Feature lifecycle

Feature Lifecycle Skill

Phase-gated feature workflow: DESIGN > PLAN > IMPLEMENT > VALIDATE > RELEASE. Each phase must pass its gate before the next begins.

Phase Routing

Determine which phase to execute based on feature state:

1. If .feature/ exists, check current phase:

   python3 ~/.claude/scripts/feature-state.py status
   

   Route to the phase indicated by the state machine.

2. If no feature state exists, determine entry point from user intent:

   • "design", "think through", "explore approaches" -> DESIGN
   • "plan", "break down", "create tasks" -> PLAN (requires completed design)
   • "implement", "execute plan", "start building" -> IMPLEMENT (requires completed plan)
   • "validate", "quality gates", "check feature" -> VALIDATE (requires completed implementation)
   • "release", "merge", "ship it" -> RELEASE (requires passed validation)
   • "end to end", "full lifecycle", "from scratch" -> DESIGN (start from beginning)

3. Load the phase reference for the current phase:

   • DESIGN: Read references/design.md
   • PLAN: Read references/plan.md
   • IMPLEMENT: Read references/implement.md
   • VALIDATE: Read references/validate.md — run quality gate commands, do not reason about whether they would pass. Paste exit codes and output.
   • RELEASE: Read references/release.md
   • END-TO-END: Read references/pipeline.md

4. Follow the loaded reference exactly. Each reference contains the full phase instructions, gates, and checkpoints.

State Conventions

Read references/shared.md for directory structure, state management commands, context loading rules, and naming conventions. All state operations go through python3 ~/.claude/scripts/feature-state.py -- never manipulate state files directly.

Phase Ordering

DESIGN -> PLAN -> IMPLEMENT -> VALIDATE -> RELEASE
  |         |         |           |          |
  v         v         v           v          v
design.md plan.md  impl.md   report.md  PR merged

Each phase produces an artifact consumed by the next. Skipping phases is not supported because downstream phases depend on artifacts from earlier phases.

Reference Loading Table

Signal	Load These Files	Why
Phase 1 DESIGN: idea to design document	design.md	Loads detailed guidance from design.md.
errors, error handling	error-handling.md	Loads detailed guidance from error-handling.md.
Phase 3 IMPLEMENT: dispatching task waves to domain agents	implement.md	Loads detailed guidance from implement.md.
running the full design-to-release pipeline	pipeline.md	Loads detailed guidance from pipeline.md.
Phase 2 PLAN: decomposing design into wave-ordered tasks	plan.md	Loads detailed guidance from plan.md.
Phase 5 RELEASE: PR merge, tagging, worktree cleanup	release.md	Loads detailed guidance from release.md.
feature state directory layout, naming, write protection	shared.md	Loads detailed guidance from shared.md.
Phase 4 VALIDATE: running quality gates	validate.md	Loads detailed guidance from validate.md.

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Solution
Phase mismatch	User requests phase N but state is at phase M	Report current state, suggest correct next phase
Missing artifact	Previous phase did not produce expected output	Route back to previous phase
Gate failure	Phase requirements not met	Report what failed, suggest fixes

References

Task Signal	Load
Phase routing (design/plan/implement/validate/release)	Phase reference (design.md, plan.md, implement.md, validate.md, release.md)
End-to-end or full pipeline	references/pipeline.md
State commands, directory structure, naming	references/shared.md
Error, failure, blocked, gate fail, retry, deviation	references/error-handling.md

• references/design.md -- Design phase: explore requirements, discuss trade-offs
• references/plan.md -- Plan phase: break design into wave-ordered tasks
• references/implement.md -- Implement phase: dispatch tasks to domain agents
• references/validate.md -- Validate phase: run quality gates
• references/release.md -- Release phase: merge, tag, cleanup
• references/pipeline.md -- End-to-end orchestration across all phases
• references/shared.md -- State conventions shared across all phases
• references/error-handling.md -- Recovery patterns for phase errors, gate failures, agent dispatch failures