Flow
Use when a repository has .agents, when the user asks for Flow lifecycle routing, Beads-backed task memory, spec-first planning, TDD implementation, sync/status, review, finish, archive, or /flow:* help.From its SKILL.md
npx -y skills add cofin/flow --skill flowAssembled from the repository path, not quoted from the project. Check it against their README if it does not work.
2 things to look at
- 15 stars15 stars. Stars are a popularity signal and not a quality one, but at this level it is likely that nobody has read this closely except its author, and you would be relying on your own review.
- runs commandsInstructs the agent to run 2 commands, including `make validate-skills` and 1 more.
SKILL.md
3.0 KB, 691 tokens by cl100k_base, as published. Nobody here has run it
Flow Router
Flow coordinates Context-Driven Development in .agents/ repositories. Keep this skill small: use it to identify the active lifecycle phase, enforce the Beads-first invariants, and load the matching lifecycle skill.
Flow is a skill, not a CLI. There is no
flowexecutable. Never runflow,flow sync,flow prd, etc. as shell commands. Invoke this skill (or the matching lifecycle skill), or use the/flow:*slash commands where the harness supports them.Beads mode: Skip every
bdinvocation when the SessionStart hook reportsBeads Backend: Missing (None)orDisabled via plugin config (useBeads=false). Treatspec.mdmarkers as fallback source of truth and skip/flow:sync. Never halt for missing Beads. Seereferences/discipline.md.
Workflow
- Check hook-provided Flow context first; otherwise detect
.agents/, Beads (bd), git branch, and repo-native commands. - Route the request:
- Setup, validation, install, context initialization: use
flow-setup. - PRD, research, plan, refine, revise, task creation: use
flow-planning. - Implement, claim ready tasks, TDD, commit, task close: use
flow-execution. - Sync, status, refresh, cleanup, context drift: use
flow-sync-status. - Review, finish, archive, revert, docs, phase completion: use
flow-completion.
- Setup, validation, install, context initialization: use
- Record durable discoveries and task state in Beads. Markdown files are synchronized views.
- Prefer repo-native commands from
.agents/workflow.mdor hook context for validation.
Guardrails
- Never edit task markers (
[ ],[~],[x],[!],[-]) manually inspec.md. - Do not run
bd export, auto-stage,bd dolt push, or git operations through Beads unless.agents/beads.jsonallows it or the user asks. - Store Flow specs and planning artifacts under
.agents/specs/<flow_id>/. - Make minimal targeted changes and record findings with
bd note <id> "..."when work exceeds a quick fix.
Validation
- For planning: verify the plan is decision-complete before presenting it.
- For implementation: verify red-green-refactor evidence, full relevant tests, and Beads task closure before claiming completion.
- For sync/status: read backend state first and report drift instead of guessing.
- For this repository: run
make validate-skillsandmake validate-codex-manifestafter skill or command changes.
References Index
Example
User: "Use Flow to implement the current spec."
Action: load flow-execution, claim a ready Beads task, add investigation notes, follow TDD, close the task with evidence, then sync according to policy.
What ships with it: 20 files
101.1 KB alongside SKILL.md
agents/
- openai.yaml135 B
references/
- archive.md3.6 KB
- cleanup.md5.0 KB
- discipline.md9.2 KB
- docs.md3.0 KB
- finish.md4.4 KB
- implement.md10.0 KB
- plan.md11.3 KB
- prd.md12.2 KB
- refine.md4.2 KB
- refresh.md3.6 KB
- research.md1.1 KB
- revert.md1.6 KB
- review.md3.2 KB
- revise.md1.8 KB
- setup.md18.1 KB
- status.md2.1 KB
- sync.md2.6 KB
- task.md1.5 KB
- validate.md2.5 KB
Gives 0 of the 12 instructions most plan spec skills give in 691 tokens
Counted across 1,360 of the 2,617 authors here whose files we hold, read 2026-09-06
- Ask one question at a timein 73 of 1360
- Write the spec using the templatein 22 of 1360
- Ask clarifying questions if neededin 19 of 1360, across 18 files
- Wait for user confirmation before proceedingin 19 of 1360
- Save plans to the plans directoryin 17 of 1360, across 13 files
- Check for product marketing context firstin 16 of 1360, across 5 files
- Read the plan file completelyin 16 of 1360
- Order tasks by dependencyin 16 of 1360
- Gather context from the conversationin 15 of 1360, across 9 files
- Explore the codebase instead of askingin 15 of 1360, across 13 files
- Wait for explicit user approvalin 14 of 1360, across 13 files
- Quiz the user on the breakdownin 13 of 1360, across 7 files
Said here and by no other author read
- Route operations to owning lifecycle skills
- Load only the selected lifecycle skill
- Preserve Git history and tag immutability
Grouped from the skills themselves: near-identical wordings counted once, and counted by distinct author, so one author publishing three of these counts once. Length counted with cl100k_base; the agent that loads this file may tokenize it differently.