Using bigpowers

HARD GATE — HARD GATE — This skill is the entry point. Do NOT skip it when onboarding new users or starting a new session. It establishes the bigpowers methodology, lifecycle phases, and conventions.

Welcome to bigpowers — a lifecycle of agent skills for production-ready, TDD-driven software by solo developers. The live catalog and its count are generated in SKILL-INDEX.md; never hardcode the number here.

Install

npx bigpowers setup           # one-shot setup
npm install -g bigpowers       # global install
bigpowers setup                # sync skills + link to your tools

From source: git clone → bash scripts/install.sh. Package: bigpowers on npm.

Reach tools: Cline — native AGENTS.md reader (no extension). Aider — opt-in .aider.conf.yml with read: AGENTS.md (Aider-AI/aider). Codex CLI — optional .codex/config.toml via seed-conventions; global ~/.codex/AGENTS.md from install.sh.

What bigpowers is

A curated set of skills organized around the PMBOK developer lifecycle. Each skill does one thing. Skills reference each other by name only — low coupling, high cohesion. All written output goes to specs/ at your project root.

The lifecycle at a glance

See orchestrate-project for the canonical 6-phase lifecycle.

BOOTSTRAP   using-bigpowers (this skill, first time only)
              ↓
DISCOVER    survey-context → research-first → elaborate-spec
              ↓
DESIGN      model-domain / define-language / grill-me / deepen-architecture / design-interface
              ↓
PLAN        scope-work → slice-tasks → plan-work / plan-refactor
              ↓
INITIATE    kickoff-branch → guard-git / hook-commits / seed-conventions
              ↓
SPIKE?      spike-prototype → (feeds back to plan-work)
              ↓
EXECUTE     develop-tdd + enforce-first ←→ delegate-task / dispatch-agents / execute-plan
              ↓
VERIFY      run-evals → verify-work
              ↓
HARDEN      wire-observability (any phase)
              ↓
BUG?        investigate-bug → diagnose-root → validate-fix
              ↓
REVIEW      audit-code → request-review → respond-review
              ↓
INTEGRATE   commit-message → release-branch
              ↓
SUSTAIN     inspect-quality / organize-workspace (ongoing)

UTILITY     terse-mode / craft-skill / edit-document (any phase)

Where to start

Your situation	First skill to call
Greenfield project, nothing set up	seed-conventions
Existing project, new task	survey-context
Vague idea that needs shaping	elaborate-spec
Plan exists, ready to implement	kickoff-branch → develop-tdd
Bug to fix	investigate-bug
Code ready for review	audit-code
Shipping a feature	commit-message → release-branch
Solo dev, PRs feel heavy	Enable profiles/solo-git.md → specs/WORKFLOW-solo-git.md → land via scripts/land-branch.sh

Solo Git profile

If you work alone and do not want PR ceremony every task:

1. Read profiles/solo-git.md.
2. Register with compose-workflow → specs/WORKFLOW-solo-git.md.
3. Ship with release-branch in solo-local mode (land-branch.sh), not gh pr create.

You still use worktrees, protected main, and verification gates — only the integrate step changes.

YAML cockpit and dashboard

Operational source of truth:

• specs/state.yaml — session, active epic/story, handoff
• specs/release-plan.yaml — release index and epic list
• specs/epics/eNN-*.yaml — stories and tasks with verify
• specs/execution-status.yaml — done/pending per story

Start the HTTP dashboard with visual-dashboard → GET /api/status?projectDir=<abs> and GET /cockpit.html for a read-only PM view.

Key conventions

• specs/ is your memory. All domain docs, plans, and investigation outputs go in specs/ at your project root.
• Integrate: team default is gh pr (team-pr); solo profile uses land-branch.sh. Never create GitHub issues from skills — use local Markdown files instead.
• One skill, one thing. If you're unsure which skill to call, call survey-context — it reads your current state and recommends the next step.
• verify: every step. Every epic task must have verify: <runnable command>. Evidence over claims.
• The full catalog is auto-generated. See SKILL-INDEX.md; find skills with search-skills.

After this

Call survey-context to read your project's current state and get a personalized recommendation for where to go next.