Orchestrate

HARD GATE — HARD GATE — Do NOT invoke orchestrate-project unless you have a clear multi-phase workflow. Single-skill tasks should use dedicated skills instead. Orchestrate is for complex, multi-stage work that requires coordination across phases.

The orchestrate skill coordinates projects through a prescriptive 6-phase core loop with hard gates, ensuring consistent quality and preventing scope creep.

Quick Start

# Start a new project (initializes specs/ YAML cockpit and begins discover phase)
claude /orchestrate --mode standard

# Or resume an existing project at the current phase
claude /orchestrate --mode standard --resume

# For low-risk scenarios (hotfixes, refactors on well-tested code)
claude /orchestrate --mode fast-track

The 6-Phase Core Loop

1. DISCOVER (3-6 hours): Understand problem. Deliverables: requirements/VISION_LATEST.yaml, requirements/SCOPE_LATEST.yaml, plans/TECH_STACK_LATEST.md.
2. ELABORATE (3-6 hours): Research solutions. Deliverables: Prior art in scope YAML, ADRs in specs/adr/.
3. PLAN (2-4 hours): Write verifiable plan. Deliverables: release-plan.yaml, epics/eNN-*.yaml with verify: per task.
4. BUILD (1-8 hours): Execute plan. Runs build-epic once per story in WSJF order. Deliverables: Code; update execution-status.yaml.
5. VERIFY (1-3 hours): Validate success criteria. Deliverables: UAT evidence, specs/EVALS-*.md if used.
6. RELEASE (30 min - 2 hours): Ship to production. Deliverables: Release tag (vX.Y.Z), state.yaml release.last_tag.

Checkpoint / resume

Track progress via specs/state.yaml project_cycle:

• project_cycle.current_phase: current phase (1–6)
• project_cycle.completed_phases: completed phase numbers
• handoff.next_skill: skill for the current phase
• On resume, read project_cycle.current_phase and continue from there

See REFERENCE.md for detailed phase specifications and gate types.

How Orchestrate Works

1. Maintains state.yaml — Tracks current phase, active_epic, active_flow, decisions, risks.
2. Spawns appropriate skills — Routes by model: frontmatter. Decisions pass only via specs/state.yaml handoff between spawns.
3. Methodology lenses — If specs/tech-architecture/e*-TEST_PLAN_LATEST.md or ADRs exist, apply at phase gates.
4. Enforces gates — Hard stops if success criteria not met.
5. The Gatekeeper — Between stories in BUILD: read specs/execution-status.yaml; previous story must be done before starting the next; use build-epic for the 8-step epic cycle.
6. Pauses for confirmation — After each phase, asks "Ready to proceed?".
7. Snapshots — bash scripts/bp-yaml-snapshot.sh before major release cuts.

Orchestration Modes

• Standard: Enforce all gates. Use for new features and major refactors.
• Fast-Track: Skip negotiable gates. Use for hotfixes and minor improvements.
• Ad-Hoc: Warnings only. Use for prototyping and spikes (non-production).

See REFERENCE.md for full mode behaviors.

Verification

All phases complete with artifacts:

verify: test -f specs/state.yaml && test -f specs/release-plan.yaml && test -f specs/product/SCOPE_LATEST.yaml && ls specs/epics/*.yaml 1>/dev/null && echo "✅ All phases complete"