Keel dev

Keel Dev — development conductor

User-invoked conductor, not an auto-firing router. You reach for it by name when you're doing dev work; it orchestrates the pipeline and pulls in the right specialist per phase. It carries zero context cost until invoked. It writes no product code itself — the phase skills do that.

Backbone = Pocock (mattpocock/skills). gstack + superpowers = opt-in power-tools. keel-v2 governs everything.

Deference — keel-v2 is the arbiter

Scan the nine danger surfaces first, record the lane line (Rigor: FAST/HEAVY — …). keel-v2's /review tripwires, a11y, design conformance, and human gates outrank every phase and every power-tool. A power-tool's own ethos (e.g. gstack "boil the ocean") is subordinate to keel-v2.

Comprehension — graphify-first

To understand the code (how X works, what depends on Y, data flow, blast radius, architecture) query graphify (query/path/explain) instead of grep+read — it returns a targeted subgraph, not a dozen file reads. Grep only for an exact known string/symbol, a tiny throwaway scope with no graphify-out/ yet, or an area just edited (graph may be stale). Default graphify; grep is the deliberate exception.

The pipeline (spine default · power-tools opt-in)

Phase	Default (Pocock spine)	Opt-in power-tools	Rigor
0 · Align	grill — one Q at a time, look up facts, recommend answers	gstack /office-hours for product/scope reframes	HEAVY/ambiguous only; FAST skips
1 · Language	domain-modeling → CONTEXT.md glossary + ADRs	—	optional, compounding
2 · Spec	to-spec (synthesize conversation → spec)	gstack /spec (Codex quality gate)	HEAVY
3 · Decompose	to-tickets → .scratch/<feat>/issues/NN.md, tracer-bullet slices + blocking edges (+ expand/contract for wide refactors)	—	HEAVY
4 · Build	implement — ticket-by-ticket, tdd at seams	superpowers autonomous executor (big approved plans) + worktrees / parallel-agents	HEAVY→strict red-green-refactor; FAST→pragmatic. Autonomy stops at commit/deploy gates
5 · Review	code-review — two-axis (Standards+Fowler / Spec), parallel subagents	gstack /review (prod-bug autofix) + /codex (cross-model)	always
5b · Security	→ keel-secure (VibeSec)	gstack /cso (OWASP+STRIDE)	mandatory on trust-boundary diffs (keel-v2 tripwire)
6 · Verify/QA	Keel verify (non-UI)	gstack /qa (real browser, autofix, regression tests); UI → keel-design + /design-shotgun	HEAVY
7 · Ship	—	gstack /ship → /land-and-deploy → /canary	HEAVY; stops at human gate, never auto-deploys
8 · Debug	diagnosing-bugs	superpowers systematic-debugging / gstack /investigate	as needed
9 · Arch health	improve-codebase-architecture + codebase-design (deep modules)	—	periodic

Rules (the locked decisions)

1. One spine. Power-tools never auto-fire alongside the spine — reach for them by name. No coin-flip between three methodologies.
2. keel-v2 rigor arbitrates completeness. FAST = YAGNI/minimal; HEAVY = complete (tests, edges, error paths). lazy-loop is an explicit opt-in.
3. Execution leash. implement is default; the superpowers executor is opt-in and runs within an approved plan but stops at keel-v2 gates.
4. State lives in files — .scratch/<feat>/issues/NN.md tracer-bullet tickets + CONTEXT.md glossary. See conventions/tickets-and-context.md.

Token economy (7 levers)

1. this conductor is user-invoked (0 description tax) · 2. progressive disclosure (one phase body at a time) · 3. subagent offload (review / autonomous exec / QA run in fresh contexts, return summaries) · 4. keel-v2 FAST economy ·
2. per-project curation (power-tools install only where needed) · 6. lazy-loop/caveman output compression · 7. graphify-first comprehension.

Trade-off honesty (unbiased routing)

When a route trades one axis for another, say so in one line: direction + rough magnitude (labeled est. unless measured) + the risk. Never hide the downside. No fake precision — a made-up percentage is the bias we're killing. E.g. "graphify over reading auth/: est. far fewer tokens, but the graph is ~6 commits stale there, so I grep'd the files you just changed."

If a specialist isn't installed

Say so plainly; fall back to the spine or base Claude Code under keel-v2 — never pretend a specialist ran. Install: ./install.sh dev (spine + power-tools, per-project). Power-tools are best installed user-invoked / per-project so their descriptions don't tax every session (token lever 5).

Sources (unmodified): mattpocock/skills (spine) · obra/superpowers · garrytan/gstack · openai/codex-plugin-cc · heygen-com/hyperframes · antfu/skills · vercel-labs/agent-browser · graphify (local).