Development Harness — Plugin Overview and Skill Router

This skill routes to the correct entry point for the development lifecycle. Read it to decide which skill to invoke — not to execute work.

SAM Workflow Pipeline

/dh:add-new-feature  ──>  /dh:implement-feature  ──>  /dh:complete-implementation
   (planning)            (execution loop)         (quality gates)

What This Plugin Provides

The development-harness plugin implements the structured development lifecycle for tracked backlog items. It spans capture through verified closure using a chain of skills backed by the configured backlog backend provider as the source of truth and ~/.dh/projects/{slug}/ as the local state directory. The repository's default configuration currently selects GitHub Issues.

Skills available: /dh:create-backlog-item, /dh:groom-backlog-item, /dh:work-backlog-item, /dh:add-new-feature, /dh:implement-feature, /dh:complete-implementation, /dh:gate-push, /dh:work-milestone

Plugin-level source copies exist at plugins/development-harness/skills/ for each skill.

Skill Router — "I want to do X"

flowchart TD
    Start([What do you want to do?]) --> Q1{Intent?}

    Q1 -->|Capture new work —<br>bug, feature idea, observation| Create["/dh:create-backlog-item<br>Modes: guided intake, quick title, --auto title<br>Writes to ~/.dh/projects/{slug}/backlog/"]

    Q1 -->|Prepare an item for planning —<br>verify claims, map impact, estimate effort| Groom["/dh:groom-backlog-item {title|section|all}<br>RT-ICA + parallel swarm: fact-checker,<br>impact-analyst, rtica-assessor, classifier, groomer<br>Requires: item exists in backlog"]

    Q1 -->|Plan AND execute a backlog item<br>end-to-end through closure| Work["/dh:work-backlog-item {title|#N|--auto}<br>Handles: auto-groom, RT-ICA gate, SAM planning,<br>GitHub sync, close, resolve<br>STOPS if item already has a Plan field"]

    Q1 -->|Plan a feature — produce SAM artifacts<br>without executing| Plan["/dh:add-new-feature {feature description}<br>Phases: discovery → codebase analysis →<br>architecture spec → task decomposition →<br>validation → context manifest<br>Output: feature slug + P{id} task plan"]

    Q1 -->|Execute an existing plan —<br>task plan already produced| Execute["/dh:implement-feature {plan path or slug}<br>Loops ready tasks, dispatches agents,<br>calls complete-implementation when all tasks COMPLETE"]

    Q1 -->|Work a single specific task<br>inside an existing plan| Single["/dh:start-task {plan path} --task {task-id}<br>Used by implement-feature per-task dispatch —<br>invoke directly to target one task"]

    Q1 -->|Run quality gates after<br>all tasks are COMPLETE| QG["/dh:complete-implementation {plan path|#N}<br>7-phase SAM path (with plan) or<br>3-phase proportional path (issue only):<br>multi-perspective review → code review →<br>verification → integration →<br>doc drift → doc update → context refinement"]

    Q1 -->|Work a full milestone<br>in parallel isolated worktrees| Milestone["/dh:work-milestone<br>Wave-based parallel execution — each item<br>gets its own worktree. Use /dh:groom-milestone first."]

Lifecycle — Creation to Verified Closure

flowchart TD
    Capture["/dh:create-backlog-item<br>Per-item file in ~/.dh/.../backlog/"] --> Groom
    Groom["/dh:groom-backlog-item<br>RT-ICA + impact radius + fact-check<br>Item status: needs-grooming → groomed"] --> Work
    Work["/dh:work-backlog-item<br>Auto-groom gate → RT-ICA gate →<br>SAM planning via /add-new-feature<br>Attaches plan to backlog item"] --> Execute
    Execute["/dh:implement-feature<br>SAM dispatch loop — ready tasks →<br>agents → hooks update task status"] --> QG
    QG["/dh:complete-implementation<br>7 quality gate phases → status:verified label<br>Fixes #N commit — issue closure"] --> Done(["Item resolved"])

    Work -.->|item already has Plan field| Execute
    Work -.->|close or resolve mode| Done

Key invariants:

/dh:work-backlog-item stops immediately when the item already has a Plan field — use /dh:implement-feature instead
/dh:work-backlog-item stops at the RT-ICA gate when MISSING conditions remain unresolved
Task-level commits produced during /dh:implement-feature must NOT include Fixes #N — that trailer is reserved for the final commit in /dh:complete-implementation
The status:verified label applied by /dh:complete-implementation is a prerequisite for /dh:work-backlog-item resolve

Quick Decision Reference

| Situation | Skill | |---|---| | Item does not exist yet | /dh:create-backlog-item | | Item exists, not yet groomed | /dh:groom-backlog-item {title} | | Item is groomed, no plan yet | /dh:work-backlog-item {title} | | Item has a Plan field | /dh:implement-feature {plan path or slug} | | Plan is executing, one task needs focus | /dh:start-task {plan} --task {id} | | All tasks complete, run quality gates | /dh:complete-implementation {plan path} | | Issue number, no plan | /dh:complete-implementation #{N} (proportional gates) | | Groomed item, skip to planning directly | /dh:add-new-feature {description} then /dh:implement-feature | | Full milestone in parallel worktrees | /dh:groom-milestone then /dh:work-milestone | | Dismiss without completing | /dh:work-backlog-item close {title} | | Mark completed with evidence | /dh:work-backlog-item resolve {title} |