Adds --chain flag to /gsd:discuss-phase that provides the middle ground
between fully manual and fully automatic workflows:
/gsd:discuss-phase 5 --chain
- Discussion is fully interactive (user answers questions)
- After context is captured, auto-advances to plan → execute
- Same pipeline as --auto, but without auto-answering
This addresses the community request for per-phase automation where
users want to control discuss decisions but skip manual advancement
between plan and execute steps.
Workflow: discuss (interactive) → plan (auto) → execute (auto)
Changes:
- Workflow: --chain flag triggers auto_advance without auto-answering
- Workflow: chain flag synced alongside --auto in ephemeral config
- Workflow: next-phase suggestion preserves --chain vs --auto
- Command: argument-hint and description updated
- Success criteria updated
Closes#1327
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
When running in --auto or headless mode, the discuss step could loop
indefinitely — each pass reads its own CONTEXT.md, finds "gaps" in
referenced types/interfaces, creates new decisions to fill them, and
repeats. Observed: 34 passes, 167 decisions, 7 hours, zero code written.
Fixes:
- Add max_discuss_passes config (default: 3) to WorkflowConfig
- Add single-pass guard instruction to SDK self-discuss prompt
- Add pass cap documentation to CLI discuss-phase workflow
- Add pass guard step to SDK headless discuss-phase prompt
- Add stall detection note to autonomous workflow
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
When discuss-phase is interrupted mid-session (usage limit, crash,
network drop), all user answers were lost — the workflow only wrote
CONTEXT.md and DISCUSSION-LOG.md at the very end. Users had to redo
entire discussion sessions from scratch.
Changes:
- Write DISCUSS-CHECKPOINT.json after each grey area completes,
capturing all decisions, completed/remaining areas, deferred ideas,
and canonical refs
- check_existing step now detects checkpoint files and offers "Resume"
or "Start fresh" — skips already-completed areas on resume
- Checkpoint cleaned up after successful CONTEXT.md write
- Works in both interactive and --auto modes
Closes#1485
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Add agent_skills config section that maps agent types to skill directory
paths. At spawn time, workflows load configured skills and inject them
as <agent_skills> blocks in Task() prompts, giving subagents access to
project-specific skill files.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Address 4 root causes of Windows + Claude Code reliability issues:
1. Workflow shell robustness: add || true guards to informational commands
(ls, grep, find, cat) that return non-zero on "no results", preventing
workflow step failures under strict execution models. Guard glob loops
with [ -e "$var" ] || continue to handle empty glob expansion.
2. Hook stdin handling: replace readFileSync('/dev/stdin') with async
process.stdin + timeout in agent templates (gsd-verifier.md). Existing
JS hooks already have timeout guards.
3. project_root detection: fix isInsideGitRepo() to check .git at the
candidate parent level (not just below it), enabling correct detection
when .git and .planning/ are siblings at the same directory level —
the common single-repo case from a subdirectory.
4. @file: handoff: add missing @file: handlers to autonomous.md and
manager.md workflows that call gsd-tools init but lacked the handler
for large output payloads.
Fixes#1343
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Enable multiple Claude Code instances to work on the same codebase
simultaneously by scoping .planning/ state into workstreams.
Core changes:
- planningDir(cwd, ws?) and planningPaths(cwd, ws?) are now workstream-aware
via GSD_WORKSTREAM env var (auto-detected from --ws flag or active-workstream file)
- All bin/lib modules use planningDir(cwd) for scoped paths (STATE.md, ROADMAP.md,
phases/, REQUIREMENTS.md) and planningRoot(cwd) for shared paths (milestones/,
PROJECT.md, config.json, codebase/)
- New workstream.cjs module: create, list, status, complete, set, get, progress
- gsd-tools.cjs: --ws flag parsing with priority chain
(--ws > GSD_WORKSTREAM env > active-workstream file > flat mode)
- Collision detection: transition.md checks for other active workstreams before
suggesting next-milestone continuation (prevents WS A from trampling WS B)
- ${GSD_WS} routing propagation across all 9 workflow files ensures workstream
scope chains automatically through the workflow lifecycle
New files:
- get-shit-done/bin/lib/workstream.cjs (CRUD + collision detection)
- get-shit-done/commands/gsd/workstreams.md (slash command)
- get-shit-done/references/workstream-flag.md (documentation)
- tests/workstream.test.cjs (20 tests covering CRUD, env var routing, --ws flag)
All 1062 tests passing (1042 existing + 20 new workstream tests).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
The discuss-phase command file contained a 93-line detailed <process>
block that competed with the actual workflow file. The agent treated
this summary as complete instructions and never read the execution_context
files (discuss-phase.md, discuss-phase-assumptions.md, context.md template).
Root cause: Unlike execute-phase and plan-phase commands (which have short
2-line process blocks deferring to the workflow file), discuss-phase had
inline step-by-step instructions detailed enough to act on without reading
the referenced workflow files.
Changes:
- Replace discuss-phase command's <process> block with a short directive
that forces reading the workflow file, matching execute-phase/plan-phase
pattern
- Add MANDATORY instruction that execution_context files ARE the
instructions, not optional reading
- Register workflow.research_before_questions and workflow.discuss_mode
as valid config keys (were missing from VALID_CONFIG_KEYS)
- Fix config key mismatch: workflows referenced "research_questions"
but documented key is "workflow.research_before_questions"
- Move research_before_questions from hooks section to workflow section
in settings workflow
- Add research_before_questions default to config template and builder
- Add suggestion mapping for deprecated hooks.research_questions key
- Add 6 regression tests covering config keys and process block guard
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Decisions in CONTEXT.md are now numbered (D-01, D-02, etc.) so
downstream agents can reference them and the plan-checker can verify
100% coverage.
Changes:
- templates/context.md: Decisions use **D-XX:** prefix format
- workflows/discuss-phase.md: write_context step numbers decisions
- agents/gsd-planner.md: Self-check verifies decision ID references
in task actions; tasks reference D-XX IDs for traceability
- agents/gsd-plan-checker.md: Dimension 7 (Context Compliance)
extracts D-XX IDs and verifies every decision has a task
Adds an optional advisor mode to discuss-phase that provides research-backed
comparison tables before asking users to make decisions. Activates when
USER-PROFILE.md exists, degrades gracefully otherwise.
New agent: gsd-advisor-researcher -- spawned in parallel per gray area,
returns structured 5-column comparison tables calibrated to the user vendor
philosophy preference (full_maturity/standard/minimal_decisive).
Workflow changes (discuss-phase.md):
- Advisor mode detection in analyze_phase step
- New advisor_research step spawns parallel research agents
- Table-first discussion flow in discuss_areas when advisor mode active
- Standard conversational flow unchanged when advisor mode inactive
- Generate {phase_num}-DISCUSSION-LOG.md alongside CONTEXT.md during
discuss-phase sessions
- Log captures all options presented per gray area (not just the
selected one), user's choice, notes, Claude's discretion items,
and deferred ideas
- File is explicitly marked as audit-only — not for agent consumption
- Add discussion-log.md template with format specification
- Track Q&A data accumulation instruction in discuss_areas step
- Commit discussion log alongside CONTEXT.md in same git commit
- Add regression tests for workflow reference and template existence
- Add workflow.text_mode config option (default: false) that replaces
AskUserQuestion TUI menus with plain-text numbered lists
- Document --text flag and config-set workflow.text_mode true as the
fix for /rc remote sessions where the Claude App cannot forward TUI
menu selections
- Update discuss-phase.md with text mode parsing and answer_validation
fallback documentation
- Add text_mode to loadConfig defaults and VALID_CONFIG_KEYS
- Add regression tests for config-set and loadConfig
Adds workflow.research_questions config toggle (default: false) that
enables web research before asking questions during /gsd:new-project
and /gsd:discuss-phase.
When enabled:
- discuss-phase: searches best practices for each gray area before
presenting questions, showing 2-3 bullet points of findings
- new-project: researches the user's described domain before asking
follow-up questions, weaving findings into the conversation
Added to /gsd:settings as a toggle ('Research Qs' section).
Closes#1186
Adds --analyze flag to /gsd:discuss-phase that provides a trade-off
analysis before each question (or question group in --batch mode).
When active, each question is preceded by:
- 2-3 options with pros/cons based on codebase context
- A recommended approach with reasoning
- Known pitfalls or constraints from prior phases
Composable with existing flags: --batch --analyze gives grouped
questions each with trade-off tables.
Closes#833
Add a cross_reference_todos step to discuss-phase that surfaces relevant
backlog items before scope-setting decisions are made.
Implementation:
- New 'todo match-phase <N>' CLI command (commands.cjs) that scores
pending todos against a phase's ROADMAP goal using three heuristics:
keyword overlap, area match, and file path overlap
- New cross_reference_todos step in discuss-phase.md between
load_prior_context and scout_codebase
- CONTEXT.md template gains 'Folded Todos' subsection in <decisions>
and 'Reviewed Todos (not folded)' subsection in <deferred>
Design:
- No AI call for matching — pure keyword/area/file heuristics for speed
- Silent skip when todo_count is 0 or no matches (no workflow slowdown)
- Auto mode folds all todos with score >= 0.4 automatically
- Scoring: keywords (up to 0.6), area match (0.3), file overlap (0.4)
Tests: 5 new tests covering empty state, keyword matching, unrelated
todo exclusion, area matching, and score sorting.
Closes#1111
When the discuss-phase workflow asks 'More questions about [area], or
move to next?', it now also lists the remaining unvisited areas so the
user can see what's still ahead and make an informed decision about
whether to go deeper or move on.
Example: 'More questions about Layout, or move to next?
(Remaining: Loading behavior, Content ordering)'
Fixes#992
Add pre-planning design contract generation and post-execution visual audit
for frontend phases. Closes the gap where execute-phase runs without a visual
contract, producing inconsistent spacing, color, and typography across components.
New agents: gsd-ui-researcher (UI-SPEC.md), gsd-ui-checker (6-dimension
validation), gsd-ui-auditor (6-pillar scored audit + registry re-vetting).
Third-party shadcn registry blocks are machine-vetted at contract time,
verification time, and audit time — three enforcement points, not a checkbox.
Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
* fix: add mandatory canonical_refs section to CONTEXT.md
CONTEXT.md is the bridge between user decisions and downstream agents
(researcher, planner). When projects have external specs, ADRs, or
design docs, these references were being silently dropped — mentioned
inline as "see ADR-019" but never collected into a section that agents
could find and read. This caused agents to plan and implement without
reading the specs they were supposed to follow.
Changes:
- templates/context.md: Add <canonical_refs> section to file template,
all 3 examples, and guidelines (marked MANDATORY)
- workflows/discuss-phase.md: Add step 1b (extract canonical refs),
add section to write_context template, add to success criteria
- workflows/plan-phase.md: Add canonical ref extraction to PRD express
path and its CONTEXT.md template
- workflows/quick.md: Add lightweight canonical_refs to --discuss mode
The section is mandatory but gracefully handles projects without external
docs ("No external specs — requirements fully captured in decisions above").
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
* fix: make canonical refs an accumulator across entire discussion
Refs come from 4 sources, not just ROADMAP.md:
1. ROADMAP.md Canonical refs line (initial seed)
2. REQUIREMENTS.md/PROJECT.md referenced specs
3. Codebase scout (code comments citing ADRs)
4. User during discussion ("read adr-014", "check the MCP spec")
Source 4 is often the MOST important — these are docs the user
specifically wants downstream agents to follow. The previous
version only handled source 1 and silently dropped the rest.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
---------
Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
When gsd-tools init output exceeds 50KB, core.cjs writes to a temp file
and outputs @file:<path>. No workflow handled this prefix, causing agents
to hallucinate /tmp paths that fail on Windows (C:\tmp doesn't exist).
Add @file: resolution line after every INIT=$(node ...) call across all
32 workflow, agent, and reference files.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Introduce ephemeral `workflow._auto_chain_active` flag to separate chain
propagation from the user's persistent `workflow.auto_advance` preference.
Previously, `workflow.auto_advance` was set to true by --auto chains and
only cleared at milestone completion. If a chain was interrupted (context
limit, crash, user abort), the flag persisted in .planning/config.json
and caused all subsequent manual invocations to auto-advance unexpectedly.
The fix adds a "sync chain flag with intent" step to discuss-phase,
plan-phase, and execute-phase workflows: when --auto is NOT in arguments,
the ephemeral _auto_chain_active flag is cleared. The persistent
auto_advance setting (from /gsd:settings) is never touched, preserving
the user's deliberate preference.
Closes#857
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
When users select "Other" to provide freeform input, Claude re-prompts
with another AskUserQuestion instead of dropping to plain text. This
loops 2-3 times before finally accepting freeform input.
Add explicit freeform escape rule to questioning.md reference, and
update new-milestone.md and discuss-phase.md to switch to plain text
when users signal freeform intent.
Closes#778
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Prevents re-asking questions already decided in earlier phases by reading
PROJECT.md, REQUIREMENTS.md, STATE.md, and all prior CONTEXT.md files
before generating gray areas. Prior decisions annotate options and skip
already-decided areas.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
The auto-advance chain (discuss → plan → execute) was spawning each
subsequent phase as a Task(subagent_type="general-purpose"), creating
3-4 levels of nested agent sessions. At that nesting depth, the
Claude Code runtime hits resource limits or stdio contention, causing
the execute-phase to freeze or attempt to shell out to `claude` as a
subprocess (which is explicitly blocked).
The fix replaces Task spawns with Skill invocations for phase
transitions:
- discuss-phase auto-advance: Skill("gsd:plan-phase") instead of
Task(general-purpose)
- plan-phase auto-advance: Skill("gsd:execute-phase") instead of
Task(general-purpose)
The Skill tool runs in the same process context as the caller,
keeping the entire auto-advance chain flat at a single nesting level.
Each phase still spawns its own worker agents (gsd-executor,
gsd-planner, etc.) as Tasks, but the orchestration chain itself
no longer creates unnecessary depth.
Closes#686
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude Code subagents sometimes rewrite ~/. paths to relative paths,
causing MODULE_NOT_FOUND when CWD is the project directory. $HOME is a
shell variable resolved at runtime, immune to model path rewriting.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Add lightweight codebase scanning before gray area identification:
- New scout_codebase step checks for existing maps or does targeted grep
- Gray areas annotated with code context (existing components, patterns)
- Discussion options informed by what already exists in the codebase
- Context7 integration for library-specific questions
- CONTEXT.md template includes code_context section
Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
The `--auto` flag on discuss-phase and plan-phase chains stages automatically:
discuss → plan → execute, each in a fresh context window. Currently the chain
is broken because auto-advance spawns `Task(prompt="Run /gsd:plan-phase --auto")`
which requires the Skill tool — but Skills don't resolve inside Task subagents.
Result: plan-phase never runs from discuss's auto-advance, execute-phase never
runs from plan's auto-advance, and gsd-executor subagents are never spawned.
Fix: Replace `Task(prompt="Run /gsd:XXX")` with Task calls that tell the
subagent to read the workflow .md file directly via @file references — the same
pattern that already works for gsd-executor spawning in execute-phase.
Changes:
- execute-phase.md: Add --no-transition flag handling so execute-phase can
return status to parent instead of running transition.md when spawned by
plan-phase's auto-advance
- plan-phase.md: Replace Skill-based Task call with direct @file reference
to execute-phase.md, passing --no-transition to prevent transition chaining
- discuss-phase.md: Replace Skill-based Task call with direct @file reference
to plan-phase.md, with richer return status handling (PHASE COMPLETE,
PLANNING COMPLETE, PLANNING INCONCLUSIVE, GAPS FOUND)
Nesting depth: discuss → Task(plan) → Task(execute) → Task(executor) = 3 levels
max. Each level gets clean 200k context.
Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Write workflow.auto_advance to config.json so auto-mode survives
context compaction (re-read from disk on every workflow init)
- Auto-approve human-verify and auto-select first option for decision
checkpoints in both executor and orchestrator
- Pass --auto flag from plan-phase to execute-phase spawn
- Clear auto_advance on milestone complete (Route B)
- Document auto-mode checkpoint behavior in golden rules
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Closes#253 — plans were silently created without CONTEXT.md, and
discuss-phase didn't warn when plans already existed.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Wire execute-phase to invoke transition.md inline when --auto flag or
workflow.auto_advance config is set, propagate --auto through transition
to next phase invocations, add config-get command to gsd-tools, and fix
broken "config get" calls to use hyphenated "config-get" subcommand.
Closes#344
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Projects with "type": "module" in package.json cause Node to treat
gsd-tools.js as ESM, crashing on require(). The .cjs extension forces
CommonJS regardless of the host project's module configuration.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Three routing fixes:
- transition.md checks for CONTEXT.md before routing — discuss-phase when
missing, plan-phase when present (matches progress.md behavior)
- execute-phase.md offer_next delegates to transition.md instead of emitting
duplicate "Next Up" blocks
- discuss-phase.md adds explicit handling for "Other" free-text responses
Closes#530
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Add opt-in mechanism to chain discuss → plan → execute automatically
via Task() subagents, eliminating manual /clear + paste overhead.
- Add `--auto` flag to discuss-phase and plan-phase commands
- Add `workflow.auto_advance` config toggle (default: false)
- Add auto_advance step to discuss-phase workflow (spawns plan-phase)
- Add step 14 to plan-phase workflow (spawns execute-phase)
- Add auto_advance toggle to /gsd:settings
Chain stops gracefully on INCONCLUSIVE, CHECKPOINT, or verification
failures. No work lost — artifacts persist at each step.
Closes#541
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Add update_state step to record session info after context gathering,
matching the pattern used by execute-plan, add-todo, and other workflows.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Fix hardcoded headers exceeding the 12-character validation limit and
add max-length guidance for dynamically generated headers.
Closes#559
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Standardize on *-CONTEXT.md glob pattern to match files like
03-CONTEXT.md across all workflows.
Files updated:
- commands/gsd/plan-phase.md
- commands/gsd/research-phase.md
- get-shit-done/workflows/discuss-phase.md
- get-shit-done/workflows/resume-project.md
Closes#219
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
* feat: add uncommitted planning mode
Add config option to keep planning docs local-only (not committed to git).
Useful for OSS contributions, client projects, or keeping planning private.
Config options in .planning/config.json:
- planning.commit_docs: true/false (default: true)
- planning.search_gitignored: true/false (default: false)
When commit_docs=false:
- All git operations for .planning/ files are skipped
- User should add .planning/ to .gitignore
- Planning system works normally, just not tracked
Updated files:
- config.json template: added planning section
- execute-plan.md: conditional git commits
- execute-phase.md: conditional git commits
- create-roadmap.md: conditional git commits
- help.md: documented new config options
- planning-config.md: reference doc for config behavior
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
* feat: extend commit_docs check to all agents/commands/workflows
Add COMMIT_PLANNING_DOCS config check to all files that commit
.planning/ artifacts, ensuring consistent behavior when
commit_docs=false is set in config.json.
Updated:
- 5 agents (planner, executor, debugger, phase-researcher, synthesizer)
- 8 commands (add-todo, check-todos, execute-phase, new-milestone,
pause-work, plan-milestone-gaps, remove-phase, research-project)
- 7 workflows (complete-milestone, create-milestone, define-requirements,
diagnose-issues, discuss-phase, map-codebase, verify-work)
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
* fix(progress): use Bash instead of Glob for .planning/ check
Glob respects .gitignore, so projects with gitignored .planning/
directories would fail with "No planning structure found."
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
* fix(new-milestone): integrate full research/requirements/roadmap flow
Previously routed to non-existent /gsd:research-project and
/gsd:define-requirements commands. Now handles the full flow inline
like new-project does:
- Phase 7: Research Decision (spawns 4 milestone-aware researchers)
- Phase 8: Define Requirements (scopes features, creates REQUIREMENTS.md)
- Phase 9: Create Roadmap (continues phase numbering from previous milestone)
- Phase 10: Done
Key adaptations for milestones:
- Research focuses on NEW features only
- Requirements add to existing, don't start fresh
- Phase numbering continues from previous milestone
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
---------
Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Remove useless "None — you decide" skip option
- Generate phase-specific gray areas based on domain analysis
(UI features, CLI tools, APIs, organization tasks, etc.)
- Increase probing depth: 4 questions per area before check
- Make context.md categories flexible (emerge from discussion)
- Add CLI and organization examples to context template
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Support both zero-padded (05-*) and unpadded (5-*) phase folders
- Delete orphaned research-subagent-prompt.md template
- Update resume-project.md to use Task tool resume parameter
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
