build

• PERSONA: Read sage/core/agents/developer.persona.md for your mindset.

Build Workflow

Feature development guided by Sage.

Auto-Pickup

BEFORE ANYTHING: Scan .sage/work/ for existing artifacts. This scan is MANDATORY — check the DISK.

Manifest-first path: If .sage/work/*/manifest.md exists, read it. Resume at the phase indicated. Use context summary and handoff guidance for judgment context. The manifest is the primary context source.

Fallback path: If no manifest.md but artifacts exist, use file-scan routing (below). Create manifest.md from inferred state before proceeding (backfill). This preserves backward compatibility with pre-v1.0.9 cycles.

File-scan routing (when no manifest):

• No artifacts exist → Step 2 (scope assessment)
• Brief exists, no spec → Step 4 (spec)
• Spec exists, no plan → Step 5 (plan)
• Plan exists, not all completed → Step 6 (build-loop)
• All status: completed → offer next steps

You MUST follow this routing. Do not override it based on:

• Conversation context ("we discussed this before")
• User description ("the design is clear")
• Your own assessment ("this is straightforward") The disk is the source of truth. Not your memory.

Multiple in-progress: Present list: [1] Continue [initiative A] — [phase] [2] Continue [initiative B] — [phase] [3] Start something new

Read .sage/decisions.md for recent context. Read the handoff field in the most recent artifact's frontmatter if present.

Upstream context: Also scan .sage/docs/ for research and analysis artifacts (jtbd-, ux-audit-, opportunity-, ux-evaluate-). If found, announce: "Sage: Found research/analysis context — [list]. Using as build input."

Manifest Lifecycle (build workflow)

Create manifest.md when the first artifact is saved (brief or spec). Use the template from develop/templates/manifest-template.md.

Update manifest.md at EVERY checkpoint:

• Every [A]/[R]/[N] gate: update phase, status, updated timestamp
• Phase transitions: update context summary if new information emerged
• New decisions: append to the manifest's decisions list

Context budget pressure: If the conversation is very long (many tool calls, approaching context limits), write a manifest update BEFORE suggesting a session break. This is the critical moment — capture the judgment that's about to be lost.

Session end ([N]): Manifest update is MANDATORY. Write handoff guidance and context summary before ending.

Completion: Set status: complete at Step 8.

Anti-lazy-manifest contract: Context summary MUST NOT be:

• A copy of the spec's title or description
• "See spec.md for details"
• Generic guidance ("Continue with implementation") The summary must contain judgment the spec doesn't contain.

Step 2: Assess Scope

Classify by structural complexity — not time, not gut feeling.

Lightweight: One component, no design decisions, no behavior changes visible to other team members. The change is obvious from the request. → Skip to Step 6, implement directly.

Standard: Multiple components, OR any design decision, OR coordination between modules. Spec file REQUIRED. → spec.md MUST exist at .sage/work/ before implementation. → plan.md MUST exist at .sage/work/ before implementation. → If the task also needs scope definition, write brief first (Step 3).

Comprehensive: New subsystem, cross-cutting changes, or multiple stakeholder impact. → MUST write brief (Step 3) → spec (Step 4) → plan (Step 5) → implement.

Complexity signals (any ONE makes it Standard or above):

• Touches more than 3 files
• Involves a new API endpoint or data model change
• Requires coordination between multiple modules or services
• Has user-facing behavior changes (new UI, changed flow)
• Involves a decision a team member would need to know about
• Multiple layers affected (database + backend + frontend)

Anti-downgrade: When in doubt, classify as Standard, not Lightweight. Do NOT downgrade to Lightweight to avoid writing a spec. If you find yourself thinking "this is simple enough to skip the spec," that thought is the signal to NOT skip the spec.

Present your assessment:

Sage → build workflow. [Scope] — [what makes it this scope]. Starting with [first required step].

If the user explicitly asks to skip a required step, write a minimal 5-line spec anyway (WHAT, WHY, HOW, DONE-WHEN), present [A]/[R], and record the skip rationale in decisions.md.

Step 3: Brief (Standard with unclear scope, or Comprehensive)

If scope is unclear or the task is Comprehensive, elicit requirements before defining the brief.

For structured elicitation process, read sage/core/capabilities/elicitation/quick-elicit/SKILL.md. It provides 3 focused rounds (~2 minutes):

1. Intent — what should this do when working perfectly?
2. Boundaries — what should this NOT do?
3. Verification — how will we know it works?

If quick-elicit cannot be loaded, ask these three questions directly and draft a brief from the answers.

Define: what to build, why, acceptance scenarios, and constraints.

Save to .sage/work/YYYYMMDD-slug/brief.md with frontmatter:

🔒 CHECKPOINT:

Sage: Brief saved to .sage/work/YYYYMMDD-slug/brief.md Decision: [key scope decisions]. (append to .sage/decisions.md)

[A] Approve — continue to spec in this session [R] Revise — tell me what to change [N] New session — type /build to continue with spec

Pick A/R/N, or tell me what to change.

On approval: update brief frontmatter to status: completed. Append decision to decisions.md (Rule 7).

Step 4: Spec

Define: components, data model, APIs, key decisions, edge cases. Resolve open questions from the brief.

For detailed spec writing process, read sage/core/capabilities/planning/specify/SKILL.md.

Save to .sage/work/YYYYMMDD-slug/spec.md with frontmatter:

🔒 CHECKPOINT: Sage: Spec saved to .sage/work/YYYYMMDD-slug/spec.md Decision: [key technical decisions]. (append to .sage/decisions.md)

[A] Approve — continue to plan in this session [R] Revise — tell me what to change [N] New session — type /build to continue with planning

Pick A/R/N, or tell me what to change.

On approval: update spec frontmatter to status: completed. Write handoff field in frontmatter:

handoff: |
  Key decisions: [summary of choices made]
  Open questions: [what's unresolved]
  Risks: [what to watch for during implementation]
  Next agent should: [specific guidance for planning phase]

Append decision to decisions.md (Rule 7).

Step 5: Plan

Break into small, independently testable tasks. Each task: what to do, done criteria, files involved. Use checkboxes as a guide.

For detailed planning process, read sage/core/capabilities/planning/plan/SKILL.md.

Save to .sage/work/YYYYMMDD-slug/plan.md with frontmatter:

🔒 CHECKPOINT:

Sage: Plan saved to .sage/work/YYYYMMDD-slug/plan.md

[A] Approve — start building in this session [R] Revise — tell me what to change [N] New session — type /build to start implementation

Pick A/R/N, or tell me what to change.

On approval: append plan approach to decisions.md (Rule 7).

Step 6: Implement

Execute the plan task by task using the build loop.

Read and follow sage/core/capabilities/orchestration/build-loop/SKILL.md. It provides:

• Task-by-task execution with status reporting
• TDD discipline for each task (loads sage/core/capabilities/execution/tdd/SKILL.md)
• Scope guard to prevent drift (loads sage/core/capabilities/context/scope-guard/SKILL.md)
• Quality gates between tasks (loads sage/core/workflows/sub-workflows/quality-gates.workflow.md)
• Inter-task checkpoints every 1-3 tasks
• Escalation on repeated failure (3x → ask human)
• Context budget awareness (suggest new session if full)

If the build-loop cannot be loaded, follow these minimum rules: implement one task at a time, write tests before code, run full suite after each task, stay in scope, commit after each task.

If relevant Sage skills exist in sage/skills/, read and follow them.

If stuck during implementation: Activate the problem-solving skill. Match the stuck pattern to a technique — complexity spiral → Simplification, forced solution → Inversion, works-locally-but-fails → Scale Testing, can't isolate → Minimal Reproduction.

Step 7: Quality Gates

Run quality gates on the completed implementation.

Read and follow sage/core/workflows/sub-workflows/quality-gates.workflow.md. It sequences 5 verification stages:

1. Spec compliance — does implementation match the plan? (adversarial)
2. Constitution compliance — does it respect project principles?
3. Code quality — clean, secure, maintainable?
4. Hallucination check — are all imports, APIs, versions real?
5. Verification — tests pass with pasted evidence?

Each gate that fails triggers fix-and-retry (max 3 attempts) or escalation to the user.

If quality-gates cannot be loaded, follow these minimum rules: run full test suite, paste output, verify implementation matches spec, check for hallucinated imports or APIs.

Step 8: Review and Close

Review against spec. Check for missed edge cases.

🔒 CHECKPOINT:

Sage: Build complete. [summary of what was built] Decision: [key implementation decisions]. (append to .sage/decisions.md)

[A] Approve — merge/ship [R] Revise — here's what needs fixing [V] Verify — type /review for independent verification

Pick A/R/V, or tell me what to change.

On approval — checkpoint state (Rule 7):

1. Walk through plan.md and check completed tasks in bulk
2. Update plan.md frontmatter: status: completed
3. Append completion summary to .sage/decisions.md
4. Write handoff field in plan.md frontmatter with key decisions, open questions, and risks for the next agent
5. Store key findings in memory if sage-memory available

Next steps (Zone 3):

Next steps: /qa — browser-based functional testing /design-review — design quality audit /reflect — review the cycle, extract learnings /review — independent code evaluation

Type a command, or describe what you want to do next.

Quality Criteria

Communication style: Engineering precision. Emphasize trade-offs, edge cases, and implementation specifics. Reference file paths, function names, and test results concretely.

Good build output:

• Implementation matches the spec — no undocumented deviations
• Tests exist for new functionality and pass — output pasted as evidence
• Edge cases from the spec are handled, not just happy paths
• Code follows project conventions (naming, structure, patterns)
• No unrelated changes mixed in — scope discipline maintained
• Verification output is from the actual test run, not a summary

Self-Review

Before presenting completed work, check each criterion above. Also:

• Did I paste actual test output, or just claim tests pass?
• Did I run the FULL suite, or just the new tests?
• Are there spec requirements I didn't implement or test?

Rules

• Spec before implementing (Rule 0 gate). DO NOT implement without an approved spec in .sage/work/.
• Tests before code (Base Principle 1). Write failing test first.
• Checkpoints mandatory (Rule 4). Present [A]/[R] and wait.
• Verify with evidence (Rule 5). Paste actual test output.
• Capture corrections (Rule 6). Store as self-learning.
• Record decisions at checkpoints (Rule 7). Append to decisions.md.
• Stay in scope — note improvements, don't add them.
• If stuck, use problem-solving skill. Don't retry the same approach.