Dev Lifecycle

Dev Lifecycle

Coordinate the phase-specific AI DevKit skills instead of running phase details directly.

Required phase skills:

• dev-worktree for feature workspace setup and resume.
• dev-requirements for phases 1-2: new requirement and requirements review.
• dev-design for phase 3: design review.
• dev-planning for phases 4 and 6: initial task planning and updates after implementation tasks.
• dev-implementation for phases 5 and 7: execute plan and check implementation.
• dev-testing for phase 8: write tests and verify coverage.
• dev-review for phase 9: final code review.

Supporting skills:

• memory for reusable project knowledge during clarification.
• tdd for implementation tasks.
• verify before completing implementation, implementation checks, testing claims, and review readiness.
• task for optional progress tracing when the task command is usable.

Startup Validation

At the beginning of every dev-lifecycle run:

1. Run npx ai-devkit@latest skill list to inspect currently installed project skills.
2. Confirm the listed skills include all required phase skills and supporting skills.
3. If any required skill is missing, run npx ai-devkit@latest skill add --built-in to install all AI DevKit built-in skills. Then rerun npx ai-devkit@latest skill list.
4. If installation fails or a required skill is still missing, stop and report the missing skill names and command output summary. Do not run a phase without its skill.
5. Run npx ai-devkit@latest lint to verify the configured AI docs structure.
6. If working on a specific feature, run npx ai-devkit@latest lint --feature <name>.
7. If lint fails because project docs are not initialized, run npx ai-devkit@latest init -a -e claude --built-in --yes, then rerun lint.
8. Probe optional task tracing availability:
   • With a feature: npx ai-devkit@latest task list --name <feature-name> --json
   • Without a feature: npx ai-devkit@latest task list --json
   • Treat task tracing as available only if the read probe exits 0. If it fails, record task tracing as unavailable with the failed command and reason, then continue without task logging.
   • Never block lifecycle work only because the task command is missing or unusable.
9. When working on a specific feature and task tracing is available:
   • Load and follow task before executing a phase.
   • Initialize or show the task named after the feature, mark active work, and emit phase/progress/next/blocker/evidence events per task.
   • Sequence task mutations; do not batch or parallelize mutations for the same feature.

Plan Before Execution

Before executing any phase:

1. Identify the target feature, current docs state, branch/worktree context, and likely next phase.
2. Propose a concise plan that names the phase skill to use, the docs/files to read, commands to run, expected edits, task tracing status and planned task events if tracing is available, and verification evidence.
3. Wait for user approval before executing the plan unless the user already gave explicit approval for that exact phase execution.
4. After approval, load and follow only the selected phase skill plus any explicitly required supporting skills. If tracing is available, the task skill is explicitly required.

Phase Routing

Sequential flow: setup -> 1 -> 2 -> 3 -> 4 -> 5 -> 6 after each completed task -> 7 -> 8 -> 9.

Resuming Work

If the user wants to continue work on an existing feature:

1. Use dev-worktree to identify and confirm the target branch/worktree.
2. Run npx ai-devkit@latest lint --feature <feature-name> in the active context.
3. Run the phase detector from the installed dev-lifecycle skill directory:
   • Resolve <skill-dir> as the directory containing this SKILL.md.
   • Run <skill-dir>/scripts/check-status.sh <feature-name>.
   • Use the suggested phase when proposing the execution plan.

Backward Transitions

Not every phase moves forward. When a phase reveals problems, route back:

• Requirements review finds fundamental gaps: return to dev-requirements Phase 1.
• Design review finds requirements gaps: return to dev-requirements Phase 2.
• Design review finds design flaws: stay in dev-design and revise design.
• Implementation check finds major deviations: return to dev-design if design is wrong, or dev-implementation if code is wrong.
• Testing reveals design flaws: return to dev-design.
• Review finds blocking issues: return to dev-implementation or dev-testing.

Rules

• Use npx ai-devkit@latest lint and npx ai-devkit@latest lint --feature <name> to discover and validate the configured docs directory. Do not assume docs/ai; it is only the default.
• Read existing configured AI docs before changes. Keep diffs minimal.
• Keep feature names aligned with branch/worktree feature-<name>.
• New feature docs come from npx ai-devkit@latest docs init-feature <name>. Use the paths returned by the command as authoritative.
• Existing feature docs are the paths reported or validated by npx ai-devkit@latest lint --feature <name>. If you must infer manually, first resolve the configured docs directory from .ai-devkit.json paths.docs, falling back to docs/ai.
• After each phase, summarize output and suggest the next phase.
• Do not claim completion without fresh verification evidence.
• When task tracing is available, follow task: create once, assign actor when known, mark active/blocked, set phase, record progress/next/evidence, and close only after final verification/review. If tracing is unavailable, include failed probe commands in the phase summary without blocking the lifecycle.