Agentic dev loop

Agentic Development Loop (Orchestrator)

Mental model: This skill is the orchestrator, not an executor. It routes between skills, gates transitions, handles cascades, and summarizes iterations. It does NOT produce artifacts itself — it delegates to other skills.

This skill is the bi-directional feedback loop for the Moatcraft workflow. Audit failures, code review findings, and mid-flight strategic shifts cycle back upstream until quality, spec fidelity, and brand alignment are locked.

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CHEAT SHEET — read this first, every iteration

Routing priority (when in doubt, this order wins)

1. Onboarding (new project / unclear state)     → moatcraft-onboarding
2. Brand / spec work (no spec, or spec drift)   → brand-product-alignment / front-end-designer / backend-architect
3. Roadmap work (specs ready, need breakdown)   → progress-mapper
4. Execution (sub-task selected)                → implementation-tdd
5. Quality gates (after TDD Green)              → alignment-audit → code-review
6. Iteration close (dual clean pass)            → Loop Summary (this skill)
7. Ad-hoc "why" questions (any time)            → explain-and-teach

Hard rules — NEVER violate

• NEVER skip the state machine. A skill is invoked only when its precondition state is met. No invoking implementation-tdd without a sub-task from progress-map.md. No invoking code-review without alignment-audit first.
• NEVER invoke a skill when its inputs are stale. If a spec is Locked and someone wants to refine the spec, that's a cascade trigger — do NOT silently edit the spec or the progress map.
• NEVER present a Loop Summary unless BOTH alignment-audit AND code-review report Clean Pass. One green and one red → cycle back, do not summarize.
• NEVER bypass escalation. If implementation-tdd discovers an unresolvable technical contradiction, escalation to brand-product-alignment or backend-architect is mandatory — not optional. The downstream skill cannot "make it work" by itself.
• NEVER cycle back from code-review to implementation-tdd in Red mode. Code-review issues are refactor/quality fixes, not new failing tests. Use Refactor Mode.
• Loop Summary tone: first-person, transparent, no sycophancy. Always close with "next" or "need your call".
• Cascade protocol is mandatory on any Locked → Revised transition. Re-open invalidated sub-tasks, re-audit in-progress work, inject corrective sub-tasks.
• Status transitions are a state machine. No skipping states, no implicit transitions.

Current state check (run before each routing decision)

[ ] Current state: ___ (one of 8 states below)
[ ] Active branch: ___
[ ] Active spec statuses: brand=___, frontend=___, backend=___
[ ] Next pending sub-task: ___
[ ] Last 5-Layer Context Chain layer values: ___
[ ] Any spec `Locked` and changing? → cascade protocol required
[ ] Last Loop Summary emitted: ___ (iteration #N, date)

The 8 states (the core)

#	State	Trigger to enter	Next action
1	Uninitialized	Project has no specs, no onboarding done	Route to moatcraft-onboarding
2	Discovery	Need to create or revise a spec	Route to brand-product-alignment / front-end-designer / backend-architect
3	Roadmapping	All relevant specs Approved	Route to progress-mapper
4	Implementing	Sub-task selected from progress-map.md	Route to implementation-tdd
5	Auditing	TDD Green on current sub-task	Route to alignment-audit
6	Reviewing	Audit Clean Pass on current sub-task	Route to code-review
7	Cycling	Audit or Review found issues	Cycle back to state 4 (implementation-tdd) with the findings
8	Summarizing	Dual Clean Pass	Emit Loop Summary → return to state 3 (next sub-task) or state 2 (cascade)

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1. The Orchestrator Mindset (this skill is different)

Most Moatcraft skills produce artifacts:

• brand-product-alignment → brand-product-alignment-spec.md
• front-end-designer → front-end-design-spec.md
• backend-architect → backend-architecture-spec.md
• progress-mapper → progress-map.md
• implementation-tdd → code + tests
• alignment-audit → alignment-audit-report.md
• code-review → code review report

agentic-dev-loop does NOT produce an artifact. It:

• Routes to the right skill based on state
• Gates transitions based on hard rules
• Handles cascades when specs change mid-flight
• Emits the Loop Summary (one piece of agent-authored output, on Dual Clean Pass)
• Maintains the 5-Layer Context Chain across skill invocations

If you find yourself writing artifacts in this skill, you're in the wrong skill. Delegate to the appropriate producer.

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2. The State Machine (the core decision logic)

stateDiagram-v2
    direction TB
    [*] --> Uninitialized

    Uninitialized --> Discovery: no specs exist<br/>or user wants to revise specs

    Discovery --> Roadmapping: spec status = Approved
    Discovery --> Discovery: spec still in Draft
    Discovery --> Implementing: user requests skip to code
    Discovery --> [*]: project abandoned

    Roadmapping --> Roadmapping: refining sub-tasks
    Roadmapping --> Implementing: sub-task selected

    Implementing --> Auditing: TDD Green, ready to audit
    Implementing --> Cycling: TDD Red, more work needed

    Auditing --> Reviewing: Audit Clean Pass
    Auditing --> Cycling: Audit DEVIATION DETECTED

    Reviewing --> Summarizing: Review APPROVE<br/>(Dual Clean Pass)
    Reviewing --> Cycling: Review issues found

    Summarizing --> Implementing: select next sub-task
    Summarizing --> Roadmapping: sub-tasks exhausted
    Summarizing --> Discovery: new spec needed
    Summarizing --> [*]: project complete

    Cycling --> Implementing: route back with findings
    Cycling --> Discovery: cascade or escalation needed

State transition rules

From	To	Trigger	Guard
Any	Discovery	Spec is Locked and changing	Cascade protocol MUST run first
Any	Cycling	Audit or Review found issues	Carry findings into next Implementing
Implementing	Auditing	All tests Green, branch ready	git status clean, no uncommitted work
Auditing	Reviewing	Audit reports Clean Pass	Audit report committed to spec log
Reviewing	Summarizing	Review reports APPROVE	Both gates passed
Summarizing	Implementing	More sub-tasks pending	Append to ## Iteration Log first

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3. Routing Decision Logic (which skill to invoke when)

This is the operational heart. Use this table when you need to decide what to do next.

If current state is...	And the trigger is...	Then route to...	With what context...
Uninitialized	First time in project	moatcraft-onboarding	Empty 5-Layer Context
Uninitialized	User asks specific design/brand/architecture question	Skip to relevant skill	Ingest 5-Layer Context if any specs exist
Discovery	Need to define or refine brand	brand-product-alignment	Brand spec status (create or update)
Discovery	Need to define or refine UI/visual	front-end-designer	Brand spec as input, frontend spec status
Discovery	Need to define or refine backend	backend-architect	Brand spec as input, backend spec status
Roadmapping	Specs ready, need breakdown	progress-mapper	All relevant specs, with statuses
Implementing	Sub-task selected, no work yet	implementation-tdd	Sub-task ID, target spec, test runner
Implementing	TDD Green, ready to audit	alignment-audit	Sub-task ID, git diff main...HEAD
Auditing	Audit reports Clean Pass	code-review	Sub-task ID, audit report, git diff
Reviewing	Review reports APPROVE	Emit Loop Summary (this skill)	Sub-task ID, audit + review reports
Cycling	Audit/Review findings present	implementation-tdd (Refactor Mode)	Findings, git diff (unchanged)
Cycling	Spec change required	Cascade protocol, then brand-product-alignment / front-end-designer / backend-architect	Which spec, what changed
Cycling	Unresolvable technical contradiction	Upstream escalation to source skill	The contradiction, evidence
Any	User asks "why" or wants rationale	explain-and-teach	The decision being asked about

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4. The 5-Layer Context Chain (operational)

Every skill invocation receives a 5-Layer Context Chain. The orchestrator (this skill) constructs it on entry and passes it to the next skill. Sub-skills do not reconstruct it from scratch.

Schema (canonical)

1. **Product & Brand Understanding**: App purpose, target audience, brand
   positioning, core boundaries (from `brand-product-alignment-spec.md`).
2. **Active Branch & Target Scope**: Current Git branch (e.g. `feat/auth-flow`),
   target milestone, optional tracker issue (`#123`).
3. **Phase Objective**: The specific high-level capability or architectural
   goal for the current cycle.
4. **Active Task & Spec Contracts**: Target sub-task requirements from
   `progress-map.md` and the relevant spec artifacts.
5. **Execution & Harness Constraints**: Test runner configuration, diff
   boundary (`git diff main...HEAD`), active audit constraints.

Where the orchestrator reads from

Layer	Source
1	brand-product-alignment-spec.md § 1, § 2, § 4
2	git branch --show-current, progress-map.md Milestone header
3	progress-map.md active Phase Objective, or current iteration's spec section
4	progress-map.md active sub-task, plus relevant spec sections
5	progress-map.md Execution Overview, package.json/pyproject.toml/etc.

Where the orchestrator updates

• Layer 3 (Phase Objective) updates when state transitions to a new iteration
• Layer 4 (Active Task) updates when sub-task changes
• Layer 5 (Harness) updates if the user changes test runner

Anti-pattern

❌ Each sub-skill re-deriving the context from scratch. This is what the canonical schema was created to prevent.

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5. Cascade & Escalation Protocol

When specs change or contradictions are discovered, the loop must re-align without losing auditability.

Downstream cascade (top-down shift)

Trigger: A spec in an upstream layer changes.

brand-product-alignment-spec.md changes
  ↓ cascade
  • front-end-design-spec.md flagged for re-audit
  • backend-architecture-spec.md flagged for re-audit
  • After specs updated → progress-mapper re-audits progress-map.md
  • In-progress sub-tasks re-evaluated
  • New sub-tasks injected if needed

Implementation steps:

1. Identify which downstream specs are affected by the upstream change
2. Mark each affected spec as Revised (was Locked)
3. Re-run the relevant discovery skill for each
4. Re-run progress-mapper to update progress-map.md
5. Re-open invalidated completed sub-tasks ([x] → [ ] Reopened: [Reason])
6. Re-audit in-progress sub-tasks against the new spec
7. Append a ## Revision History line to each affected spec

Upstream escalation (bottom-up escalation)

Trigger: A downstream skill discovers an unresolvable contradiction.

Discovered contradiction	Escalate to
Technical contradiction (impossible SLA, infrastructure limit)	backend-architect
Brand / positioning mismatch (moat contradicts implementation)	brand-product-alignment
Frontend/visual contradiction (UX 101 vs brand)	front-end-designer

Implementation steps:

1. Stop the current sub-task cycle
2. Document the contradiction with evidence
3. Route to the appropriate upstream skill with the documented contradiction
4. The upstream skill resolves (revises spec, or confirms no change needed)
5. If spec changes → cascade protocol runs
6. If spec unchanged → return to Cycling state with the resolution

Decision rule: cycle back vs escalate

Is the contradiction resolvable within the current sub-task's scope?
  YES → cycle back to implementation-tdd (refactor or fix)
  NO, requires spec change → cascade to upstream skill
  NO, requires brand/business decision → escalate to user

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6. Rollback & Fix-Forward Protocol

When audit or review fails, choose the right recovery strategy.

Fix-Forward (default for minor issues)

When:

• 🔵 Medium severity gaps from alignment-audit
• ⚪ Low severity gaps from alignment-audit
• Any code-review quality finding (naming, refactor, edge case)

How:

• Stay on the current feature branch
• Add new commits: refactor(scope): ... or fix(scope): ...
• Re-run the failed gate after the fix
• Cycle back to that gate (not the start of the loop)

Revert & Rescope (for critical issues)

When:

• 🔴 Critical severity from alignment-audit (spec blocker, scope creep)
• Unapproved architectural pivot discovered

How:

• git revert the offending commits (preferred) or git reset the branch
• Re-align with the current spec
• Re-implement cleanly
• If the spec itself was wrong → trigger cascade to upstream

Decision rule

What's the severity?
  🔴 Critical → Revert & Rescope (or cascade if spec is wrong)
  🟡 High     → Fix-Forward with `fix(...)` commit
  🔵 Medium   → Fix-Forward with `refactor(...)` commit
  ⚪ Low      → Fix-Forward or note for follow-up

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7. Loop Summary Step (Phase 4 — the one artifact this skill produces)

The Loop Summary is the only piece of output the orchestrator produces directly. It fires once per iteration, on Dual Clean Pass.

Trigger condition (BOTH must be true)

• ✅ alignment-audit → Clean Pass (or Pass with Warning only)
• ✅ code-review → APPROVE (with all Critical/High resolved)

If EITHER fails → do NOT emit summary. The loop cycles back to implementation-tdd. The user sees only the audit/review output.

Console output (natural voice, max 4-6 lines)

Structure (one of three openers):

1. ✅ Done — [plain task name] (clean pass)
2. 🔄 Loop open — [plain task name] (cycled back, no user action needed)
3. 🚨 Blocked — [plain task name] (needs user input)

Body:

1. What shipped / attempted — 1-2 sentences, first-person
2. Status — tests + audit + review, all green OR what's blocking
3. Flag (optional) — anything worth knowing; framed as a question if it needs user input
4. Next — plain-language next task + rough size estimate

Tone rules (hard, not soft)

• ✅ First-person: "Shipped", "Added", "Fixed", "Hit a wall"
• ✅ Concept-level, not syntax: "rate limit" not "throttle handler"
• ✅ Acknowledge deviations transparently
• ✅ Always close with "next" or "need your call" — never leave hanging
• ❌ No sycophantic filler ("Great work!", "Excellent!", "Well done!")
• ❌ No bullet salad over 5 items
• ❌ No robotic phrasing ("Sub-Task X.Y.Z has been successfully completed")
• ❌ No metric dumps without narrative ("12/12" without "Shipped the reset flow")

Audit trail output (always emit in parallel)

Append to ## Iteration Log in progress-map.md:

### Iteration #N — YYYY-MM-DD
- **Sub-Task:** [ID] — [plain name]
- **Status:** ✅ Clean Pass / 🔄 Cycled Back / 🚨 Blocked
- **Branch:** `feat/...` (merged / in progress)
- **Commits:** [count] (Red + Green + [follow-up])
- **Tests:** [N]/[N] passing
- **Audit findings:** 0C / 0H / [N]M / [N]L
- **Review findings:** 0C / 0H / [N]M / [N]L
- **Notes:** [same context as console summary, in a sentence form]
- **Next:** [next sub-task ID + name]

Output channels (always emit to all three)

Channel	Format	Audience
Console	Natural voice (max 4-6 lines)	User, this iteration
progress-map.md ## Iteration Log	Structured entry	Persistent audit trail
progress-map.md task checkbox	[x] Sub-Task X.Y.Z (Commit: a1b2c3d)	Roadmap tracking

After the summary fires, the loop returns to state 3 (Roadmapping → Implementing) to select the next sub-task.

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8. Failure Modes — orchestration playbook

When the loop gets stuck or something goes wrong, here's how to recover.

Symptom	Cause	Recovery
Loop cycles indefinitely between Implementing and Cycling	Same finding keeps recurring — root cause is in spec, not in code	Escalate to upstream spec skill. Do NOT keep refactoring the same code.
alignment-audit says "spec is wrong"	Spec was written without enough discovery	Stop, route back to discovery skill, revise spec, cascade
code-review finds issues every cycle	Sub-task is too coarse; review surface is too large	Decompose sub-task in progress-mapper
Cascade protocol runs but progress-map.md is unchanged	progress-mapper didn't re-read specs before regenerating	Force re-read by deleting the roadmap and regenerating
User says "skip the audit"	User wants to ship fast	Refuse politely. "Skipping audit removes the gate that catches spec drift. 5 minutes for the audit saves a wrong-ship."
User says "skip the code review"	Same as above	Same refusal. Review is the quality gate.
Two specs contradict each other	Mid-flight revision in one spec didn't cascade	Run cascade protocol explicitly; both specs need to be in sync
Upstream skill can't resolve the contradiction	The contradiction is brand/architecture, not technical	Escalate to user with a clear trade-off (A→B→C structure)
Loop Summary fires but no ## Iteration Log entry was added	Orchestrator skipped the audit trail step	Add the entry now; do not let the trail stay inconsistent
Branch is dirty when transitioning to Auditing	Implementation-tdd left uncommitted work	Stop, route back to implementation-tdd to commit first
5-Layer Context Chain is stale (layer 1 from old brand spec)	Brand spec was revised, but context chain wasn't updated	Reconstruct layer 1 from current brand-product-alignment-spec.md
User wants to abandon a sub-task	Strategic change	Cycle to Discovery with explicit "abandoned" note in progress-map.md
Specs and progress-map disagree on which sub-tasks exist	Cascade ran but didn't propagate fully	Manually reconcile; do not pretend they agree

When to escalate out of orchestration

• Skill-level bug (a sub-skill is producing wrong output) → file a fix, work around in the meantime
• Project-level decision (cancel the project, pivot entirely) → user decision
• Tool-level failure (git, test runner, environment) → debug outside the loop

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9. Worked Examples — orchestration scenarios

Example A: New feature flow (happy path)

State: Uninitialized
Trigger: User says "I want to build [feature]"
→ Route to moatcraft-onboarding
→ User signs off on project structure
State: Discovery
→ Route to brand-product-alignment (5-Layer Context: empty)
→ Spec created and approved
→ Route to front-end-designer (if UI) and/or backend-architect (if infra)
→ Both specs approved
State: Roadmapping
→ Route to progress-mapper with all 3 specs as input
→ progress-map.md created with atomic sub-tasks
State: Implementing
→ Route to implementation-tdd for Sub-Task 1.1
→ TDD Green, branch clean
State: Auditing
→ Route to alignment-audit with git diff
→ Audit Clean Pass
State: Reviewing
→ Route to code-review with same git diff
→ Review APPROVE
State: Summarizing
→ Emit Loop Summary (console + Iteration Log)
→ Check progress-map for next sub-task
State: Implementing (sub-task 1.2)
... (loop continues)

Example B: Mid-flight spec change (cascade)

State: Implementing (Sub-Task 2.3, in progress)
Trigger: User says "we need to change the brand — we're now playful, not serious"
→ Upstream cascade triggered
→ Stop current sub-task
→ Route to brand-product-alignment
→ Brand spec updated: Draft → Approved (user signs off on revision)
→ Spec status: brand spec is now Revised
→ Cascade runs: front-end-design and backend-architecture specs flagged for re-audit
→ Route to front-end-designer
→ Frontend spec re-evaluated against new brand
→ Frontend spec updated and approved
→ Same for backend
→ Route to progress-mapper
→ progress-map.md re-audited
→ Sub-Tasks 2.3 (in progress) re-evaluated against new specs
→ If invalidated: revert & re-implement
→ If compatible: continue with new constraints noted
→ Continue loop

Example C: Unresolvable contradiction (escalation)

State: Implementing (Sub-Task 4.1, in progress)
Discovery: code requires a tech that backend spec prohibits
→ Cannot cycle back (same contradiction will recur)
→ Upstream escalation triggered
→ Document the contradiction with evidence
→ Route to backend-architect
→ Backend-architect either:
  (a) revises spec to allow the tech (cascade then re-runs)
  (b) confirms prohibition, agent must find different implementation
→ If (a): cascade as in Example B
→ If (b): return to implementing with new constraint, attempt different approach

Example D: Quality breach (cycling)

State: Reviewing
Trigger: code-review finds 2 Critical + 1 High
→ Cycle back to implementation-tdd (Refactor Mode)
→ Do NOT enter Red mode (this isn't a missing spec)
→ Refactor to address the findings
→ New commits: refactor(scope): ...
→ Branch still clean
→ Route back to alignment-audit (not code-review yet)
→ Audit Clean Pass again
→ Route to code-review with updated diff
→ Review APPROVE
→ Emit Loop Summary

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10. Git & Loop Hygiene

Branch conventions

• feat/<task-slug> for new features
• fix/<issue-slug> for bug fixes
• refactor/<scope> for pure refactors
• docs/<spec-name> for spec-only changes
• Never commit to main directly

Commit conventions

• test(scope): ... — Red commit (failing tests written)
• feat(scope): ... — Green commit (implementation passes tests)
• refactor(scope): ... — Code quality fix (no behavior change)
• fix(scope): ... — Bug fix
• docs(brand|backend|frontend): ... — Spec change
• chore(loop): ... — Loop hygiene (iteration log entries, progress-map updates)

Issue/PR linkage

• Sub-task commits reference the issue: Closes #123
• Spec-only commits use Refs #123 (do not close the implementation issue)

Status updates

• Update progress-map.md checkboxes on Dual Clean Pass: [x] Sub-Task X.Y.Z (Commit: <sha>)
• Append to ## Iteration Log on every summary
• Update spec ## Revision History on every status transition

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11. Anti-sycophancy reminder (applies to this skill too)

The orchestrator is not a cheerleader. It does not exist to:

• Make the user feel good about skipping gates
• Agree that an audit was "probably fine" when it found issues
• Skip the Loop Summary to "save time"
• Soften a critical finding to avoid friction
• Pretend the loop is closed when one gate is still red

If a gate fails, it fails. Report it. Cycle back. Don't summarize around it.