BDD Orchestrator

Behavior-first development for features. Discovery → Scenarios → Implementation.

Iron Law: DEFINE BEHAVIOR BEFORE IMPLEMENTATION

Phase Tracking

Features progress through phases. Track in ticket frontmatter:

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type: feature
phase: implement # intake | define-behavior | scenario-gate | decomposition | implement | done
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Phase meanings:

| Phase | What happens | Details | | ----------------- | ------------------------------------ | ---------------- | | intake | Context check, discovery (Phase 0-2) | DISCOVERY.md | | define-behavior | Writing Given/When/Then (Phase 3) | SCENARIOS.md | | scenario-gate | Validating scenarios (Phase 4) | SCENARIOS.md | | decomposition | Task breakdown (Phase 5) | DECOMPOSITION.md | | implement | Outside-in TDD (Phase 6) | TDD.md | | done | Cleanup, verification (Phase 7) | DONE.md |

Update phase when:

• Completing a BDD phase → set next phase
• Handing off to TDD → set implement
• All scenarios pass → set done

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Resume Logic

When user references a ticket, resume work:

1. Read ticket → get current phase:
2. Find progress → first unchecked [ ] in test-definitions
3. Check context → read last work log entry
4. Announce resume → "Resuming at [phase]. Last: [log entry]."

Resume by phase:

| Phase | Resume action | | ----------------- | -------------------------------------- | | intake | Start context check (Phase 0-2) | | define-behavior | Continue drafting scenarios | | scenario-gate | Continue validating scenarios | | decomposition | Continue task breakdown | | implement | Find first unchecked scenario, run TDD | | done | Run /done and /audit checks |

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Current Behavior

1. Detect work level (see SAFEWORD.md "Work Level Detection")
2. If user references iteration/story/phase from a spec:
   • Check if child ticket exists for that iteration
   • If not → create ticket, run full BDD
   • If yes → resume at current phase
3. Announce with override hint
4. If ticket exists: Read phase, resume at appropriate point
5. Artifact-first rule: Before doing work, create/verify the phase artifact:
   • Phase 0-2 → ticket at .safeword-project/tickets/{id}-{slug}/ticket.md
   • Phase 3 → test-definitions at .safeword-project/tickets/{id}-{slug}/test-definitions.md
   • Phase 5 → task breakdown in ticket
6. Execute phase using the appropriate phase file
7. Update phase in ticket when transitioning

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Phase Files

Load the appropriate file based on current phase:

| Phase | File | | ----------------- | ---------------- | | intake | DISCOVERY.md | | define-behavior | SCENARIOS.md | | scenario-gate | SCENARIOS.md | | decomposition | DECOMPOSITION.md | | implement | TDD.md | | done | DONE.md |

For splitting large features, see SPLITTING.md.

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Key Takeaways

• patch/task → TDD directly (RED → GREEN → REFACTOR)
• feature → full BDD flow (Phases 0-7), track in ticket phase: field
• Resume → read ticket, find first unchecked scenario, continue
• Split → check thresholds at Entry, Phase 3, Phase 5; user decides (see SPLITTING.md)
• Done gate → run /done before marking ticket complete
• When unsure → default to task, user can /bdd to override