{feature}.plan.md
• docs/02-design/features/{feature}.design.md
• docs/03-analysis/{feature}.analysis.md
• docs/04-report/features/{feature}.report.md

FR-04: Summary Preservation Option (v1.4.8):

When using --summary (or --preserve-summary, -s), the feature data in .pdca-status.json is converted to a lightweight summary instead of being deleted:

// Summary format (70% size reduction)
{
  "my-feature": {
    "phase": "archived",
    "matchRate": 100,
    "iterationCount": 2,
    "startedAt": "2026-01-15T10:00:00Z",
    "archivedAt": "2026-01-20T15:30:00Z",
    "archivedTo": "docs/archive/2026-01/my-feature/"
  }
}

Use --summary when you need:

• Historical statistics and metrics
• Project duration tracking
• PDCA efficiency analysis

Important Notes:

• Cannot archive before Report completion
• Documents are deleted from original location after move (irreversible)
• Feature name must match exactly
• Default behavior: complete deletion from status
• Use --summary to preserve metrics for future reference

cleanup (Cleanup Phase) - v1.4.8

Clean up archived features from .pdca-status.json to reduce file size.

1. Read archived features from .pdca-status.json
2. Display list with timestamps and archive paths
3. Ask user for confirmation via AskUserQuestion (FR-06)
4. Delete selected features from status using cleanupArchivedFeatures()
5. Report cleanup results

Arguments:

Argument	Description	Example
cleanup	Interactive cleanup (shows list)	/pdca cleanup
cleanup all	Delete all archived features	/pdca cleanup all
cleanup {feature}	Delete specific feature	/pdca cleanup old-feature

Output Example:

🧹 PDCA Cleanup
─────────────────────────────
Archived features found: 3

1. feature-a (archived: 2026-01-15)
2. feature-b (archived: 2026-01-20)
3. feature-c (archived: 2026-01-25)

Select features to cleanup:
[ ] All archived features
[ ] Select specific features
[ ] Cancel

Related Functions (lib/pdca/status.js):

• getArchivedFeatures() - Get list of archived features
• cleanupArchivedFeatures(features?) - Cleanup specific or all archived
• deleteFeatureFromStatus(feature) - Delete single feature
• enforceFeatureLimit(max=50) - Auto cleanup when limit exceeded

Notes:

• Only archived/completed features can be deleted
• Active features are protected from deletion
• Archive documents remain in docs/archive/ (only status is cleaned)

status (Status Check)

1. Read .rkit-memory.json
2. Display current feature, PDCA phase, Task status
3. Visualize progress

Output Example:

📊 PDCA Status
─────────────────────────────
Feature: user-authentication
Phase: Check (Gap Analysis)
Match Rate: 85%
Iteration: 2/5
─────────────────────────────
[Plan] ✅ → [Design] ✅ → [Do] ✅ → [Check] 🔄 → [Act] ⏳

next (Next Phase)

1. Check current PDCA phase
2. Suggest next phase guide and commands
3. Confirm with user via AskUserQuestion

Phase Guide:

Current	Next	Suggestion
None	pm	/pdca pm [feature] (recommended) or /pdca plan [feature]
pm	plan	/pdca plan [feature] (PRD auto-referenced)
plan	design	/pdca design [feature]
design	do	Implementation start guide
do	check	/pdca analyze [feature]
check (<90%)	act	/pdca iterate [feature]
check (>=90%)	report	/pdca report [feature]
report	archive	/pdca archive [feature]

Template References

Templates loaded from imports are used when executing each action:

Action	Template	Purpose
plan	plan.template.md	Plan document structure
design	design.template.md	Design document structure
do	do.template.md	Implementation guide structure
analyze	analysis.template.md	Analysis report structure
report	report.template.md	Completion report structure

Task Integration

Each PDCA phase automatically integrates with Task System:

Task Creation Pattern:
┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ [PM] {feature}                         │
│   ↓ (optional, pre-Plan)               │
│ [Plan] {feature}                       │
│   ↓ (blockedBy)                        │
│ [Design] {feature}                     │
│   ↓ (blockedBy)                        │
│ [Do] {feature}                         │
│   ↓ (blockedBy)                        │
│ [Check] {feature}                      │
│   ↓ (blockedBy, Check < 90%)           │
│ [Act-1] {feature}                      │
│   ↓ (on iteration)                     │
│ [Act-N] {feature}                      │
│   ↓ (Check >= 90%)                     │
│ [Report] {feature}                     │
│   ↓ (after Report completion)          │
│ [Archive] {feature}                    │
└────────────────────────────────────────┘

Agent Integration

Action	Agent	Role
pm	pm-lead	Orchestrate PM Agent Team (4 sub-agents)
analyze	gap-detector	Compare Design vs Implementation
iterate	pdca-iterator	Auto code fix and re-verification
report	report-generator	Generate completion report

Usage Examples

# Run PM analysis (recommended before planning)
/pdca pm user-authentication

# Start new feature
/pdca plan user-authentication

# Create design document
/pdca design user-authentication

# Implementation guide
/pdca do user-authentication

# Gap analysis after implementation
/pdca analyze user-authentication

# Auto improvement (if needed)
/pdca iterate user-authentication

# Completion report
/pdca report user-authentication

# Check current status
/pdca status

# Guide to next phase
/pdca next

Legacy Commands Mapping

Legacy Command	PDCA Skill
/pdca-plan	/pdca plan
/pdca-design	/pdca design
/pdca-analyze	/pdca analyze
/pdca-iterate	/pdca iterate
/pdca-report	/pdca report
/pdca-status	/pdca status
/pdca-next	/pdca next
/archive	/pdca archive

Output Style Integration (v1.5.1)

PDCA workflows benefit from the rkit-pdca-guide output style:

/output-style rkit-pdca-guide

This provides PDCA-specific response formatting:

• Phase status badges: [Plan] -> [Design] -> [Do] -> [Check] -> [Act]
• Gap analysis suggestions after code changes
• Next-phase guidance with checklists
• Feature usage report integration

When running PDCA commands, suggest this style if not already active.

Agent Teams Integration (v1.5.1)

For Dynamic/Enterprise projects, PDCA phases can run in parallel using Agent Teams:

/pdca team {feature}        Start parallel PDCA
/pdca team status            Monitor teammate progress
/pdca team cleanup           End team session

Suggest Agent Teams when:

• Feature is classified as Major Feature (>= 1000 chars)
• Match Rate < 70% (parallel iteration can speed up fixes)
• Project level is Dynamic or Enterprise

CTO-Led Team Orchestration Patterns:

Level	Plan	Design	Do	Check	Act
Dynamic	leader	leader	swarm	council	leader
Enterprise	leader	council	swarm	council	watchdog

Auto Triggers

Auto-suggest related action when detecting these keywords:

Keyword	Suggested Action
"pm", "product discovery", "PRD", "market analysis"	pm
"plan", "planning", "roadmap"	plan
"design", "architecture", "spec"	design
"implement", "develop", "build"	do
"verify", "analyze", "check"	analyze
"improve", "iterate", "fix"	iterate
"complete", "report", "summary"	report
"archive", "store"	archive
"cleanup", "clean", "remove old"	cleanup

Slash Invoke Pattern (CC 2.1.0+)

Skills 2.0 enables direct slash invocation for all PDCA commands:

• /pdca plan [feature] — Create Plan document
• /pdca design [feature] — Create Design document
• /pdca do [feature] — Implementation guide
• /pdca analyze [feature] — Gap analysis (Check phase)
• /pdca iterate [feature] — Auto-improvement (Act phase)
• /pdca report [feature] — Completion report
• /pdca status — Current PDCA status
• /pdca next — Next phase guide
• /plan-plus [feature] — Brainstorming-enhanced planning

Hot reload: SKILL.md changes reflect without session restart (CC 2.1.0+).

PDCA Auto-Monitoring (CC v2.1.71+)

CC v2.1.71 introduces /loop command and Cron tools for automated monitoring.

Usage Examples

• /loop 5m /pdca status - Check PDCA status every 5 minutes
• /loop 10m /pdca analyze [feature] - Run Gap analysis every 10 minutes
• Use Cron tools for session-level scheduled checks

CTO Team Integration

• Long CTO Team sessions benefit from /loop for progress monitoring
• stdin freeze fixed in v2.1.71 ensures reliable long sessions
• Background agent recovery (v2.1.71) makes background: true agents reliable