Executor agents often produce shallow work because plans say "align X with Y"
without specifying what the aligned result looks like. The executor changes one
value and calls it done.
This adds three mandatory fields to every task:
- `<read_first>`: Files the executor MUST read before editing. Ensures ground
truth is loaded, not assumed.
- `<acceptance_criteria>`: Grep-verifiable conditions checked after each task.
No subjective language ("looks consistent"), only concrete checks
("file contains 'exact string'").
- `<action>` guidance: Must include concrete values (identifiers, signatures,
config keys), never vague references like "update to match production".
Adds `<deep_work_rules>` to planner instructions with mandatory quality gate
checks. Executor workflow enforces both gates: read before edit, verify after
edit. Adds generic pre-commit hook failure handling guidance.
Co-authored-by: Dammerzone <dammerzone@users.noreply.github.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>
* fix: change nyquist_validation default to true and harden absent-key skip conditions
new-project.md never wrote the key, so agents reading config directly
treated absent as falsy. Changed all agent skip conditions from "is false"
to "explicitly set to false; absent = enabled". Default changed from false
to true in core.cjs, config.cjs, and templates/config.json.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
* fix: enforce VALIDATION.md creation with verification gate and Check 8e
Step 5.5 was narrative markdown that Claude skipped under context pressure.
Now MANDATORY with Write tool requirement and file-existence verification.
Step 7.5 gates planner spawn on VALIDATION.md presence. Check 8e blocks
Dimension 8 if file missing.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
* feat: add W008/W009 health checks and addNyquistKey repair for Nyquist drift detection
W008 warns when workflow.nyquist_validation key is absent from config.json
(agents may skip validation). W009 warns when RESEARCH.md has Validation
Architecture section but no VALIDATION.md file exists. addNyquistKey repair
adds the missing key with default true value.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
* feat: add /gsd:validate-phase command and gsd-nyquist-auditor agent
Retroactively applies Nyquist validation to already-executed phases.
Works mid-milestone and post-milestone. Detects existing test coverage,
maps gaps to phase requirements, writes missing tests, debugs failing
ones, and produces {phase}-VALIDATION.md from existing artifacts.
Handles three states: VALIDATION.md exists (audit + update), no
VALIDATION.md (reconstruct from PLAN.md + SUMMARY.md), phase not yet
executed (exit cleanly with guidance).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
* feat: audit-milestone reports Nyquist compliance gaps across phases
Adds Nyquist coverage table to audit-milestone output when
workflow.nyquist_validation is true. Identifies phases missing
VALIDATION.md or with nyquist_compliant: false/partial.
Routes to /gsd:validate-phase for resolution. Updates USER-GUIDE
with retroactive validation documentation.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
* refactor: compress Nyquist prompts to match GSD meta-prompt density conventions
Auditor agent: deleted philosophy section (35 lines), compressed execution
flow 60%, removed redundant constraints. Workflow: cut purpose bloat,
collapsed state narrative, compressed auditor spawn template. Command:
removed redundant process section. Plan-phase Steps 5.5/7.5: replaced
hedging language with directives. Audit-milestone Step 5.5: collapsed
sub-steps into inline instructions. Net: -376 lines.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
---------
Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
The "depth" setting with values quick/standard/comprehensive implied
investigation thoroughness, but it only controls phase count. Renamed to
"granularity" with values coarse/standard/fine to accurately reflect what
it controls: how finely scope is sliced into phases.
Includes backward-compatible migration in loadConfig and config-ensure
that auto-renames depth→granularity with value mapping in both
.planning/config.json and ~/.gsd/defaults.json.
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>
Reduces token overhead of Dimension 8 and related agent additions by ~37%
with no behavioral change. Removes theory explanation, dead XML tags
(<manual>, <sampling_rate>), aspirational execution tracking, and
documentation-density prose from runtime agent bodies.
Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Adds automated feedback architecture research to gsd-phase-researcher,
enforces it as Dimension 8 in gsd-plan-checker, and introduces
{phase}-VALIDATION.md as the per-phase validation contract.
Ensures every phase plan includes automated verify commands before
execution begins. Opt-out via workflow.nyquist_validation: false.
Closes#122 (partial), related #117
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Tighten all requirements references to use MUST/REQUIRED/CRITICAL language
instead of passive suggestions. Close the verification loop by extracting
phase requirement IDs from ROADMAP and passing them through the full chain:
researcher receives IDs → planner writes to PLAN frontmatter → executor
copies to SUMMARY → verifier cross-references against REQUIREMENTS.md with
orphan detection.
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>
The verifier agent interpreted {phase} as the full directory slug
(e.g., 01-foundation-target-system) instead of just the padded phase
number (01), producing wrong filenames like
01-foundation-target-system-VERIFICATION.md.
Changed all {phase}-*.md references to {phase_num}-*.md to match the
convention used in gsd-tools.js (${padded}-VERIFICATION.md).
Files: VERIFICATION.md, RESEARCH.md, CONTEXT.md, UAT.md patterns.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
* prompt(001): map dependencies for new-project command
* fix(#326): enforce context fidelity in planning pipeline
Root cause: User decisions from CONTEXT.md were available but not
enforced throughout the RESEARCH → PLAN → VERIFY chain.
Changes:
- gsd-planner: Add <context_fidelity> section requiring agents to
parse and honor user decisions BEFORE creating tasks. Includes
self-check checklist and conflict handling guidance.
- gsd-phase-researcher: Add User Constraints as FIRST section in
downstream consumer table. Require researcher to copy CONTEXT.md
decisions verbatim to RESEARCH.md so planner sees them even if
it only skims.
- research.md template: Add <user_constraints> section that must
be populated first. Locked decisions, Claude's discretion, and
deferred ideas copied verbatim from CONTEXT.md.
The command file (commands/gsd/plan-phase.md) already passes
CONTEXT_CONTENT to all agents. These changes add the enforcement
layer in the agent instructions.
Fixes#326, #216, #206
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
---------
Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Add Character Preservation section to GSD-STYLE.md
- Clarify 'no special chars' applies to FILENAME only in add-todo
- Use 'box-drawing' terminology for tree structure visualization
Co-authored-by: FlightCore Dev <dev@flightcore.pl>
Trim redundant documentation while preserving actionable instructions.
-173 lines of prose that restated what templates already show.
Kept: size constraints, mandatory fields, security guidance.
Removed: "when to create/read/update" lifecycle prose, section
descriptions that duplicate template structure.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
* docs: enforce automation-first checkpoint verification
Checkpoints should never ask users to run CLI commands that Claude Code
can execute. This update reinforces the automation-first principle:
Key changes:
- Add golden rules: Claude runs CLI, users only visit URLs
- Add dev server automation patterns (start before checkpoint)
- Add environment variable CLI patterns (Convex, Vercel, etc.)
- Add anti-patterns: asking user to run npm, add dashboard env vars
- Update all examples to show Claude starting servers
- Add comprehensive "Never Ask Users To" and "Users Only Do" lists
- Update gsd-executor with pre-checkpoint automation requirements
The core principle: if Claude CAN automate it, Claude MUST automate it.
Users only do what requires human judgment (visual verification, UX).
* refactor: DRY checkpoint automation with server lifecycle and error handling
Changes:
- checkpoints.md is now single source of truth for automation-first patterns
- Added server lifecycle protocol (start, port conflicts, cleanup)
- Added CLI installation handling (auto-install matrix)
- Added pre-checkpoint failure handling (fix before checkpoint)
- Removed ~93 lines of duplication from verification-patterns.md
- Replaced inline examples in phase-prompt.md with references
- Slimmed gsd-executor.md checkpoint section to reference checkpoints.md
Net effect: -23 lines while adding 3 new capabilities (server lifecycle,
CLI install, error handling). Single place to update automation patterns.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
---------
Co-authored-by: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
Rolled back the intel system due to overengineering concerns:
- 1200+ line hook with SQLite graph database
- 21MB sql.js dependency
- Entity generation spawning additional Claude calls
- Complex system with unclear value
Removed:
- /gsd:analyze-codebase command
- /gsd:query-intel command
- gsd-intel-index.js, gsd-intel-session.js, gsd-intel-prune.js hooks
- gsd-entity-generator, gsd-indexer agents
- entity.md template
- sql.js dependency
Preserved:
- Model profiles feature
- Statusline hook
- All other v1.9.x improvements
-3,065 lines removed
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Adds interactive settings command to toggle workflow agents:
- Plan Researcher (workflow.research)
- Plan Checker (workflow.plan_check)
- Execution Verifier (workflow.verifier)
Updates plan-phase.md and execute-phase.md to check config before
spawning these agents. Flags still override config per-invocation.
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>
/gsd:execute-phase handles single and multiple plans.
All references updated to use execute-phase.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Commands load agent expertise directly via Task tool spawning.
Thin orchestrator pattern — agents have methodology baked in.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Research decisions made at roadmap creation time are:
- Premature: Can't know if research is needed before discuss-phase
- Redundant: --skip-research flag exists for explicit control
- Counterproductive: Gives Claude an excuse to skip research entirely
Removed:
- Research: Likely/Unlikely fields from roadmap template
- detect_research_needs step from create-roadmap workflow
- "If roadmap flagged Research: Likely" checks from gsd-planner
Research now always runs during plan-phase unless:
- RESEARCH.md already exists (silent reuse)
- --skip-research flag passed
- --gaps flag passed (gap closure mode)
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Analyze phase to identify gray areas by category (UI, UX, Behavior, etc.)
- Present multi-select for user to choose which areas to discuss
- Deep-dive each selected area with focused questioning loop
- Explicit scope guardrail: clarify HOW, never expand WHAT
- Capture deferred ideas without acting on them
- Downstream awareness: CONTEXT.md feeds researcher and planner agents
- Template restructured for decisions (domain, decisions, discretion, deferred)
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Note clarifies relationship with gsd-planner agent:
- Planning methodology is in agents/gsd-planner.md
- This template defines the PLAN.md output format
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Unify gap handling - whether discovered by code verification or user
testing, gaps feed into the same plan-phase --gaps workflow.
Changes:
- Delete commands/gsd/plan-fix.md (redundant)
- Update verify-work to route to plan-phase --gaps
- Update progress Route E to detect UAT gaps
- Change UAT.md "Issues" section to "Gaps" with YAML format
- Extend plan-phase --gaps to read from both VERIFICATION.md and UAT.md
- Update diagnose-issues to output gaps in YAML format
- Update all references (debug, templates, workflows)
One path: gap discovered → diagnosed → plan-phase --gaps → fixed
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
The ~/.claude/skills/expertise/ system was personal tooling
that doesn't exist for other users. Removed from:
- create-roadmap workflow (detect_domain step)
- plan-phase workflow (domain loading)
- roadmap template (Domain Expertise section)
- phase-prompt template (domain frontmatter)
- plan-format reference (domain field)
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Deleted:
- subagent-task-prompt.md (baked into gsd-executor)
- subagent-verify-prompt.md (baked into gsd-verifier)
- continuation-prompt.md (baked into gsd-executor)
- checkpoint-return.md (baked into gsd-executor)
Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Remove phantom status.md command (background agent model abandoned)
- Remove agent-history.md template (unused)
- Remove _archive/ directory
- Add narration to execute-phase (describe what's being built before/after waves)
- Update new-project to offer define-requirements as fast path
- Make define-requirements work without research (gather through questioning)
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Roadmap template now includes Requirements: field for each phase
- plan-phase loads REQUIREMENTS.md and extracts phase-specific requirements
- define-requirements shows full list inline before commit (not just counts)
Adds /gsd:research-project to research domain ecosystem before creating roadmap.
Spawns parallel agents to investigate stack, features, architecture, and pitfalls.
New files:
- commands/gsd/research-project.md
- get-shit-done/workflows/research-project.md
- get-shit-done/templates/research-project/ (5 templates)
Modified:
- new-project.md: offers research vs direct roadmap options
- create-roadmap.md: loads research if exists
- workflows/create-roadmap.md: uses research to inform phases
Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
Remove the global ISSUES.md deferred enhancement tracking system.
- Delete /gsd:consider-issues command (never used)
- Delete issues.md template (never instantiated)
- Remove Rule 5 from deviation rules (never triggered)
- Remove all ISSUES.md, ISS-XXX, and "deferred issues" references
- Update STATE.md to track pending todos instead
The ISSUES.md system was designed to capture non-critical enhancements
during plan execution via "Rule 5", but it never fired in practice
across 100+ projects. The system added ~350 lines of dead code.
The /gsd:add-todo and /gsd:check-todos system serves the same purpose
and is actually used.
Note: UAT *-ISSUES.md files (per-plan, created by /gsd:verify-work)
are unaffected - those are a separate, active system.
Closes#56
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Debug command now orchestrates: gather symptoms in main context, spawn
investigation subagent with fresh 200k context
- Subagent template unified for both /gsd:debug (find_and_fix) and
diagnose-issues (find_root_cause_only) flows via goal flag
- Checkpoint behavior enables subagent to pause for user input
(human-verify, human-action, decision) with continuation agents
- Structured return formats: ROOT CAUSE FOUND, DEBUG COMPLETE,
INVESTIGATION INCONCLUSIVE, CHECKPOINT REACHED
- diagnose-issues updated to match new template placeholders and returns
Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
