git:20260808.362892a to git:20260813.debb49d

15 added, 8 removed. Audit A to A.

---

name: ca-spike

description: Exploratory spike on a throwaway branch — answer a named question with disposable code. Never merges; exits to a findings note or /ca-feature.

argument-hint: "<question to answer> [timebox]"

---

# /ca-spike — exploratory spike

The sanctioned lane for "I need to write code to find out." Spike code is disposable by contract:

it never merges, never PRs, and never becomes the implementation. What survives a spike is the

*answer*, written down — the code is burned.

## Flow

1. **Name the question** — a spike without a falsifiable question is just freelancing. Restate

`$ARGUMENTS` as the question the spike answers and the timebox (default: one session). STOP for

the user's confirmation.

- 2. **Branch** — create `spike/<slug>` from the current branch. All spike work stays on it.

+ 2. **Branch** — create `spike/<slug>` from the current branch. All exploratory code and experiments

+ stay on it; only the completed findings file may later cross back to the parent.

3. **Explore** — no `tdd`, no plan, no review fleet. Two rules survive even here: no secret leaves

the approved store, and no irreversible operation (prod data, destructive migration) runs from a

spike.

4. **Exit — exactly one of:**

- **Answered** → write the findings to `<project-root>/.codearbiter/spikes/<slug>.md`

- (the question, what was tried, the answer, what it implies), then delete the branch. If the

- answer warrants building, hand the findings to `/ca-feature` — the spike file seeds

+ (the question, what was tried, the answer, what it implies), and commit only that findings file

+ on `spike/<slug>`. Return to the parent branch and run

+ `git restore --source spike/<slug> -- .codearbiter/spikes/<slug>.md` to transfer only the

+ committed findings file, review it, and commit that one file through `/ca-commit`; do not

+ merge the spike branch. Then delete the spike branch. If the answer warrants building, hand the

+ findings to `/ca-feature` — the spike file seeds

`brainstorming` (`<plugin-root>/routines/brainstorming/SKILL.md`); the spike code is reference material, never the implementation.

- - **Timebox expired, no answer** → record that too (a dead end is a finding), delete the branch.

+ - **Timebox expired, no answer** → record that in the findings file and use the same findings-only

+ transfer before deleting the spike branch.

## Hard gate

- MUST NOT merge or PR a `spike/*` branch — its only exits are a findings file and deletion. MUST NOT

- copy spike code into an implementation branch wholesale; implementation re-enters through

+ MUST NOT merge or PR a `spike/*` branch — its only exits are a findings file and deletion. Do not

+ transfer spike code: the parent may receive only the committed findings file. MUST NOT copy spike

+ code into an implementation branch wholesale; implementation re-enters through

`/ca-feature` and `tdd`. Secret-handling and irreversibility rules hold even in a spike. Commits on

- a `spike/*` branch are exempt from `commit-gate` — the exemption is safe precisely because nothing

- on the branch can ever land.

+ a `spike/*` branch are exempt from `commit-gate` — the exemption is safe because no spike commit is

+ merged and the parent may copy only the committed findings file's contents, never spike code.

## When NOT to use

- You already know what to build → `/ca-feature`.

- Diagnosing a defect → `/ca-debug` (investigation with a structured exit).

- A question answerable by reading code or docs → `/ca-btw`.