git:20260916.e37c459 to git:20260926.e6ad793

52 added, 31 removed. Audit A to A.

---

name: backlog

description: "Idea capture and review — records a musing from the conversation ('what if we…', 'maybe we should…', 'it would be nice to…') as one line in production/backlog.md and stops, without implementing anything; lists the open ideas, promotes one to /brainstorm, /impact or /feature-spec, parks or closes it. Use the moment an idea appears that nobody has decided on, and for the weekly review."

argument-hint: "add \"<idea>\" | review | promote I-NNN | park I-NNN | close I-NNN [reason]"

user-invocable: true

allowed-tools: Read, Glob, Grep, Write, Edit, Bash, AskUserQuestion

model: haiku

---

# Backlog — ideas are recorded, not executed

Reply in the project conversation language (CLAUDE.md → Language); code, identifiers, paths and commit messages stay in English.

- Template `.claude/docs/templates/backlog.md`; the roadmap format (`templates/roadmap.md`) reserves `production/backlog.md`

- for ideas before their spec and `production/decisions.md` for owner decisions. Writes only after "May I write?".

+ Template `.claude/docs/templates/backlog.md`; the roadmap format (`.claude/docs/templates/roadmap.md`) reserves

+ `production/backlog.md` for ideas before their spec and `production/decisions.md` for owner decisions.

+ **Write gate** (every mode below that changes the file): render the new or changed entry in the chat, then

+ "May I write `production/backlog.md`?" — one `AskUserQuestion`: write (Recommended) · adjust the wording · not now.

+ After the "write" answer: `touch .claude/.write-consent` (rule 7 — the consent-guard hook checks the marker), then

+ write. Then one commit gate: `docs: backlog <what>` staging exactly that file, on the branch git-workflow's

+ documents lane prescribes.

+ **Not initialised** — no `.claude/docs/` and no `production/` → `BLOCKED (not initialised — run /init)`, nothing

+ written. An initialised project without `production/backlog.md` gets it created from the template at the first write.

## Phase 0: What is an idea (rule for every skill and the main conversation)

A **musing** — "what if we…", "maybe we should…", "it would be nice…", or their equivalents in the conversation language, said while

something else is in progress — is an idea, not an instruction. Nobody has decided anything yet, so nothing

is implemented, drafted or planned in the same turn (CLAUDE.md principle 2; coordination-rules rule 11). The

main conversation names it ("that is an idea, not part of the current story") and offers exactly this skill:

`/backlog add "<the idea in the user's words>"`. A **proposal** with a decision behind it ("add Redis for the

session store") is `/impact`'s business, not the backlog's; when unsure, record it here — promoting later costs

one command, implementing an undecided idea costs a story.

## Phase 1: `add "<idea>"`

- Read `production/backlog.md` (create from the template when missing) and take the next `I-NNN`. Draft one

- entry: `### I-NNN · <title in ≤ 8 words> 💡` + one line *recorded YYYY-MM-DD, source: <conversation | user |

- incident INC-NNN | audit>* + the idea in one or two sentences **in the user's words**, plus, when obvious, the

- area (`🏷 backend/frontend/game/infra/docs`) — no analysis, no options, no estimate: that is what promotion is for.

- Render the entry in the chat, then "May I write `production/backlog.md`?" — one `AskUserQuestion`: write

- (Recommended) · adjust the wording · not now. After the "write" answer: `touch .claude/.write-consent` (rule 7 —

- the consent-guard hook checks the marker). Then one commit gate: `docs: backlog I-NNN <title>` staging exactly

- that file, on the branch git-workflow's documents lane prescribes. **Stop here** — the recorded idea never

- becomes a task in this turn; if a story or skill was in progress, the hand-off returns to it ("back to

- /dev-story S-NNN (Recommended)").

+ 1. Read `production/backlog.md` and take the next `I-NNN`.

+ 2. Draft one entry: `### I-NNN · <title in ≤ 8 words> 💡`, one line *recorded YYYY-MM-DD, source: <conversation |

+ user | incident INC-NNN | audit>*, and the idea in one or two sentences **in the user's words**. Add the area

+ (`🏷 backend/frontend/game/infra/docs`) when it is obvious. No analysis, no options, no estimate: that is what

+ promotion is for.

+ 3. **A proposal passed to `add`** (a concrete change with a decision behind it) is recorded as asked — the backlog

+ never refuses — with one line saying that a concrete change is `/impact`'s business; the next step then offers

+ `/backlog promote I-NNN` → `/impact`.

+ 4. Write gate and commit gate (`docs: backlog I-NNN <title>`).

+ 5. **Stop here.** The recorded idea never becomes a task in this turn. If a story or skill was in progress, the

+ hand-off returns to it ("back to /dev-story S-NNN (Recommended)").

## Phase 2: `review` (weekly, or when `/help` shows `Backlog: N ideas, oldest N days`)

- Table of open ideas: ID · title · recorded · age · area · marker (`🅿` parked). Older than 60 days without a

- decision → flagged. One `AskUserQuestion` per review, never per idea: promote one (name it) (Recommended when

- something is older than 30 days) · park/close some · nothing now. Ideas are never silently deleted — `close`

- keeps the line with `[x]` and the reason.

+ 1. Render a table of open ideas: ID · title · recorded · age · area · marker (`🅿` parked). Flag ideas older than 60

+ days without a decision.

+ 2. **Ideas that left sideways.** An idea can leave the backlog without `promote` — the user ran `/impact` or

+ `/feature-spec` on it directly — and the entry then stays open for weeks while the work is already done. An open

+ entry whose text matches a spec, ADR or impact verdict written later is that case: name it and offer to close it

+ with the link.

+ 3. One `AskUserQuestion` per review, never per idea: promote one (name it) (Recommended when something is older than

+ 30 days) · park/close some · nothing now.

+ 4. Apply the answer through the matching mode below. With a write answer, also set `last-review` and **Reviewed:**

+ to today (the template header; `/help` reads `last-review`), behind the write gate.

- ## Phase 3: `promote I-NNN` (the idea goes through the pipeline it skipped)

- Decide the route from the entry, not from its wording, and hand off with one `AskUserQuestion`:

- - vague, no clear user or scope → `/brainstorm "<title>"` (Recommended);

- - a concrete change to code, architecture, security or deployment → `/impact "<idea>"` (its verifiers decide);

- - a user-visible feature the product spec allows → `/feature-spec "<title>"`, it receives `F-NNN`;

- - a technical choice → `/architecture-decision "<title>"`.

- After the hand-off returns, mark the entry `→ promoted YYYY-MM-DD: [F-NNN](../docs/specs/features/…)` (or the

- ADR / impact verdict) and tick it `[x]` — "May I update `production/backlog.md`?" with the same gate and commit.

- The promotion counts only once that line exists: an idea can also leave the backlog sideways — the user runs

- `/impact` or `/feature-spec` on it directly, without `promote` — and the entry then stays open for weeks while

- the work is already done. `review` treats an entry whose text matches a spec, ADR or impact verdict written

- later as exactly that case: it names it and offers to close it with the link.

- `park I-NNN` adds `🅿` and a date; `close I-NNN <reason>` ticks it with the reason. Nothing here ever creates a

- story or writes code.

+ Ideas are never silently deleted: `close` keeps the line with `[x]` and the reason.

+ ## Phase 3: `promote I-NNN` · `park I-NNN` · `close I-NNN <reason>`

+ **`promote I-NNN`** — the idea goes through the pipeline it skipped.

+ 1. Decide the route from the entry, not from its wording:

+ - vague, no clear user or scope → `/brainstorm "<title>"`;

+ - a concrete change to code, architecture, security or deployment → `/impact "<idea>"` (its verifiers decide);

+ - a user-visible feature the product spec allows → `/feature-spec "<title>"`, it receives `F-NNN`;

+ - a technical choice → `/architecture-decision "<title>"`.

+ 2. Hand off with one `AskUserQuestion`: the route chosen in step 1 (Recommended) · the other plausible routes · not now.

+ 3. After the hand-off returns, mark the entry `→ promoted YYYY-MM-DD: [F-NNN](../docs/specs/features/…)` (or the

+ ADR / impact verdict) and tick it `[x]`, behind the write gate ("May I update `production/backlog.md`?") and the

+ commit gate. The promotion counts only once that line exists.

+ **`park I-NNN`** adds `🅿` and a date (and the reason, when given). **`close I-NNN <reason>`** ticks it `[x]` with

+ the reason. Both go through the write gate and the commit gate.

+ Nothing here ever creates a story or writes code.

Verdict: `COMPLETE (I-NNN recorded)` | `COMPLETE (review: N open, M promoted)` | `COMPLETE (I-NNN promoted → …)` |

`BLOCKED (not initialised — run /init)`. Next step — one `AskUserQuestion`: return to the interrupted work

- (Recommended when something was in progress) · `/backlog review` · stop here.

+ (Recommended when something was in progress) · `/backlog promote I-NNN` (Recommended when a proposal was just

+ recorded and nothing was in progress) · `/backlog review` · stop here.