Trace Requirement

SkillDev tools

Maps story IDs in your release plan to the code and tests that implement them.

Available today. Use it from your connected AI after setup.

Add ahel to your AI once: Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Claude Code or Codex. Then ask it to use this.

Then ask your AI: use the Trace Requirement skill

About this skill

Link story IDs from specs/release-plan.yaml + epic capsule directories to the implementing code and tests. Produces specs/TRACEABILITY_LATEST.md. Use when you want to verify coverage of a release plan, audit which stories are implemented, or find "dark" stories with no code.

What this skill tells your AI

The instructions your AI receives, as published by danielvm-git/bigpowers in skills/trace-requirement/SKILL.md and read by ahel’s review.

Build a traceability matrix from specs/release-plan.yaml + epic capsule directories to implementing code and tests. Surfaces gaps in both directions: stories with no code, and code with no story.

Pre-flight

HARD GATE — specs/release-plan.yaml + epic capsule directories must exist. If it doesn't, run plan-release first.

→ verify: test -f specs/release-plan.yaml && test -d specs/epics

Read specs/release-plan.yaml + epic capsule directories fully before proceeding.

Process

1. Extract story IDs

From release-plan.yaml, collect all story IDs (e.g. 1.1, 1.2, 2.1).

→ verify: grep -rho 'e[0-9]\+s[0-9]\+' specs/release-plan.yaml specs/epics/*/epic.yaml 2>/dev/null | sort -u | head -1 | grep -q .

2. Search for story tags in code

Look for // story: X.Y or # story: X.Y comments in source files and tests:

grep -rn "story: " . --include="*.ts" --include="*.js" --include="*.py" --include="*.sh" | grep -v node_modules

→ verify: [ "$(grep -rl "story: " . --include="*.ts" --include="*.sh" --include="*.py" 2>/dev/null | wc -l | tr -d " ")" -gt 0 ]

3. Build the matrix

For each story ID:

  • Implemented: list files that contain // story: X.Y
  • Tested: list test files that contain // story: X.Y
  • Dark: story has no tag in any file — flag as unimplemented

For each tagged file with no matching story ID in release-plan.yaml:

  • Orphan: code exists but story was removed or never planned — flag for cleanup

4. Write specs/TRACEABILITY_LATEST.md

## Story Coverage

| Story | Title              | Files | Tests | Status    |
|-------|--------------------|-------|-------|-----------|
| 1.1   | [title]            | 2     | 1     | Covered   |
| 1.2   | [title]            | 0     | 0     | Dark      |

## Orphan Code (no story tag)
- [file]: contains untagged implementation

## Gaps (dark stories)
- Story 1.2: no implementation found → run plan-work

## Coverage summary
Stories: [X] covered / [Y] dark / [Z] total

→ verify: grep -c "Covered\|Dark" specs/TRACEABILITY_LATEST.md

Suggest plan-work for each dark story found.

Signals

GitHub stars
248
Forks
19
Last commit
Sep 2026
Advanced
Item type
skill
Key
trace-requirement
Source
github.com/danielvm-git/bigpowers