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Skills Reference

Skills are invocable workflows in Claude Code. Use them with /skill-name in your Claude Code session.


Core Workflow Skills

These skills form the recommended development workflow:

/brief → /spec → /create-plan → /generate-tests → /execute-plan → /summary → /post-review

Design workflow:
/brief → /design --research → /design --define → /design --ia → /design --wireframe → /design-system --define → /spec → /create-plan → /generate-tests → /execute-plan → /design-review → /post-review

/brief - Quick Session Briefing

Purpose: Fast contextual briefing with pre-flight validation when starting work. Scans docs, code, and git activity, plus runs health checks (typecheck, lint, state freshness).

When to use:

  • Starting a new session on existing work
  • Quickly orienting yourself on a feature
  • Checking what exists before /research or /spec
  • Resuming after a break

Skip for: Brand new features with no prior work, or when you need deep analysis.

Comparison:

Skill Creates File Depth
/brief No (display only) Superficial
/research Yes (with --deep) Deep

Rule of thumb: Start with /brief, escalate to /research if you need more.

Output: Display only (no file created)


/spec - Product Specification

Purpose: Create a Product Requirements Document (PRD) through structured interviewing.

When to use:

  • Starting a significant new feature
  • Requirements are vague or incomplete
  • Multiple approaches are possible

Skip for: Bug fixes, simple changes, pure refactoring.

Design mockups: If you have mockups (Figma, Sketch, etc.), Claude will ask and use the appropriate MCP to extract design system alignment (tokens, existing components, gaps) and visual specs.

Output: thoughts/specs/YYYY-MM-DD_[feature-slug].md


/research - Codebase Investigation

Purpose: Investigate the codebase and gather context with multiple modes.

Modes:

Mode Command Creates File Use When
Quick /research [topic] No Starting a session, fast orientation
Deep /research [topic] --deep Yes Before complex features, unfamiliar code
External /research [topic] --external Yes Need GitHub issues, PRs, Slack context
All /research [topic] --all Yes Maximum coverage (deep + external)

Rule of thumb: Start with quick, escalate as needed.

Output:

  • Quick: Display only (no file)
  • Others: thoughts/research/YYYY-MM-DD_[topic].md

/opensrc - Fetch Package Source Code

Purpose: Fetch source code of npm packages or GitHub repos so AI agents have full implementation context, not just type definitions.

When to use:

  • You need to understand how a library works internally
  • Type definitions alone aren't enough context
  • Before implementing patterns from another library

Usage:

/opensrc react
/opensrc react react-router-dom zustand
/opensrc react@19.0.0
/opensrc vercel-labs/opensrc

Output: Source downloaded to opensrc/<package>/, with opensrc/sources.json index


/create-plan - Implementation Planning

Purpose: Create detailed implementation plans for complex tasks.

Modes:

Mode Command Output
Strategic /create-plan [feature] Phased plan with architecture decisions
Detailed /create-plan [task] --detailed Pseudocode, file changes, test cases
From Spec /create-plan --from-spec Generate plan from existing spec

When to use:

  • Starting a complex feature (3+ files)
  • Multiple implementation approaches exist
  • Want to avoid rework

Skip for: Simple single-file changes, obvious bug fixes.

Output: thoughts/plans/YYYY-MM-DD_[feature-slug].md


/summary - Post-Change Documentation

Purpose: Generate a structured summary of what changed, why, decisions made, and what's pending.

When to use:

  • After completing a feature or significant change
  • Before creating a PR (complements /post-review)
  • At the end of a work session
  • When handing off work to someone else

Difference from /checkpoint: Checkpoint saves how to resume (state + next steps). Summary documents what was done and why (change log + rationale).

Difference from /post-review: Post-review validates quality. Summary documents the narrative of changes.

Output:

  • thoughts/SUMMARY.md (overwrite — latest summary, read by /brief)
  • thoughts/summaries/YYYY-MM-DD_[slug].md (timestamped archive)

/checkpoint - Session State Compaction

Purpose: Save current progress to a file so you can start a fresh session without losing context.

When to use:

  • Context feels "heavy" after extended work
  • Before taking a break
  • After completing a major phase
  • When the AI starts making obvious mistakes

Auto-suggestion: Claude proactively suggests /checkpoint when conversations exceed ~40-50 messages.

Output: thoughts/checkpoints/YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM_[task-slug].md

Resuming:

Please read my checkpoint: thoughts/checkpoints/YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM_[slug].md
Continue from where I left off.

/setup - Interactive Configuration

Purpose: Configure devtronic through conversation instead of CLI.

When to use:

  • First time setting up AI assistance in an existing project
  • Want conversational setup instead of CLI

For new projects: Use /scaffold instead.

Behind the scenes: Invokes npx devtronic init


/scaffold - Create New Projects

Purpose: Create new projects from scratch with guided architecture and structure.

When to use:

  • Starting a brand new project
  • Want guided setup with proper architecture

Project Types: frontend, spa-ddd, backend, fullstack, monorepo

Architecture Options: clean, ddd, feature-based, mvc, flat


/worktree - Git Worktree Manager

Purpose: Manage git worktrees for parallel development sessions.

Commands:

Flag Purpose
--create <name> Create new worktree from current branch
--list List all worktrees (default)
--remove <name> Remove worktree and clean up
--prune Clean stale worktree references

When to use: Running parallel Claude Code sessions, working on multiple features simultaneously.

Output: Display only (no file created)


Execution Skills

/quick - Fast Ad-Hoc Task Execution

Purpose: Execute small, well-defined tasks without the full workflow ceremony. Implement, verify, commit.

When to use:

  • Small tasks (< 5 files)
  • Obvious bug fixes with clear solution
  • Simple config changes
  • Adding a single test or function

Escalates to /create-plan if task touches 5+ files or needs design decisions.

Delegates to: commit-changes agent for atomic commits after verification.

Output: Direct implementation + commit


/execute-plan - Parallel Phase Execution

Purpose: Execute a plan in parallel phases by reading task dependencies and running independent tasks as concurrent subagents.

When to use:

  • A plan with ## Task Dependencies exists
  • You want to execute tasks in optimal parallel order
  • The plan was created with /create-plan

Process: Load plan → Validate dependencies → Compute phases → Execute parallel subagents → Verify done criteria

Delegates to: commit-changes agent after each phase passes quality checks.

Limitations: Claude Code only, no interactive tasks, tasks must not modify same files in parallel.

Output: Execution report with phase results and done criteria validation


/converge - Autonomous Convergence Loop

Purpose: Drive a feature to done by reading loop.manifest.yaml and running the human/machine barbell — humans sign the two ends (the DoD up front, the ship at the back); the machine converges the middle under gates that never tire.

When to use:

  • A spec is signed and its DoD exists as tests (/generate-tests has run)
  • You want the middle loop (implement → converge) to run without a human per turn

Process: devtronic loop --validate--dry-run → clean-tree guard → per phase branch on owner (human STOPs via AskUserQuestion; machine owns the tree, runs Tier ① gates fail-fast per iteration, barriers before advancing, Tier ② adversarial fan-out, bounded by budget.max_iterations) → trace every iteration to thoughts/converge/<feature>.trace.md → release ownership on exit/error/abort.

Coexistence: While a machine phase owns the tree (worktree-scoped sentinel), the ambient Stop hook subordinates to the loop; at barriers and with no active loop it enforces exactly as before. Inert by default — no manifest, no behavior change.

Guardrails: Never auto-signs the DoD or the ship; never starts on a dirty tree; always releases ownership. See devtronic loop in the CLI reference.

Limitations: Claude Code only. Anti-gaming hardening (holdout DoD, AFK cost budget) is deferred — the human ship sign-off is the current backstop.

Backlog mode (/converge --backlog): drives a queue of ready /backlog items (each with a - Spec: + - DoD: bullet) through the loop unattended — the loop of loops. Each item converges in its own worktree, then parks for your ship-signature; you drain the queue out of session with devtronic loop --backlog --status / --sign <item>. Bounded by a width cap (default 3 in-flight) and a token budget; a non-converging item is quarantined and the run continues. You still sign each item's DoD (up front) and ship (per item) — the barbell holds.


Quality & Review Skills

/post-review - Post-Feature Review

Purpose: Review implemented changes before PR creation.

Modes:

Mode Command Purpose
Standard /post-review Full review with lessons learned
Strict /post-review --strict Senior engineer "grill me" mode
Quick /post-review --quick Automated checks only
Files /post-review src/file.ts Review specific files

Includes:

  • Requirements verification
  • Architecture compliance
  • Quality checks (types, lint, tests)
  • Lessons learned capture
  • CLAUDE.md updates

Output: Notes saved to thoughts/notes/YYYY-MM-DD_[feature-name].md

Note: Claude Code has a built-in /review for GitHub PR review. Use /post-review for pre-PR feature review.


/investigate - Deep Error Analysis

Purpose: Systematic error investigation that identifies root cause and proposes concrete solutions.

When to use:

  • You paste an error/stack trace for analysis
  • A bug is not obvious and requires investigation
  • The error repeats and you want to document the solution

Note: For simple errors, the error-investigator agent is invoked automatically. Use /investigate for deeper analysis.

Output: Fix suggestion + optional thoughts/debug/YYYY-MM-DD_[description].md


/audit - Comprehensive Codebase Audit (SonarQube lite)

Purpose: One-stop skill for auditing codebase health: architecture, code quality, code smells, complexity, security, test coverage, and technical debt.

Modes:

Mode Command What it checks
Full /audit Everything (architecture + code + smells + complexity + security + coverage)
Architecture /audit --architecture Layer violations, dependency direction
Code /audit --code TODOs, unused code, duplicates, code smells
Complexity /audit --complexity Cyclomatic + cognitive complexity per function
Security /audit --security Secrets, vulnerable deps, OWASP basics
Quick /audit --quick Critical issues only + complexity >20 + god files >800 lines

Delegates to: dependency-checker agent for dependency audit in --security mode (vulnerabilities, outdated, unused, licenses).

Different from /post-review: Post-review checks recent changes. Audit scans full codebase.

Output: thoughts/audit/YYYY-MM-DD_audit.md with health score (0-100), technical debt estimation, and trend comparison


/generate-tests - Tests as Definition of Done

Purpose: Generate failing tests from a spec before implementation begins. Encodes acceptance criteria as executable tests.

When to use:

  • After a spec is approved (via /spec)
  • Before creating an implementation plan (via /create-plan)
  • When you want tests to define "done" before writing production code

Skip for: Bug fixes with obvious test scope, pure refactoring with existing coverage.

Pipeline Position:

/spec → /generate-tests → /create-plan → /execute-plan → /post-review

Output: Test files + thoughts/specs/[spec-slug]_test-manifest.json traceability manifest


Orchestration Addon Skills

These skills are available when the orchestration addon is enabled during devtronic init. They add structured pre-planning alignment and context rotation. Session recaps moved to the core /summary --quick.

Enable during init: Select "Orchestration Workflow" when prompted for addons.

Enable after init: npx devtronic addon enable orchestration

/briefing - Pre-Planning Alignment

Purpose: Ask 3-5 targeted questions to clarify scope, style, priority, and constraints before diving into planning or implementation.

When to use:

  • Before /create-plan on complex features
  • Requirements are vague or ambiguous
  • Multiple valid approaches exist

Skip for: Well-defined tasks, when a detailed /spec already exists.

Process:

  1. Analyze task context (STATE.md, CLAUDE.md, existing specs)
  2. Generate 3-5 targeted questions with concrete options
  3. Ask via AskUserQuestion
  4. Save decisions to thoughts/CONTEXT.md
  5. Suggest next step

Output: thoughts/CONTEXT.md


/summary --quick - Quick Session Summary

Purpose: Generate a compact, structured summary from git activity and modified files.

Replaces the former /recap skill. Claude Code now ships a built-in /recap command, so the name was no longer ours to use.

When to use:

  • End of a work session
  • After ad-hoc work not driven by /execute-plan
  • Before /handoff to capture session details

Comparison with plain /summary:

/summary --quick /summary
Purpose Quick compact overview Detailed narrative with rationale
Source git log, git diff the changes plus the code behind them
Output thoughts/RECAP.md thoughts/summaries/

Output: thoughts/RECAP.md (also updates thoughts/STATE.md)


/handoff - Context Rotation

Purpose: Save current state and signal to start a fresh session with clean context.

When to use:

  • Context feels heavy (>50 messages)
  • Natural breakpoint between phases
  • Model making inconsistent decisions
  • End of day / wrapping up

Comparison with /checkpoint:

/handoff /checkpoint
Purpose End session, rotate Save progress, can continue
Signal "Start new session" "Can resume from here"

Output: thoughts/STATE.md + thoughts/RECAP.md


Enhanced /execute-plan

When the orchestration addon is enabled (thoughts/CONTEXT.md exists):

  • Visual progress: Text-based phase progress with status indicators
  • Inter-phase handoff: Summary of what each phase accomplished, passed to next phase as context
  • Automatic recap: Writes thoughts/RECAP.md after completion

Design Best Practices Addon Skills

These skills are available when the design-best-practices addon is enabled. They provide structured design quality workflows: initialization, critique, refinement, system extraction, and production hardening.

Note: These skills are NOT installed by default. You must enable the addon first.

Enable during init: Select "Design Best Practices" when prompted for addons.

Enable after init: npx devtronic addon add design-best-practices

/design-init - Project Design Context Setup

Purpose: One-time setup that gathers your project's visual direction, constraints, and design tokens through a structured interview. Writes a Design Context section to CLAUDE.md.

When to use:

  • First time working on frontend/UI for a project
  • After a major design direction change
  • When onboarding a new AI agent to an existing design system

Process: Scans codebase for existing design signals (CSS tokens, Tailwind config, component library), then interviews about visual direction, typography, color, spacing, and constraints.

Output: Appends ## Design Context section to CLAUDE.md


/design-critique - Design Critique & AI Slop Detection

Purpose: Perform a structured design critique covering visual hierarchy, information architecture, emotional resonance, and AI slop detection.

When to use:

  • After implementing a new page or component
  • Before shipping UI changes
  • When UI "feels off" but you can't pinpoint why

Output: Actionable report with AI Slop Score (0-10), visual hierarchy assessment, and prioritized recommendations


/design-refine - Directional Design Refinement

Purpose: Apply a directional design transformation to shift the UI's personality.

Usage:

/design-refine --direction bolder     # More visual impact
/design-refine --direction quieter    # More restraint and calm
/design-refine --direction minimal    # Strip to essentials
/design-refine --direction delightful # Add warmth and personality

Each direction has a distinct set of moves (3-5 per refinement) applied incrementally.


/design-tokens - Design System Extraction & Normalization

Purpose: Two modes for working with design tokens and patterns.

Usage:

/design-tokens --mode extract    # Scan codebase, find recurring values, propose token system
/design-tokens --mode normalize  # Apply existing token system consistently across all files

Extract: Clusters similar values (colors within ΔE < 3, spacing within 2px), proposes unified tokens.

Normalize: Replaces hardcoded values with token references, generates migration report.


/design-harden - Production Hardening

Purpose: Systematically test UI components against real-world edge cases. Produces a severity-ranked report.

Categories tested:

  1. Text overflow & content limits
  2. Internationalization (i18n)
  3. Error states
  4. Accessibility audit
  5. Responsive testing (320px → 1920px+)
  6. Edge cases (loading, stale data, concurrent actions)

Output: Severity report with Critical / Major / Minor issues and specific fixes

Reference docs: Includes 7 reference documents (typography, color, spatial design, motion, interaction, responsive, UX writing) for detailed guidance.


Auto-devtronic Addon Skills

Install with: npx devtronic addon enable auto-devtronic

/devtronic - Autonomous Engineering Loop

Purpose: Takes a GitHub issue or task description and executes the full devtronic pipeline autonomously — spec → tests → plan → implement → quality check → PR. Self-corrects via failing tests without human intervention (in AFK mode).

When to use:

  • Routine, well-scoped issues with good test coverage
  • Want the full pipeline run hands-free
  • Trust the codebase enough for autonomous changes

Modes:

Mode Flag Human gates Use when
HITL --hitl (default) Brief, tests, each retry, PR Unfamiliar codebase, risky changes
AFK --afk None Routine issues, high test coverage, trusted scope

Flags:

Flag Default Description
--validate no Validate task AFK-readiness before proceeding (score 70+ = proceed, <70 in AFK mode = ask for HITL)
--hitl yes Pause at key gates for human approval
--afk no Fully autonomous, no pauses
--max-retries N 3 Max loop iterations before escalating
--skip-spec no Skip spec interview, auto-generate from brief
--branch name auto Branch name (auto-derived from issue)
--dry-run no Run everything but skip gh pr create — prints PR body to stdout instead

Pipeline:

INPUT (issue URL or description)
  → 0. VALIDATE (if --validate)  score 70+: proceed; <70 AFK: ask HITL; <40: refine
  → 1. INTAKE       parse issue, extract structured brief
  → 2. SPEC         brief → spec (HITL gate)
  → 3. TESTS        generate failing tests as DoD
  → 4. PLAN         create phased implementation plan
  → 5. EXECUTE      implement in parallel phases
  → 6. VERIFY       run quality checks (typecheck + lint + test)
  → 7. LOOP         on failure: analyze → amend plan → retry (up to --max-retries)
  → 8. PR           push branch, open PR

Required: /create-plan, /generate-tests, /execute-plan skills must be installed (they are part of devtronic core).

Agents installed alongside:

  • issue-parser — extracts structured brief from GitHub issues
  • failure-analyst — diagnoses test/lint failures and proposes targeted fixes
  • quality-executor — runs typecheck, lint, and tests; returns structured pass/fail output
  • afk-task-validator — analyzes task descriptions for AFK-readiness and detects quality gaps

Output: Branch pushed, PR opened (or --dry-run PR body to stdout)


/devtronic --validate - AFK Viability Validation

Purpose: Pre-flight validation (step 0 of the /devtronic addon pipeline) that scores a GitHub issue or task description on AFK-readiness (0-100) across 5 dimensions and guides iterative refinement.

When to use:

  • Before committing to /devtronic <issue> --afk
  • Uncertain if a task is well-defined enough for autonomous execution
  • Want guidance on improving a task description before committing to AFK

Skip for: Tasks you're confident are AFK-ready (run /devtronic without --validate).

Dimensions scored:

Dimension Weight Measures
Clarity 25% Measurable acceptance criteria (Returns/Validates/Throws)
Scope 25% 1-4 files, no architectural keywords
Precedent 20% Similar patterns exist in codebase
Coverage 20% Test coverage >70% in affected files
Dependencies 10% Self-contained, not blocked by external PRs

Score interpretation:

Score Status Action
70-100 ✅ AFK Viable Run with --afk
40-70 ⚠️ Medium Risk Use --hitl (human gates)
0-40 ❌ Needs Work Refine and re-validate

Flags:

  • --refine — interactive mode: detects gaps, asks questions, re-scores after each answer

Delegates to: afk-task-validator agent

Output: Markdown report with score breakdown, gap list, and recommended command to run


Design Phase Skills

A structured UX/UI design phase that bridges product requirements and implementation. Tool-agnostic — works with or without Figma or Paper MCP. See Design Phase Guide for the full workflow.

/design - Design Phase Orchestrator

Purpose: Entry point for the design phase. Detects current context and routes to the appropriate sub-skill.

Flags:

Flag Routes to When
--research /design-research Start discovery phase
--define /design-define Build personas and journeys
--ia /design-ia Define information architecture
--wireframe /design-wireframe Specify screen layouts
--system /design-system Manage design system
--audit /design-audit UX + accessibility audit
--review /design-review QA implementation vs design
--spec /design-spec Generate dev handoff spec

No flag: Detects state from thoughts/design/ and proposes next step.

Output: Appends to thoughts/design/design.md


/design-research - Discovery & Competitive Analysis

Purpose: Synthesizes competitive analysis, target audience, and business context from user input and existing specs.

When to use:

  • Starting a new product or feature with no prior research
  • After /spec to enrich requirements with market context

Skip for: Internal tools with no competition, or when thoughts/design/research.md already exists.

Output: thoughts/design/research.md


/design-define - Personas, Journeys & Problem Framing

Purpose: Generates 2-3 personas, user journey maps, HMW questions, and a crisp problem statement.

When to use: After /design-research — reads thoughts/design/research.md as input.

Skip for: B2B internal tools where users are well-known.

Output: thoughts/design/define.md


/design-ia - Information Architecture

Purpose: Defines navigation structure, sitemap, content hierarchy, and user flows.

When to use: After /design-define — reads personas and journeys as input.

Skip for: Single-screen tools with no navigation.

Output: thoughts/design/ia.md


/design-wireframe - Screen Specifications

Purpose: Generates structured text-based wireframe specs per screen — components, states, layout zones, interactive elements.

When to use: After /design-ia — uses screen list from IA as input.

Arguments: [screen-name] for a specific screen, --all for all screens.

Note: Tool-agnostic. No Figma or Paper required — specs are structured text in thoughts/design/wireframes.md.

Output: thoughts/design/wireframes.md


/design-system - Design System Router

Purpose: Routes to the appropriate design system sub-skill based on flag.

Flags:

Flag Routes to Purpose
--define /design-system-define Create or extract design system
--audit /design-system-audit Detect drift and hardcoded values
--sync /design-tokens-sync Sync tokens to project config files

/design-system-define - Create or Extract Design System

Purpose: Interactively defines design tokens (colors, typography, spacing, borders, shadows) or extracts them from existing CSS/Tailwind config.

Modes:

  • Default: guided interactive token definition
  • --extract: reads existing project config and normalizes to tokens

Output: thoughts/design/design-system.md (source of truth for all tokens)


/design-system-audit - Design System Drift Detection

Purpose: Scans the codebase for design system drift — hardcoded hex values, arbitrary spacing, tokens defined but unused, components that bypass the system.

When to use: Before PRs, before releases, periodically on growing codebases. Also runs automatically from /post-review via design-system-guardian agent.

Output: thoughts/design/design-system-audit.md


/design-tokens-sync - Token Synchronization

Purpose: Syncs thoughts/design/design-system.md → project config files (Tailwind, CSS vars, tokens.json). Always one-directional: design system is the source of truth.

Arguments: --dry-run to preview changes without applying.

When to use: After defining or changing design tokens, before starting implementation.


/design-audit - UX Heuristics & Accessibility

Purpose: Evaluates designs against Nielsen's 10 heuristics and WCAG 2.1 AA. Can audit wireframe specs (text) or implementation (code).

Modes:

Flag Input What runs
--wireframes thoughts/design/wireframes.md Heuristics only
--code Source files Heuristics + accessibility
--both Both Full audit

Delegates to: design-critic (heuristics) + a11y-auditor (WCAG 2.1 AA)

Output: thoughts/design/audit.md


/design-review - Implementation vs Design QA

Purpose: Compares what was built against wireframe specs and design system. Surfaces deviations with severity (blocker / warning / suggestion).

When to use: After /execute-plan completes UI work, before PR.

Arguments: [component-name] for specific component, --all for all screens.

Delegates to: visual-qa agent if screenshots are available.

Note: Not a code quality review — use /post-review for that. This reviews visual/UX fidelity.


/design-spec - Developer Handoff Specification

Purpose: Generates a structured developer spec from all design artifacts — component breakdown, props, token references, interaction specs, states, and edge cases.

When to use: After the design phase is complete, before /create-plan. The spec informs the component breakdown in the implementation plan.

Output: thoughts/design/spec.md


Other Skills

/devtronic-help - In-IDE Discovery

Purpose: Discover all available devtronic skills, agents, addons, and workflows without leaving the IDE. A meta-help skill that scans your project's .claude/skills/, .claude/agents/, and addons dynamically.

Modes:

Mode Command Shows
Default /devtronic-help Quick overview with skill categories and "I want to..." table
Topic /devtronic-help design Skills and agents matching a keyword
Workflows /devtronic-help --workflows Full workflow recipes by task type
Agents /devtronic-help --agents All agents with roles and which skills use them
Addons /devtronic-help --addons Installed and available addons
All /devtronic-help --all Full inventory

When to use:

  • First time using devtronic in a project
  • Unsure which skill to use for a task
  • Want to see recommended workflow for a task type

CLI equivalent: npx devtronic list

Output: Display only (no file created)


/create-skill - Meta Skill Generator

Purpose: Conversationally create new custom skills.

When to use:

  • Need a new reusable workflow
  • Want to automate a repetitive task
  • Creating project-specific commands

Process:

  1. GATHER - Name, description, usage scenarios
  2. DESIGN - Workflow steps, tools needed, output location
  3. GENERATE - Create the skill file in .claude/skills/
  4. VERIFY - Review and test

Output: .claude/skills/{name}.md


/backlog - Issue Management

Purpose: Manage the issue backlog efficiently, keeping the file clean and manageable.

Commands:

/backlog              # View backlog
/backlog add "Title"  # Add item
/backlog move BACK-XXX high|medium|low|progress|done
/backlog cleanup      # Archive old items

Files:

  • thoughts/BACKLOG.md - Active backlog
  • thoughts/archive/backlog/ - Archived items

Automatic Cleanup Rules (checked on every interaction):

Rule Threshold Action
Completed items > 5 Archive oldest
In Progress > 3 Block new starts
Total backlog > 20 Force prioritization before adding
Stale items > 30 days Prompt to review/remove
Monthly archive 1st of month Archive all completed
Archive retention > 6 months Purge old archives

Item Structure:

### [BACK-042] Feature title
- **Type**: feature | bug | tech-debt | improvement
- **Priority**: high | medium | low
- **Description**: Brief description
- **Success criteria**: How we know it's done
- **Docs**:
  - Spec: thoughts/specs/BACK-042_feature.md
  - Plan: thoughts/plans/BACK-042_feature.md
- **Added**: 2026-02-05
- **Completed**: 2026-02-05 (PR #234)

/learn - Post-Task Teaching

Purpose: Transform completed work into a learning opportunity.

When to use:

  • After any task you want to understand better
  • After debugging sessions
  • When you think "I couldn't have done that myself"

Teaching Framework:

  1. Summary - TL;DR of what was done
  2. Step-by-Step Breakdown - What, why, code
  3. Key Concepts - Why it matters
  4. Patterns to Remember - Templates to reuse
  5. Common Pitfalls - What goes wrong
  6. Try It Yourself - Exercise to practice

Creating Custom Skills

Use /create-skill for guided skill creation, or create manually in .claude/skills/.

Simple skills (single file)

For skills without supporting files, use a single Markdown file:

.claude/skills/my-skill.md
---
name: my-skill
description: What this skill does
disable-model-invocation: true
disallowed-tools: Edit, Write, NotebookEdit
---

# My Custom Skill

Instructions for Claude when this skill is invoked...

Complex skills (directory)

For skills that need supporting files (templates, examples, reference data), use a directory:

.claude/skills/my-skill/
├── SKILL.md           # Main skill file (required)
├── template.md        # Supporting file
└── examples.md        # Supporting file

The SKILL.md file uses the same frontmatter format. Supporting files are loaded as context when the skill is invoked.

Examples: audit/ (SKILL.md + report-template.md), scaffold/ (SKILL.md + 5 supporting files).

See Customization Guide for more details.


Related Documentation