Feature New

/feature-new -- scaffold a feature narrative

Creates a feature document in an existing layer. The document follows the ULTRAPACK-style narrative template (Design / Plan / Verify / Conclusion) extended with explicit cross-references to layer invariants and global principles.

When to use

• Beginning design work on a new feature, before writing code
• Migrating an in-flight feature from "scattered context" into the formal narrative
• Creating a feature placeholder when planning future work that another session will pick up

When NOT to use

• One-line bug fixes that do not need a design phase (just commit)
• Documentation-only changes (those go in handoffs or PR descriptions)
• Refactors with no behavioral change (commit message is sufficient)

Arguments

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/feature-new <layer> <slug> [--title "..."] [--branch <name>] [--id <project-id>]

• <layer> -- existing layer name. Must be a directory under docs/layers/. If missing, suggest /layer-new <layer> first.
• <slug> -- kebab-case feature identifier without a project ID prefix. Examples: api-key-rotation, audit-log, dual-encryption.
• --title -- human-readable feature title. If omitted, derive from slug by title-casing.
• --branch -- git branch name. If omitted, default to feature/<slug>.
• --id -- override the auto-allocated project-native ID. Use only when migrating a pre-existing feature with a known ID. Refuse if the ID already exists in this layer.

Direction (what to do, in order)

Step 1 -- Verify environment

1. Determine repo root via git rev-parse --show-toplevel.
2. Confirm docs/layers/<layer>/ exists. If not, refuse with a suggestion to run /layer-new <layer> first.
3. Confirm docs/layers/<layer>/features/_FEATURE-TEMPLATE.md exists. If not, copy from <claude-code-skills-checkout>/templates/kb-skeleton/docs/layers/_LAYER-TEMPLATE/features/_FEATURE-TEMPLATE.md.

Step 2 -- Discover and reserve the project-native ID

Do this before changing the feature document, layer README, or registry. A feature registry is project-owned state; this skill does not impose its old F-NNN example on it.

1. Inspect existing feature documents, the layer README, feature_list.json (if present), a co-located schema or validator, and AGENTS.md/project docs for the actual ID format, namespace, filename convention, fields, initial status, allocator, and coordination rule. For example, this repository's long-run template uses lowercase feat-NNN IDs with description, dependencies, and string evidence; that is not interchangeable with the old F-NNN example.
2. If --id was provided, validate it against the discovered convention and check every project-owned feature source that the convention names. If it is already used, refuse without changing anything.
3. Otherwise use the project's allocator when one exists. If the convention is visible only in current records, derive a candidate from those records and recheck all of them immediately before reservation. Do not infer a global namespace, digit width, prefix, or sort order from this skill.
4. Follow an existing project coordination mechanism when one exists and you are authorized to use it. Otherwise reserve the logical ID, not a slug-bearing pathname, with scripts/reserve_feature_id.py. It atomically creates refs/feature-new/reservations/<project-id> in the repository and binds that ID to the layer, slug, and final document path. This is a Git allocator record, not a second feature registry: the same request returns resumed; a different layer/slug/path returns conflict and must not edit the registry or another claimant's document.
5. On conflict, re-inventory the project convention and choose the next project-native candidate. Continue safe reconciliation while the requested scaffold remains actionable; do not guess that a durable reservation has a stale owner, overwrite it, or impose an arbitrary retry limit.
6. If no project ID/path convention exists at all, bootstrap only this skill's documented default: lowercase feat-NNN, globally allocated through the Git-ref helper, with docs/layers/<layer>/features/feat-NNN-<slug>.md as the document path. Do not create feature_list.json; once a registry exists it becomes authoritative over this fallback.
7. After reservation, re-read the README and registry before companion updates. If their convention changed, preserve the valid document and stop before a stale README/registry write; report the exact conflict and reserved path for the owner to reconcile.

When the project has no registry schema or helper, do not stop merely because it differs from this skill's example. Adapt by copying one current entry's field set and ID style, changing only values whose meaning is established by the project. If no representative entry or documented meaning exists, create the requested narrative only and leave the unknown registry untouched rather than append an invented record.

Step 3 -- Validate slug

• Lowercase kebab-case ([a-z][a-z0-9-]*).
• Length <= 50 characters.
• Does not repeat the discovered ID prefix.
• The resulting project-native feature filename does not already exist.

Step 4 -- Copy and fill the template

Source: docs/layers/<layer>/features/_FEATURE-TEMPLATE.md

Destination: the project-native feature filename discovered in Step 2.

In the new file, replace placeholders:

Leave Design / Plan / Verify / Conclusion section bodies as template placeholders -- the user fills these.

Step 5 -- Update layer README

Inspect docs/layers/<layer>/README.md for its existing feature index and preserve its columns, ID form, ordering, and link style. Insert the new entry only if a feature index exists and its row convention is understood:

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| <project-id> | <title> | <project-native initial status> | YYYY-MM-DD | <project-native link> |

If the table has only known placeholder rows, replace only those placeholders. If there is no compatible index, do not invent one; report that the narrative was created without a README index.

Step 6 -- Update feature_list.json (if present)

If <repo>/feature_list.json exists at repo root, parse it and use the project's schema or validator plus a representative entry to construct a native record. Preserve the existing top-level shape, field names, value types, default status, evidence representation, ordering, and encoding. Change only fields that the project convention establishes for a new feature (such as its unique ID, title/name, description, document link, or initial state).

Important encoding rule (per ~/.claude/rules/api-utf8-posting.md): write the JSON file with json.dump(data, f, ensure_ascii=False, indent=2) to preserve any Cyrillic in titles.

Do NOT change existing entries or add fields merely because this skill's old example had them. Run the project-provided feature registry validator when one exists. If the registry's required fields cannot be determined safely, leave it unchanged and report that fact; the requested narrative remains valid.

If feature_list.json does not exist, do not auto-create it -- emit a hint instead.

Step 7 -- Confirm and suggest next step

Print a summary:

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Created: <project-native feature-document path>
Updated: <README path or "not indexed; no compatible feature index">
Updated: <feature_list.json path and project-native ID, or "not changed; no safe registry mapping">

Suggested next steps:
1. Fill the Design section in <feature document>
   - Approach (one paragraph)
   - Invariants (IV-1, IV-2, ...)
   - Rejected alternatives
2. When Design is reviewed, change Status: design -> planning and fill Plan
3. Create the git branch: git checkout -b feature/<slug>

Blueprints (files this skill writes from)

• templates/kb-skeleton/docs/layers/_LAYER-TEMPLATE/features/_FEATURE-TEMPLATE.md -- the source template

Status lifecycle

The following lifecycle is the bundled long-run-project convention, not a universal registry schema. Apply it only after Step 2 confirms that the target project uses it; otherwise preserve the project's own lifecycle and mapping.

Doc Status (narrative phase, in feature.md frontmatter)

Tracks where in the ULTRAPACK Design / Plan / Verify / Conclusion journey the feature is.

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design --> planning --> executing --> reviewing --> done
                                  \
                                   --> blocked --> executing

Six states: design, planning, executing, reviewing, done, blocked. Transitions are manual edits. Once done, the feature doc is read-only history; further changes go into a superseding feature.

feature_list.json status (machine state, for tooling)

Tracks the machine-readable state used by build_kb_graph.py and validate_kb_links.py.

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not-started --> in-progress --> done
              \
               --> blocked --> in-progress

Four states: not-started, in-progress, blocked, done. done is one-way (no rollback; regression becomes a new feature) per principle 27.

Mapping between the two

For a project that uses this convention, create the doc with Status: design and the native JSON record with status: "not-started". Subsequent transitions are manual and follow that project's coordination rule.

Gotchas

• ID namespace is project-defined. It may be global, per layer, or managed by a registry. Discover it before allocation; never treat F-NNN as a universal format.
• Concurrent allocation. Scanning and then writing is a race. Use the existing project coordinator or reserve the logical ID with the Git-ref helper before a document/registry mutation. A same-ID different-slug/layer claimant must conflict; re-inventory it, never overwrite it or guess that the durable reservation is stale.
• Migration of in-flight features. When migrating an existing feature into the new format, pass its project-native --id explicitly so the feature retains its prior ID in any links from PROBLEMS.md or handoffs. The skill will not auto-detect existing IDs.
• Cyrillic titles + Windows. Per global rule api-utf8-posting.md, when writing the markdown file or feature_list.json, always specify encoding="utf-8" explicitly to avoid mojibake on Windows.
• Layer README table edit. Preserve the project's existing columns and ordering. If the index cannot be interpreted safely, leave it unchanged and report the unindexed narrative rather than inventing a canonical 5-column row.

Troubleshooting

Implementation note

This is a scaffolding skill: file copy + placeholder replacement + small JSON merge. Keep it deterministic. The Design / Plan / Verify sections of the produced document are meant for the user (or the session that invoked the skill) to fill -- this skill does not attempt to generate Design content from the title.

ID discovery reads only the sources that the project's convention declares. Reserve the resulting logical ID atomically, then re-read mutable sources; cache is not authority across a concurrent mutation.