--- name: disciplined-vibe-coding description: Run any coding task through Intake, Define, Economy gate, Plan, Teardown, Build, Verify, Commit — with Wayfinder tracking riding along. Use at the start of any build, fix, or multi-session project. phase: Any version: 0.2.0 --- # Disciplined vibe-coding pipeline — end to end > Narrative framing adapted from Google's Elephant-Goldfish Model (Apache 2.0) — > . > Role names (elephant / goldfish), teardown, drift, and the five review-round > names travel from EGM; all prose here is original. Pipeline mechanics > (Define/Plan/Build/Verify, gates, friction contract) remain our own. One loop per small task, or per milestone of a larger project. Same stages, same words, every time. ```text Intake --> Define --> Economy gate --> Plan --> Teardown --> Build --> Verify --> Commit Wayfinder rides along all stages (one-line status plus gate result at each stage exit). ``` ## Cast: elephant, goldfish, you - **Elephant** holds full context — your project, requirements, earlier decisions — and drafts the spec. That is you plus the builder agent working from the whole conversation. - **Goldfish** sees only the spec plus the sources it links to, with no memory of the earlier chat. That fresh-eyes read is what catches unstated assumptions. Simulate it by re-reading the spec cold, or hand the spec alone to a second session. - **You** resolve trade-offs and approve the spec before any code exists. Design with the elephant. Review with the goldfish. You decide. ## Friction contract (hard rule) Every gate below fires as a **fast check plus one-line reason**. No multi-step friction. No blocking prompts for routine moves. A gate that slows the builder gets bypassed; a gate that rides along gets followed. Small work gets less ceremony, never more. ## Stage map (pipeline stage → skill that owns it) | Stage | Skill | Artifact | |---|---|---| | 0. Intake (brainstorming capture) | `intake` | intake block atop the to-spec, or a one-liner in chat | | 1. Define (grill-with-docs → to-spec) | `intake`, `brainstorm`, `research` | `.pipeline/to-spec.md` (workdir; vault note only if durable) | | 2. Economy gate (scope rung) | this file, `references/economy-ladder.md` | one declared sentence in the to-spec | | 3. Plan (writing-plans format) | `plan` | `.pipeline/plans/NN-.md`, or 3 bullets at micro-spec | | 3.5. Teardown (goldfish pre-build review) | this file §3.5 | round notes in plan/to-spec + wayfinder pass/fail | | 4. Build (working-tree-only, test-first) | `execute`, `test-first`, `debug` | code + failing-then-passing tests | | 5. Verify (local proof + drift) | `verify` | fresh evidence, compact report, plan-file table | | 6. Commit (one feature, one build, one commit) | `version` | narrative commit; changelog at full-spec+, tag at project | | Rides along: Wayfinder | this file, `templates/wayfinder.md` | `.pipeline/wayfinder.md`, one line plus gate result per stage exit | ## 0. Intake — 5-minute structured capture Record problem, desired outcome, constraints, non-goals. Raw, no judging. Trivial asks skip it: a one-liner in chat *is* the intake. Then hand to `intake` for direction confirmation and stakes tier (TOY / WORKFLOW / MONEY). ## 1. Define — grill-with-docs, then to-spec Interrogate the request against the relevant docs and skill references *first*, then write the spec before any code. The grill is doc-grounded, not open-ended questioning: check indexed sources, surface contradictions and missing decisions, record them in the spec. Cap: docs check plus at most 3 clarifying questions, then proceed with stated assumptions. Routine moves (obvious fix, single-file change) get a 3-line micro-spec, not the full artifact. Template: `templates/to-spec.md`. The elephant drafts here. The goldfish has not entered yet. ## 2. Economy gate — declare the rung, in one sentence Read `references/economy-ladder.md`. Declare one sentence, for example: "rung: micro-spec, reversible single-file change." The rung sets the ceremony for every later stage. This gate removes friction by downgrading ceremony for small work. The rung also sets teardown depth (see §3.5): micro-spec gets the two-pass teardown; full-spec and above get all five rounds. ## 3. Plan — fixed shape, rung-scaled Full format at full-spec rung and above (`templates/writing-plan.md`): steps, files touched, test strategy, verify criteria, commit message draft. At micro-spec rung it collapses to 3 bullets. Never freeform "I'll figure it out as I go." ## 3.5. Teardown — goldfish review before code counts Teardown happens here, between Plan and Build: it reviews the spec and plan before any code is written. Reviewing the spec after the build would only find problems already cemented in code. Post-build checking belongs to Verify (local proof) and drift, not to teardown. Run the teardown with goldfish eyes: spec plus linked sources only, earlier conversation ignored. Similar is not same. Rung-scaled: - **Micro-spec and below (two passes):** consequence pass asks what happens if we build exactly this and where it breaks; alternatives pass asks what else solves it and whether this is the strongest option. - **Full-spec and above (five rounds):** run all five, in order — 1. initial zoom-out (does the whole shape hang together), 2. comprehension (could a stranger follow it cold), 3. design critique (trade-offs, edge cases, weakest points), 4. intermediate zoom-out (does it still fit the codebase after the critique), 5. implementation readiness (is the plan concrete enough to build from). One line per round in the plan file (full-spec and above) or the to-spec (micro-spec); one-liners record pass/fail in chat. Fix the spec, not the code — no code exists yet — when a round fails, then re-run only the failed round (max one re-run per round at micro-spec; full-spec may re-run the full five once). Wayfinder records pass/fail plus the one-line reason that fired the gate. ## 4. Build — working-tree-only, test-first Unchanged builder invariants: all edits in the working tree, tests written before or with the code (`test-first`), local proof before claiming done. These are builder habits, not gates. Nothing fires, nothing blocks. Build starts only after Teardown passes (§3.5) — no code exists before review. ## 5. Verify — local proof, then drift Two jobs, in this order: prove the code works locally, then check you built what was spec'd. Teardown already ran pre-build (§3.5); Verify trusts the reviewed spec and checks the code against it. ### 5a. Local proof Run the real thing locally. Proof is the job, not overhead. ### 5b. Drift — check after the build After proof, compare the approved spec against what actually shipped and record divergences only: missing pieces, shortcuts, or a different shape than planned. If nothing diverged, write "no drift." File it with the verify report so a later session can spot spec-code drift without re-reading the whole build. ## 6. Commit — one feature, one build, one commit Commit convention `type: concise subject`. The to-spec acceptance criteria are the commit's proof statement. One feature, one build, one commit — with rung-scaled ceremony: one-liner and micro-spec ship as a single commit with no changelog or tag; full-spec adds a changelog entry (`write-docs`); only project-rung releases earn a tag. Routine work gets no release dance because routine work is not a release. ## Wayfinder — one line plus gate result per stage exit At each stage exit, update `.pipeline/wayfinder.md`: stage, decisions, next step, and the gate result — pass/fail plus the one-line reason that fired the gate (`templates/wayfinder.md`). The result line is what makes each gate checkable after the fact: a later session can see not just where the run stopped but why each prior gate let it through. Read-on-resume only. No prompts, no forms. Any session or profile resumes mid-pipeline with zero re-brief. ## Verify artifacts — where the proof lives - Evidence table: appended to the plan file (`verify`), chat-only at one-liner rung (no plan file exists there). - Teardown round notes: plan file (full-spec+) or to-spec (micro-spec). - Gate results: one result line per stage exit in `.pipeline/wayfinder.md`. - Research trail: `.pipeline/read.log` entries (`research`). ## v0.2.0 resolutions - Teardown runs pre-build (§3.5), between Plan and Build — never post-build. - Commit ceremony is rung-scaled: changelog at full-spec+, tags for project-rung releases only; routine work ships as one commit, no release. - Gates are checkable: Wayfinder records a pass/fail result per stage exit; Verify artifacts have named homes (see Verify artifacts above). ## v0.1.0 resolutions (adopted from the proposal) - Rung thresholds: reversibility plus file count plus blast radius (see `references/economy-ladder.md`). - To-spec home: workdir file during build; vault note only if durable. - Wayfinder store: tiny human-readable file in workdir. - 1.0 bar: three real builds through the full pipeline, zero bypasses.