Vibe

Vibe Skill

Purpose: Is this code ready to ship?

Three steps:

1. Complexity analysis — Find hotspots (radon, gocyclo)
2. Bug hunt audit — Systematic sweep for concrete bugs
3. Council validation — Multi-model judgment

---

Quick Start

/vibe                                    # validates recent changes
/vibe recent                             # same as above
/vibe src/auth/                          # validates specific path
/vibe --quick recent                     # fast inline check, no agent spawning
/vibe --deep recent                      # 3 judges instead of 2
/vibe --sweep recent                     # deep audit: per-file explorers + council
/vibe --mixed recent                     # cross-vendor (Claude + Codex)
/vibe --preset=security-audit src/auth/  # security-focused review
/vibe --explorers=2 recent               # judges with explorer sub-agents
/vibe --debate recent                    # two-round adversarial review

---

Execution Steps

Crank Checkpoint Detection

Before scanning for changed files via git diff, check if a crank checkpoint exists:

if [ -f .agents/vibe-context/latest-crank-wave.json ]; then
    echo "Crank checkpoint found — using files_changed from checkpoint"
    FILES_CHANGED=$(jq -r '.files_changed[]' .agents/vibe-context/latest-crank-wave.json 2>/dev/null)
    WAVE_COUNT=$(jq -r '.wave' .agents/vibe-context/latest-crank-wave.json 2>/dev/null)
    echo "Wave $WAVE_COUNT checkpoint: $(echo "$FILES_CHANGED" | wc -l | tr -d ' ') files changed"
fi

When a crank checkpoint is available, use its files_changed list instead of re-detecting via git diff. This ensures vibe validates exactly the files that crank modified.

Step 1: Determine Target

If target provided: Use it directly.

If no target or "recent": Auto-detect from git:

# Check recent commits
git diff --name-only HEAD~3 2>/dev/null | head -20

If nothing found, ask user.

Pre-flight: If no files found: Return immediately with: "PASS (no changes to review) — no modified files detected." Do NOT spawn agents for empty file lists.

Step 1.5: Fast Path (--quick mode)

If --quick flag is set, skip Steps 2a through 2e plus 2.5/2f/2g (prior findings check, constraint tests, metadata checks, OL validation, codex review, knowledge search, bug hunt, product context) and jump directly to Step 4 with inline council. Step 2.4 (finding registry check) still runs in quick mode because reusable review findings are mandatory context, not optional search. Complexity analysis (Step 2) still runs — it's cheap and informative.

Why: Steps 2.5 and 2a–2g add 30–90 seconds of pre-processing that feed multi-judge council packets. In --quick mode (single inline agent), these inputs aren't worth the cost — the inline reviewer reads files directly.

Step 2: Run Complexity Analysis

Detect language and run appropriate tool:

For Python:

# Check if radon is available
mkdir -p .agents/council
echo "$(date -Iseconds) preflight: checking radon" >> .agents/council/preflight.log
if ! which radon >> .agents/council/preflight.log 2>&1; then
  echo "⚠️ COMPLEXITY SKIPPED: radon not installed (pip install radon)"
  # Record in report that complexity was skipped
else
  # Run cyclomatic complexity
  radon cc <path> -a -s 2>/dev/null | head -30
  # Run maintainability index
  radon mi <path> -s 2>/dev/null | head -30
fi

For Go:

# Check if gocyclo is available
echo "$(date -Iseconds) preflight: checking gocyclo" >> .agents/council/preflight.log
if ! which gocyclo >> .agents/council/preflight.log 2>&1; then
  echo "⚠️ COMPLEXITY SKIPPED: gocyclo not installed (go install github.com/fzipp/gocyclo/cmd/gocyclo@latest)"
  # Record in report that complexity was skipped
else
  # Run complexity analysis
  gocyclo -over 10 <path> 2>/dev/null | head -30
fi

For other languages: Skip complexity with explicit note: "⚠️ COMPLEXITY SKIPPED: No analyzer for <language>"

Interpret results:

Score	Rating	Action
A (1-5)	Simple	Good
B (6-10)	Moderate	OK
C (11-20)	Complex	Flag for council
D (21-30)	Very complex	Recommend refactor
F (31+)	Untestable	Must refactor

Include complexity findings in council context.

Step 2.4: Compiled Prevention Check

Before reading .agents/rpi/next-work.jsonl, load compiled prevention context from .agents/pre-mortem-checks/*.md and .agents/planning-rules/*.md when they exist. This is the primary reusable-prevention surface for review.

Use the tracked contracts in docs/contracts/finding-compiler.md and docs/contracts/finding-registry.md:

• prefer compiled pre-mortem checks and planning rules first
• rank by severity, applicable_when overlap, language overlap, changed-file overlap, and literal target-text overlap
• cap at top 5 findings / compiled files
• if compiled outputs are missing, incomplete, or fewer than the matched finding set, fall back to .agents/findings/registry.jsonl
• fail open:
  • missing compiled directory or registry -> skip silently
  • empty compiled directory or registry -> skip silently
  • malformed line -> warn and ignore that line
  • unreadable file -> warn once and continue without findings

Include matched entries in the council packet as known_risks / checklist context with:

• id
• pattern
• detection_question
• checklist_item

Step 2.5: Prior Findings Check

Skip if --quick (see Step 1.5).

Read .agents/rpi/next-work.jsonl and find unconsumed items with severity=high that match the target area. Include them in the council packet as context.prior_findings so judges have carry-forward context.

# Count unconsumed high-severity items
if [ -f .agents/rpi/next-work.jsonl ] && command -v jq &>/dev/null; then
  prior_count=$(jq -s '[.[] | select(.consumed == false) | .items[] | select(.severity == "high")] | length' \
    .agents/rpi/next-work.jsonl 2>/dev/null || echo 0)
  if [ "$prior_count" -gt 0 ]; then
    echo "Prior findings: $prior_count unconsumed high-severity items from next-work.jsonl"
    jq -s '[.[] | select(.consumed == false) | .items[] | select(.severity == "high")]' \
      .agents/rpi/next-work.jsonl 2>/dev/null
  fi
fi

If unconsumed high-severity items are found, include them in the council packet context:

"prior_findings": {
  "source": ".agents/rpi/next-work.jsonl",
  "count": 3,
  "items": [/* array of high-severity unconsumed items */]
}

Skip conditions:

• --quick mode → skip
• .agents/rpi/next-work.jsonl does not exist → skip silently
• jq not on PATH → skip silently
• No unconsumed high-severity items found → skip (do not add empty prior_findings to packet)

Step 2a: Run Constraint Tests

Skip if --quick (see Step 1.5).

If the project has constraint tests, run them before council:

# Check if constraint tests exist (Olympus pattern)
if [ -d "internal/constraints" ] && ls internal/constraints/*_test.go &>/dev/null; then
  echo "Running constraint tests..."
  go test ./internal/constraints/ -run TestConstraint -v 2>&1
  # If FAIL → include failures in council context as CRITICAL findings
  # If PASS → note "N constraint tests passed" in report
fi

Why: Constraint tests catch mechanical violations (ghost references, TOCTOU races, dead code at entry points) that council judges miss. Proven by Argus ghost ref in ol-571 — council gave PASS while constraint test caught it.

Include constraint test results in the council packet context. Failed constraint tests are CRITICAL findings that override council PASS verdict.

Step 2b: Metadata Verification Checklist (MANDATORY)

Skip if --quick (see Step 1.5).

Run mechanical checks BEFORE council — catches errors LLMs estimate instead of measure:

1. File existence — every path in git diff --name-only HEAD~3 must exist on disk
2. Line counts — if a file claims "N lines", verify with wc -l
3. Cross-references — internal markdown links resolve to existing files
4. Diagram sanity — files with >3 ASCII boxes should have matching labels

Include failures in council packet as context.metadata_failures (MECHANICAL findings). If all pass, note in report.

Step 2c: Deterministic Validation (Olympus)

Skip if --quick (see Step 1.5).

Guard: Only run when .ol/config.yaml exists AND which ol succeeds. Skip silently otherwise.

Implementation:

# Run ol-validate.sh
skills/vibe/scripts/ol-validate.sh
ol_exit_code=$?

case $ol_exit_code in
  0)
    # Passed: include the validation report in vibe output
    echo "✅ Deterministic validation passed"
    # Append the report section to council context and vibe report
    ;;
  1)
    # Failed: abort vibe with FAIL verdict
    echo "❌ Deterministic validation FAILED"
    echo "VIBE FAILED — Olympus Stage1 validation did not pass"
    exit 1
    ;;
  2)
    # Skipped: note and continue
    echo "⚠️ OL validation skipped"
    # Continue to council
    ;;
esac

Behavior:

• Exit 0 (passed): Include the validation report section in vibe output and council context. Proceed normally.
• Exit 1 (failed): Auto-FAIL the vibe. Do NOT proceed to council.
• Exit 2 (skipped): Note "OL validation skipped" in report. Proceed to council.

Step 2d: Codex Review (opt-in via --mixed)

Skip unless --mixed is passed. Also skip if --quick (see Step 1.5).

Codex review is opt-in because it adds 30–60s latency and token cost. Users explicitly request cross-vendor input with --mixed.

echo "$(date -Iseconds) preflight: checking codex" >> .agents/council/preflight.log
if which codex >> .agents/council/preflight.log 2>&1; then
  codex review --uncommitted > .agents/council/codex-review-pre.md 2>&1 && \
    echo "Codex review complete — output at .agents/council/codex-review-pre.md" || \
    echo "Codex review skipped (failed)"
else
  echo "Codex review skipped (CLI not found)"
fi

If output exists, summarize and include in council packet (cap at 2000 chars to prevent context bloat):

"codex_review": {
  "source": "codex review --uncommitted",
  "content": "<first 2000 chars of .agents/council/codex-review-pre.md>"
}

IMPORTANT: The raw codex review can be 50k+ chars. Including the full text in every judge's packet multiplies token cost by N judges. Truncate to the first 2000 chars (covers the summary and top findings). Judges can read the full file from disk if they need more detail.

This gives council judges a Codex-generated review as pre-existing context — cheap, fast, diff-focused. It does NOT replace council judgment; it augments it.

Skip conditions:

• --mixed not passed → skip (opt-in only)
• Codex CLI not on PATH → skip silently
• codex review fails → skip silently, proceed with council only
• No uncommitted changes → skip (nothing to review)

Step 2e: Search Knowledge Flywheel

Skip if --quick (see Step 1.5).

if command -v ao &>/dev/null; then
    ao search "code review findings <target>" 2>/dev/null | head -10
fi

If ao returns prior code review patterns for this area, include them in the council packet context. Skip silently if ao is unavailable or returns no results.

Step 2f: Bug Hunt or Deep Audit Sweep

Skip if --quick (see Step 1.5).

Path A — Deep Audit Sweep (--deep or --sweep):

Read references/deep-audit-protocol.md for the full protocol. In summary:

1. Chunk target files into batches of 3–5 (by line count — see protocol for rules)
2. Dispatch up to 8 Explore agents in parallel, each with a mandatory 8-category checklist per file
3. Merge all explorer findings into a sweep manifest at .agents/council/sweep-manifest.md
4. Include sweep manifest in council packet (judges shift to adjudication mode — see Step 4)

Why: Generalist judges exhibit satisfaction bias — they stop at ~10 findings regardless of actual issue count. Per-file explorers with category checklists eliminate this bias and find 3x more issues in a single pass.

Path B — Lightweight Bug Hunt (default, no --deep/--sweep):

Run a proactive bug hunt on the target files before council review:

/bug-hunt --audit <target>

If bug-hunt produces findings, include them in the council packet as context.bug_hunt:

"bug_hunt": {
  "source": "/bug-hunt --audit",
  "findings_count": 3,
  "high": 1,
  "medium": 1,
  "low": 1,
  "summary": "<first 2000 chars of bug hunt report>"
}

Why: Bug hunt catches concrete line-level bugs (resource leaks, truncation errors, dead code) that council judges — reviewing holistically — often miss.

Skip conditions (both paths):

• --quick mode → skip (fast path)
• No source files in target → skip (nothing to audit)
• Target is non-code (pure docs/config) → skip

Step 2g: Check for Product Context

Skip if --quick (see Step 1.5).

if [ -f PRODUCT.md ]; then
  # PRODUCT.md exists — include developer-experience perspectives
fi

When PRODUCT.md exists in the project root AND the user did NOT pass an explicit --preset override:

1. Read PRODUCT.md content and include in the council packet via context.files
2. Add a single consolidated developer-experience perspective to the council invocation:
   • With spec: /council --preset=code-review --perspectives="developer-experience" validate <target> (3 judges: 2 code-review + 1 DX)
   • Without spec: /council --perspectives="developer-experience" validate <target> (3 judges: 2 independent + 1 DX) The DX judge covers api-clarity, error-experience, and discoverability in a single review.
3. With --deep: adds 1 more judge per mode (4 judges total).

When PRODUCT.md exists BUT the user passed an explicit --preset: skip DX auto-include (user's explicit preset takes precedence).

When PRODUCT.md does not exist: proceed to Step 3 unchanged.

Tip: Create PRODUCT.md from docs/PRODUCT-TEMPLATE.md to enable developer-experience-aware code review.

Step 3: Load the Spec (New)

Skip if --quick (see Step 1.5).

Before invoking council, try to find the relevant spec/bead:

1. If target looks like a bead ID (e.g., na-0042): bd show <id> to get the spec
2. Search for plan doc: ls .agents/plans/ | grep <target-keyword>
3. Check git log: git log --oneline | head -10 to find the relevant bead reference

If a spec is found, include it in the council packet's context.spec field:

{
  "spec": {
    "source": "bead na-0042",
    "content": "<the spec/bead description text>"
  }
}

Step 4: Run Council Validation

With spec found — use code-review preset:

/council --preset=code-review validate <target>

• error-paths: Trace every error handling path. What's uncaught? What fails silently?
• api-surface: Review every public interface. Is the contract clear? Breaking changes?
• spec-compliance: Compare implementation against the spec. What's missing? What diverges?

The spec content is injected into the council packet context so the spec-compliance judge can compare implementation against it.

Without spec — 2 independent judges (no perspectives):

/council validate <target>

2 independent judges (no perspective labels). Use --deep for 3 judges on high-stakes reviews. Override with --quick (inline single-agent check) or --mixed (cross-vendor with Codex).

Council receives:

• Files to review
• Complexity hotspots (from Step 2)
• Git diff context
• Spec content (when found, in context.spec)
• Sweep manifest (when --deep or --sweep, in context.sweep_manifest — judges shift to adjudication mode, see references/deep-audit-protocol.md)

All council flags pass through: --quick (inline), --mixed (cross-vendor), --preset=<name> (override perspectives), --explorers=N, --debate (adversarial 2-round). See Quick Start examples and /council docs.

Step 5: Council Checks

Each judge reviews for:

Aspect	What to Look For
Correctness	Does code do what it claims?
Security	Injection, auth issues, secrets
Edge Cases	Null handling, boundaries, errors
Quality	Dead code, duplication, clarity
Complexity	High cyclomatic scores, deep nesting
Architecture	Coupling, abstractions, patterns

Step 6: Interpret Verdict

Council Verdict	Vibe Result	Action
PASS	Ready to ship	Merge/deploy
WARN	Review concerns	Address or accept risk
FAIL	Not ready	Fix issues

Step 7: Write Vibe Report

Write to: .agents/council/YYYY-MM-DD-vibe-<target>.md (use date +%Y-%m-%d)

---
id: council-YYYY-MM-DD-vibe-<target-slug>
type: council
date: YYYY-MM-DD
---

# Vibe Report: <Target>

**Files Reviewed:** <count>

## Complexity Analysis

**Status:** ✅ Completed | ⚠️ Skipped (<reason>)

| File | Score | Rating | Notes |
|------|-------|--------|-------|
| src/auth.py | 15 | C | Consider breaking up |
| src/utils.py | 4 | A | Good |

**Hotspots:** <list files with C or worse>
**Skipped reason:** <if skipped, explain why - e.g., "radon not installed">

## Council Verdict: PASS / WARN / FAIL

| Judge | Verdict | Key Finding |
|-------|---------|-------------|
| Error-Paths | ... | ... (with spec — code-review preset) |
| API-Surface | ... | ... (with spec — code-review preset) |
| Spec-Compliance | ... | ... (with spec — code-review preset) |
| Judge 1 | ... | ... (no spec — 2 independent judges) |
| Judge 2 | ... | ... (no spec — 2 independent judges) |
| Judge 3 | ... | ... (no spec — 2 independent judges) |

## Shared Findings
- ...

## Concerns Raised
- ...

## All Findings

> Included when `--deep` or `--sweep` produces a sweep manifest. Lists ALL findings
> from explorer sweep + council adjudication. Grouped by category if >20 findings.

| # | File | Line | Category | Severity | Description | Source |
|---|------|------|----------|----------|-------------|--------|
| 1 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | sweep / council |

## Recommendation
<council recommendation>

## Decision

[ ] SHIP - Complexity acceptable, council passed
[ ] FIX - Address concerns before shipping
[ ] REFACTOR - High complexity, needs rework

Step 8: Report to User

Tell the user:

1. Complexity hotspots (if any)
2. Council verdict (PASS/WARN/FAIL)
3. Key concerns
4. Location of vibe report

Step 9: Record Ratchet Progress

After council verdict:

1. If verdict is PASS or WARN:
   • Run: ao ratchet record vibe --output "<report-path>" 2>/dev/null || true
   • Suggest: "Run /post-mortem to capture learnings and complete the cycle."
2. If verdict is FAIL:
   • Do NOT record ratchet progress.
   • Extract ALL findings from the council report for structured retry context (group by category if >20):

     Read the council report. For each finding, format as:
     FINDING: <description> | FIX: <fix or recommendation> | REF: <ref or location>
     
     Fallback for v1 findings (no fix/why/ref fields):
       fix = finding.fix || finding.recommendation || "No fix specified"
       ref = finding.ref || finding.location || "No reference"
     

   • Tell user to fix issues and re-run /vibe, including the formatted findings as actionable guidance.

Step 9.5: Feed Findings to Flywheel

If verdict is WARN or FAIL, persist reusable findings to .agents/findings/registry.jsonl and optionally mirror the broader narrative to a learning file.

Registry write rules:

• persist only reusable issues that should change future review or implementation behavior
• require dedup_key, provenance, pattern, detection_question, checklist_item, applicable_when, and confidence
• applicable_when must use the controlled vocabulary from the finding-registry contract
• append or merge by dedup_key
• use the contract's temp-file-plus-rename atomic write rule

If a broader prose summary still helps, also write the existing anti-pattern learning file to .agents/learnings/YYYY-MM-DD-vibe-<target>.md. Skip both if verdict is PASS.

After the registry update, if hooks/finding-compiler.sh exists, run:

bash hooks/finding-compiler.sh --quiet 2>/dev/null || true

This keeps the same-session post-mortem path synchronized with the latest reusable findings. session-end-maintenance.sh remains the idempotent backstop.

Step 10: Test Bead Cleanup

After validation completes, clean up stale test beads (bd list --status=open | grep -iE "test bead|test quest") via bd close to prevent bead pollution. Skip if bd unavailable.

---

Integration with Workflow

/implement issue-123
    │
    ▼
(coding, quick lint/test as you go)
    │
    ▼
/vibe                      ← You are here
    │
    ├── Complexity analysis (find hotspots)
    ├── Bug hunt audit (find concrete bugs)
    └── Council validation (multi-model judgment)
    │
    ├── PASS → ship it
    ├── WARN → review, then ship or fix
    └── FAIL → fix, re-run /vibe

---

Examples

User says: "Run a quick validation on the latest changes."

Do:

/vibe recent

Validate Recent Changes

/vibe recent

Runs complexity on recent changes, then council reviews.

Validate Specific Directory

/vibe src/auth/

Complexity + council on auth directory.

Deep Review

/vibe --deep recent

Complexity + 3 judges for thorough review.

Cross-Vendor Consensus

/vibe --mixed recent

Complexity + Claude + Codex judges.

See references/examples.md for additional examples: security audit with spec compliance, developer-experience code review with PRODUCT.md, and fast inline checks.

---

Troubleshooting

Problem	Cause	Solution
"COMPLEXITY SKIPPED: radon not installed"	Python complexity analyzer missing	Install with pip install radon or skip complexity (council still runs).
"COMPLEXITY SKIPPED: gocyclo not installed"	Go complexity analyzer missing	Install with go install github.com/fzipp/gocyclo/cmd/gocyclo@latest or skip.
Vibe returns PASS but constraint tests fail	Council LLMs miss mechanical violations	Check .agents/council/<timestamp>-vibe-*.md for constraint test results. Failed constraints override council PASS. Fix violations and re-run.
Codex review skipped	--mixed not passed, Codex CLI not on PATH, or no uncommitted changes	Codex review is opt-in — pass --mixed to enable. Also requires Codex CLI on PATH and uncommitted changes.
"No modified files detected"	Clean working tree, no recent commits	Make changes or specify target path explicitly: /vibe src/auth/.
Spec-compliance judge not spawned	No spec found in beads/plans	Reference bead ID in commit message or create plan doc in .agents/plans/. Without spec, vibe uses 2 independent judges (3 with --deep).

---

See Also

• skills/council/SKILL.md — Multi-model validation council
• skills/complexity/SKILL.md — Standalone complexity analysis
• skills/bug-hunt/SKILL.md — Proactive code audit and bug investigation
• .agents/specs/conflict-resolution-algorithm.md — Conflict resolution between agent findings

Reference Documents

• references/deep-audit-protocol.md
• references/examples.md
• references/go-patterns.md
• references/go-standards.md
• references/json-standards.md
• references/markdown-standards.md
• references/patterns.md
• references/python-standards.md
• references/report-format.md
• references/rust-standards.md
• references/shell-standards.md
• references/typescript-standards.md
• references/vibe-coding.md
• references/yaml-standards.md