goal-workflow git:20260910.7e7f462A

Immutable. This exact content is served forever at /api/v1/blob/50098a1716164414.

---
name: goal-workflow
description: '[Adam Skills] DEPRECATED — superseded by /build-it. Do not use for new work. Ran a settled goal as a bounded autonomous build loop: locked the goal, front-loaded decisions, wrote a completion-invariant contract before any code, then looped with explicit Agent-tool fan-out and fresh-eyes verification at every milestone until the invariants held. It gated on ultracode effort, mandated subagent fan-out, and verified repeatedly — three patterns that current Claude models make redundant or actively counterproductive, which is why it underperformed and was retired. Kept installable only so existing setups are redirected rather than broken. If invoked, say it is deprecated and offer /build-it instead.'
disable-model-invocation: true
---

# Goal Workflow — DEPRECATED

> **This skill is deprecated. Use [`/build-it`](../build-it/SKILL.md) instead.**
>
> If someone has invoked this, do not run the workflow below. Tell them in two lines that it is
> retired and why, then offer `/build-it` — pointed at a ticket number if they have one, or at
> the plan file this session produced if they do not. Run it only if they explicitly say they
> want this one anyway, having been told.
>
> **Why it was retired.** Three of its load-bearing design decisions are now counter-guidance
> for the models it runs on:
>
> - It **hard-gated on ultracode effort.** Current guidance is to start at the default and step
>   up only where a measurement shows a gain; low and medium hold quality on most work at a
>   fraction of the cost. Forcing maximum effort made every run expensive by construction.
> - It **mandated explicit Agent-tool fan-out.** Models now delegate readily on their own, and
>   the standing advice is to damp that down rather than require it. The mandate produced
>   subagents on work that one context could have finished faster.
> - It **verified at every milestone, again in a bounded fix loop, and again at closeout.**
>   Explicit repeated-verification instructions are the single clearest "remove this" in the
>   current prompting guidance: they compound with self-checking the model already does, and
>   cost tokens and latency without improving the result.
>
> `/build-it` keeps the one idea here that was always right — **write the scope down before
> writing any code** — and drops the rest. It starts from a ticket number, asks only what the
> ticket and the code cannot answer, pins what will and will not change, builds, and stops.

The original workflow follows, unchanged, for anyone who deliberately chooses to run it.

---

Turn a settled goal into a **bounded implementation loop, then force proof, then fix or
close.** This is the implementation-phase sibling to `assumption-inventory` (before),
`reground` (mid-drift), and `fresh-eyes` (after).

The orchestration engine is **explicit subagent fan-out via the Agent tool** — the only
multi-agent mechanism a skill can reliably drive. Native `/goal` and ultracode's automatic
workflow orchestration are **user-only and discretionary** (a skill cannot set `/goal`, and
ultracode decides for itself whether to author a workflow), so this skill does not depend on
them — it offers them as an optional fast path the user can run. `/fresh-eyes` is the
independent verifier. The skill's own job is to lock the goal, front-load decisions, map
terrain, and — the load-bearing step — **write a checkable contract before any code, so
verification anchors to a bar set in writing, not to the implementer's memory of intent.**

Run the steps in order. Step 0 is a hard gate; do not skip it.

## 0. Confirmation gate (FIRST — before anything else)

This skill runs a long, expensive, autonomous loop, and it depends on two session settings
a skill **cannot** set or detect for itself: **ultracode effort** (xhigh + workflow
orchestration) and **auto-accept mode** (so the loop's agents run without a permission
prompt on every action). Passing the keyword `ultracode` as an argument does **not** turn
effort on — only the user can, manually. So gate on an explicit `--confirm` flag that
asserts the user has done the setup.

- Inspect this invocation's `ARGUMENTS` for two flags:
  - `--confirm` — **required to run.** Asserts the setup below is done.
  - `--commit` — **optional, default OFF.** Governs all commit/push behavior for the run.
    Present → the skill commits at logical intervals and pushes at milestones. Absent →
    **the skill makes no commits or pushes**; version control stays entirely with the user.
- **`--confirm` present** → setup confirmed. Record whether `--commit` is also present (it
  governs steps 5 and 8), then proceed to step 1.
- **`--confirm` absent** → STOP. Modify nothing, then output the gate message and wait. Keep
  it to **three sections in this order — goal, setup, start** — and nothing more; brevity is
  the point. The full template is in [REFERENCE.md](REFERENCE.md); in short:
  1. **Goal** — one line: the goal you'd lock (derived per step 1) and its source doc, so the
     user sees what they're committing to *before* the how.
  2. **Set up** — `/effort ultracode` and **Shift+Tab** → auto-accept. The skill can set
     neither; the user must do both.
  3. **Start it** — A: re-invoke `/goal-workflow --confirm` (skill-managed); or B: paste the
     generated `/goal …` command (user-run, fullest native fan-out). Close with a single
     footer line: autonomous, slow (~1 hr for large goals), token-heavy, and the git posture
     for this run (commit at intervals if `--commit`, else git stays with the user).

  **Tailor the `/goal` command to the flags:** emit the commit-at-intervals variant only if
  `--commit` was passed; otherwise the do-not-commit variant. Both are in
  [REFERENCE.md](REFERENCE.md).

## 1. Lock the goal

The goal is **not** passed as an argument — derive it. Read the conversation above plus any
plan / ADR / spec / doc files written this session, and infer what the user wants built.
State the derived goal back in one sentence and confirm it before proceeding. Any extra
words the user added alongside `--confirm` are steering hints, not the whole goal.

**Clarity gate.** Before continuing, judge one thing only: *is there a clear, concrete goal
here that can actually be implemented?* This is narrow on purpose — it is **not** a check on
whether the goal is good, well-scoped, difficult, or worth running this expensive tool on.
Whether the goal merits this firepower is the user's call, never the tool's. The gate asks
solely whether something implementable is even on the table.

- **A clear goal is present** → state it, confirm, proceed to step 2.
- **No clear goal** (the context and docs don't add up to a concrete thing to build — the
  intent is vague, contradictory, or absent) → STOP. Modify nothing. Say what you found and
  what's missing, and ask the user to state the goal plainly, then re-invoke. Do not guess a
  goal into existence to keep going.

(This is distinct from `/assumption-inventory` and `/fresh-eyes`, which weigh assumptions
and verify outcomes. For a deeper assumptions pass, the user may run `/assumption-inventory`
first — offer it, never auto-run it.)

## 2. Front-load every decision, then warn

Surface now — at the start, while the user is still here — every choice the run depends
on: env vars, settings, credentials, and any ambiguity that could send it the wrong way.
Restate the time and token-cost warning. This is the **last interactive checkpoint**
before the loop goes heads-down; get everything decided here.

## 3. Terrain check (read-only)

Before building, map what the goal touches: repo conventions, route shape, schema shape,
tests, and docs — with exact file paths, line numbers, and missing pieces. Skip only if a
prior planning step already produced this map; say so if you skip.

## 4. Write the completion-invariant contract (BEFORE any code)

Write concrete, checkable invariants to a file (e.g. `GOAL-INVARIANTS.md` or the plan
file). Each is a binary, verifiable claim — not "we'll test it later." This file is the
`/fresh-eyes` checklist, it survives context compaction during a long run, and it is what
an optional user-run `/goal` condition points at. See [REFERENCE.md](REFERENCE.md) for the
template.

## 5. Run the loop

Drive the build yourself; do not wait for ultracode to author a workflow — it may not.
**Fan out explicitly with the Agent tool** for independent workstreams (separate modules,
test suites, services), then integrate — this is the orchestration the skill actually
controls. Build toward the contract, iterating until every invariant holds.

**Commit behavior is gated on `--commit` (from step 0):**
- **`--commit` set** → commit WIP to the feature branch at logical intervals; push at
  verified milestones, not on every commit.
- **`--commit` not set (default)** → make **no commits or pushes.** Build in the working
  tree and leave all version control to the user; note at closeout that changes are
  uncommitted.

For cross-turn persistence (so the run auto-continues across turns), the skill can hand the
user a ready-to-paste `/goal …` command pointing at the contract file — but `/goal` is
**user-only**, so the skill writes it and the user runs it; the skill never sets it itself.
See [REFERENCE.md](REFERENCE.md).

## 6. Verify at milestones with fresh-eyes

At each completed logical unit, invoke `/fresh-eyes` against the contract file. Its blind
subagent is the independence boundary — **the implementer never grades its own work.**
Reconcile the blind read against the written invariants, not against your memory of intent.

## 7. Bounded fix loop

Gaps from verification → fix → re-verify, with a round cap (mirror `/fresh-eyes --iterate`,
3 rounds). If the same gap survives two rounds, stop and surface it rather than looping.

## 8. Closeout

Final `/fresh-eyes` pass against the full contract. Report each invariant as met or unmet.
Then handle git per `--commit`: if set, do the final commit and push; if not, state plainly
that **all changes are uncommitted in the working tree** and leave committing to the user.
Remind the user to run `/goal clear` if they set a goal. **Then remind the user to undo the
setup from step 0:** they are likely still in ultracode effort and auto-accept mode. Suggest
lowering effort (`/effort high` or below) and pressing **Shift+Tab** to leave auto-accept,
so ordinary turns don't run at xhigh or act without prompting until the next big run.

## Guardrails

- **Never proceed past step 0 without `--confirm`.** A skill cannot set or detect effort or
  permission mode, so the flag is the only assertion the user has actually enabled ultracode
  and auto-accept. Trust it, but never substitute for it by self-enabling.
- **The contract precedes the code.** Verification checks the written invariants, never the
  implementer's recollection — that is what keeps the proof honest.
- **fresh-eyes stays a reviewer.** Do not fold its verification into the build mindset; its
  value is the independent read.
- **One interactive gate.** Front-load decisions at step 2. Once the loop starts, run to
  closeout without stopping for input the user could have given up front.