Shape

Trace. On load, print first: =============== [manager/skills/shape/SKILL.md] [manager] ===============

Start Feature

Orchestrator skill. Accepts a vague idea, dispatches the product-manager agent for shaping, runs the agent's returned human gates via AskUserQuestion, then hands off to manager:decompose for epic decomposition. Does not contain shaping logic or decomposition logic — those live in the agents.

Goal

Go from a vague idea to a human-approved pitch with epics ready for the LSA build cycle — without the user manually shaping the pitch or invoking agents directly.

Input

• Problem or opportunity description (argument to the skill, or interactive prompt if no argument given).
• specs_root from .lsa.yaml at repo root (defaults per ../../../lsa/knowledge/conventions.md §".lsa.yaml defaults"). Used to resolve ${specs_root}/... paths below.

Steps

1. Accept input. Read the argument. If no argument provided, prompt the user for a problem or opportunity description. Observable result: description captured.

2. Dispatch product-manager agent. Invoke the product-manager agent via the Agent tool with the problem description. Wait for the agent to complete. Observable result: agent returns the full draft pitch content + proposed slug + an ordered pending-gates list (role confirmation, shaping forks with recommended defaults, final approve/reshape/reject) per ../../agents/product-manager.md Step 5. Nothing is on disk.

3. Deliver the pitch, then run the returned gates. The agent's payload is invisible to the user — this skill re-renders it. First deliver the full pitch content per the core/output Rule 7 Delivery test: as the turn-final message (no tool calls after it in that turn), or carried inside the gates below (option preview). Then present each pending gate via AskUserQuestion (Rule 5 Self-contained gates), in the agent's order: role confirmation first, then each shaping fork (offering the agent's recommended default), then the final approve / reshape / reject.

   • Approve: Write the pitch to ${specs_root}/pitches/<slug>.md with Status: approved and the gate decisions (confirmed role, fork choices) in the metadata header; quote the written file inline — show → approve → write per Rule 7 Authorization boundary.
   • Reshape: re-dispatch the agent with the user's feedback (SendMessage continuation, or a new dispatch if the agent has exited), then deliver + gate the fresh payload again.
   • Reject: write nothing — no file exists. State the rationale in the conversation and exit cleanly — no downstream work.

   Observable result: pitch delivered through a rendered channel; every pending gate resolved by the user; on approve the file exists with Status: approved and is quoted inline; on reject no file exists.

4. Hand off to decompose. On approve, invoke manager:decompose via the Skill tool with the approved pitch slug. The project-manager agent handles the roadmap entry (backlog row, priority, sequencing) and epic decomposition — this skill does not write to ${specs_root}/roadmap.yaml directly. (On reject, Step 3 already exited cleanly.) Observable result: manager:decompose executing; pitch added to roadmap and decomposed into epics by project-manager.

Output

Either manager:decompose is executing (approved path) or clean exit (rejected path). The pitch file exists at ${specs_root}/pitches/<slug>.md only on approve (Status: approved, written by this skill after its gates); on reject nothing is written. Roadmap writes (backlog row, priority, sequencing) are handled by the project-manager agent via manager:decompose — this skill never writes to ${specs_root}/roadmap.yaml directly.

Example Output

[illustrative]

Agent returned: pitch "Onboarding checklist" (content + 3 pending gates; nothing on disk).

<full pitch delivered as the turn-final message>

Gate 1 — role: developer-tools product manager? > accept
Gate 2 — appetite fork: checklist knowledge file only (recommended)? > accept
Gate 3 — approve / reshape / reject? > approve

Written: .lsa/pitches/onboarding-checklist.md (Status: approved) — file quoted inline
Handing off to manager:decompose for backlog entry and epic decomposition…

Constraints

• Orchestrator only. Do not duplicate agent logic (shaping, role adaptation, pitch assembly, decomposition) — dispatch, run the gates, hand off.
• No silent handoff. The human gates live in THIS skill (the agent cannot ask — AskUserQuestion is unavailable in subagent context): every pending gate the agent returns is presented via AskUserQuestion before any downstream step.
• Clean exit on reject. If the final gate returns reject, write nothing and exit with no side effects — no file, no branch, no downstream invocation.
• Show changes inline — and own the delivery. The agent returns the pitch content in its payload, which the user never sees (core/output Rule 7 Delivery test). THIS skill delivers the full pitch through a rendered channel before gating, writes the file only on approve (Rule 7 Authorization boundary), and quotes the written file inline. The downstream manager:decompose handoff surfaces each roadmap row inline. Never reduce a write to "pitch created" / "added to roadmap" without the content.
• Outputs follow core/output — citation by link, never restated.

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/manager:shape — manual invocation.