Skills/docs/profile-schema.md

Profile schema

Location: <project-root>/.claude/dev-cycle-profile.yml

Encoding: YAML. Each top-level key is a section. Keys are lowercase snake_case. Lists are YAML sequences.

paths

Key	Type	Default	Description
spec_dir	string	docs/specs	Where the specify skill writes specs.
plan_dir	string	docs/plans	Where the planner skill writes plans.
glossary	string	(unset)	Canonical-nomenclature file (optional). If set, it is standing reading for every role — no separate standing_reading.always entry is needed; unset is a documented no-op. See glossary-convention.md.
design_ledger	string	docs/design/INDEX.md	Canonical specification index (optional — projects without a design ledger can omit).
design_contracts	string	design/contracts	Directory of prose-authoritative contracts (optional).
design_models	string	design/models	Directory of onboarding whitepapers (optional).
code_roots	list	[src]	Code directories the architect / quality reviewer walk.
bench_dir	string	bench	Where regression harnesses live (optional).
public_interface	list	[README.md, docs]	Directories and files the fieldtester may read — the project's outward-facing surface (READMEs, design ledger, examples, public API docs). Everything else (especially code_roots and bench_dir) is forbidden to the fieldtester.
fieldtest_examples	string	examples/fieldtest	Where the fieldtester agent writes its fixtures.

Omitted optional keys signal that the feature is unused in this project; skills that depend on them either short-circuit or skip the corresponding step.

Aspirational-source marker (recommendation)

Files under design_models (or an equivalent RFCs / proposals directory) commonly carry aspirational code — constructs written before the surface that would parse them exists. To let a later specify tell aspirational content from validated contract, projects are encouraged (not required) to give each such file a frontmatter marker:

---
status: aspirational
validated-against: <commit-sha | "no validation">
---

status: aspirational says "the code here is a target, not a verified fact"; validated-against records the last commit at which someone actually ran the code through the live tool (or "no validation"). A design ledger (design_ledger) is likewise encouraged to distinguish "model" rows from "contract" rows so a reading agent can mechanically tell which carry verified behaviour.

When a file lacks the marker the signal is simply absent — the specify skill degrades to treating its content as unmarked, never hard-failing. The marker is consumed by the specify skill (see its Step 1 and Step 4): content lifted from an aspirational source is flagged and must clear the Step-4 parse-every-block gate before it ships in a spec.

naming

Key	Type	Default	Description
counter_dirs	list	[docs/specs, docs/plans, design/contracts, design/models]	Directories that use the counter-prefix policy.
policy	enum	stable_per_directory_4digit	One of stable_per_directory_4digit, date_prefix, flat.
slug_separator	string	-	Separator inside the slug.

stable_per_directory_4digit means each listed directory has a per-directory counter, 4-digit zero-padded, assigned in creation order, stable for the life of the file. New files take the next-higher number; deleted files retire their number.

date_prefix uses YYYY-MM-DD-slug.md.

flat uses slug.md.

commands

Key	Type	Default	Description
build	string	(required)	Build command — exit 0 means success.
test	string	(required)	Test command — exit 0 means success.
lint	string	(optional)	Lint command — exit 0 means success.
doc_build	string	(optional)	Documentation-build command used by the docwriter skill. Should print warnings on stderr so the agent can enumerate them (e.g. cargo doc --no-deps 2>&1). Omit if the project has no API docs.
regression	list	[]	Regression scripts run by the audit skill. Each entry is a shell command; non-zero exit is a regress.
architect_sweeps	list	[]	Project-specific architect sweep commands run by the architect agent in addition to its universal checks. Each entry is a shell command; non-zero exit means at least one sweep matched and the matches are drift-suspicions to verify. Optional.

spec_validation

Optional. A registry mapping each markdown fence label to the tool that validates a spec code block of that kind. The specify parse-gate and the grounding-check code-block pass run these parsers so that spec code blocks are treated as hypotheses to verify, not as authoritative truth.

spec_validation:
  parsers:
    ail:
      ext: ".ail"
      cmd: "ail parse {file}"
    ail-json:
      ext: ".ail.json"
      cmd: "ail check {file}"
    ll:
      ext: ".ll"
      cmd: "llvm-as {file} -o /dev/null"

The key of each parsers entry is the fence info-string of a spec code block (the token immediately after the opening ```). Only blocks whose label has an entry are validated; a block whose label is absent from the map is skipped and the skip is documented ("no parser for fence label X") — never a silent pass.

Key	Type	Description
ext	string	Extension (including the leading dot) the harness gives the temp file it writes the block into, so tools that key off extension — .ail vs .ail.json — see the right one.
cmd	string	Validation command. MUST contain the {file} placeholder, which is substituted with the temp file's path. Exit 0 means a clean parse; any non-zero exit is a parse failure the consuming skill turns into a BLOCK.

A malformed entry — cmd missing the {file} placeholder, or either ext or cmd absent — is a profile error the consuming skill surfaces, not a silent skip; the gate fails closed.

Omitting the whole spec_validation section disables the block-validation gates: the consuming skills short-circuit, exactly as with other omitted optional features.

vocabulary

Key	Type	Default	Description
cycle	string	cycle	One round in the pipeline graph (NOT the top-level container). Examples: cycle, release, epic.
subcycle	string	iteration	A sub-unit of a cycle. Examples: iteration, sprint, story.
milestone	string	milestone	Tracker container spanning many cycles; closes only when complete AND functional (see pipeline.md § Milestone-close gate). Examples: milestone, epic, release.
ledger_entry	string	contract	What a single design-ledger entry is called. Examples: contract, RFC, ADR.

Skills use these names in their generated artefacts and prose. Picking accurate vocabulary keeps prose readable; the underlying mechanics are identical regardless of name.

The renamings shown as examples above illustrate the slot only; they are not nomenclature for any particular project. When a project sets paths.glossary, that glossary is the source of truth for its nomenclature and overrides these examples where they collide — a word offered here may sit under Avoid in a given project's glossary (see glossary-convention.md).

standing_reading

Key	Type	Default	Description
always	list	[CLAUDE.md]	Files every agent reads at start of every dispatch.
by_role	map	{}	Map from role name to list of additional files.

Role names match agent slugs: architect, bencher, debugger, implementer, tester, fieldtester, docwriter, grounding-check, plan-recon, spec-reviewer, quality-reviewer.

Entries may be shell commands as well as file paths — they are read as opaque strings the agent should fetch / execute, e.g. "git log -10 --format=full".

A set paths.glossary is implicitly appended to every role's always list — it does not need its own entry here. The slot's authoritative semantics live at the paths row above.

git

Key	Type	Default	Description
main_sacrosanct	bool	true	If true, no actor may reset or revert main.
only_orchestrator_commits	bool	true	If true, no agent commits; the orchestrator commits.
issue_tracker.kind	enum	none	One of gitea, github, linear, none.
issue_tracker.close_marker	string	"closes #N"	Marker the orchestrator includes in commit bodies to auto-close issues.
issue_tracker.url	string	(empty)	Human-browsable URL of the issue list — surfaced in notifications and cross-references.
issue_tracker.list_cmd	string	(empty)	Shell command that lists open issues. Used by the boss skill to read the forward queue. Examples: tea issues ls --repo X/Y --state open, gh issue list --repo X/Y --state open.
protected_branches	list	[main]	Branches that are sacrosanct in the same sense as main.

notifications

Key	Type	Default	Description
command	string	(empty)	Shell command the boss skill invokes on done-state and bounce-back. Receives the message text as a single argument. Example: "~/.claude/notify.sh". If empty, the orchestrator falls back to printing the notification in chat.

pipeline

Per-phase configuration. Each phase has its own sub-map.

pipeline:
  brainstorm: {}                  # optional discovery front-end; no hard gate of its own
  specify:
    gates: [planner]              # core node — planner cannot start until the spec is approved
  planner:
    gates: [implement]
  implement: {}                   # standard
  audit:
    mandatory_at: cycle_close     # auto-fires at end of each cycle
  fieldtest:
    boss_only: true               # only orchestrator dispatches
    when: surface_touch           # condition tag (orchestrator judgement)
  milestone_fieldtest:
    boss_only: true
    when: surface_touch           # end-to-end proof of the milestone's promise
    gates_close: milestone        # its green roll-up is the functional leg of the milestone-close gate
  docwriter:
    boss_only: true
    when: api_stable_across_n_cycles
  debug:
    trigger: bug                  # observable misbehaviour
    red_first: true               # RED test before any fix
  # specify above is a CORE node (always present); tdd below is opt-in.
  tdd:                            # opt-in: omit the key to disable the entry path
    trigger: test_specifiable_feature  # behaviour expressible as one failing test
    red_first: true               # RED executable-spec before any implementation
    alt_to: brainstorm            # alternative design entry; bounces back on a design fork
  boss:
    user_invoked: true            # autonomous-orchestrator mode, /boss
    spec_auto_sign: false         # opt-in: let /boss sign a spec in the user's place (default off)

Phases not listed are disabled for the project. A project that does not want a fieldtest phase simply omits the key. tdd is opt-in the same way.

boss.spec_auto_sign is an opt-in slot, default off (a missing key reads as false). With it off — the conservative default — a specify dispatch in a /boss session always pauses at its Step-6 user-review gate for the user's signature, exactly as before. With it on, the orchestrator may sign a spec in the user's place, but only through specify's auto-sign gate: every objective gate green (precondition, parse, a grounding-check PASS with no human override) AND a unanimous five-lens spec-skeptic panel. A single juror BLOCK, or any objective gate not green, falls back to the human sign-off pause. Model self-confidence alone never signs — the gate is built specifically not to rely on it. On a clean sign the orchestrator commits the spec (subject carries (boss-signed)), sends the mandatory informational-with-veto notify, and continues to planner without stopping. See ../specify/SKILL.md Step 6 (gate owner), ../specify/agents/spec-skeptic.md (the juror), and ../boss/SKILL.md §"Spec auto-sign" (notify + veto contract). specify, by contrast, is a core node — it is the spec-production gate before planner on every design path, reachable directly from settled sources or via the optional brainstorm discovery stage. tdd opt-in only adds the test-specifiable bypass; with tdd omitted, the design entry paths are brainstorm → specify → planner and specify → planner.

Example: minimal profile

paths:
  spec_dir: docs/specs
  plan_dir: docs/plans
  code_roots: [src]

commands:
  build: cargo build
  test: cargo test

vocabulary:
  cycle: cycle
  subcycle: iteration

standing_reading:
  always:
    - CLAUDE.md
    - "git log -10 --format=full"

git:
  issue_tracker:
    kind: github
    close_marker: "closes #N"

pipeline:
  brainstorm: {}                              # optional discovery; no hard gate
  specify:    { gates: [planner] }
  planner:    { gates: [implement] }
  implement:  {}
  audit:      { mandatory_at: cycle_close }
  debug:      { trigger: bug, red_first: true }

This minimal profile enables five phases, no fieldtest, no docwriter, no design-ledger. Good starting point for a small project.