Design & Planning

Turn ideas into fully-formed, implementation-ready designs through a unified 10-phase pipeline.

Entry Points

Trigger Action

ds

Start unified pipeline (all 10 phases)

/conductor-design

Start unified pipeline (alias)

cn , /conductor-newtrack

Create spec + plan + beads from existing design.md

pl , /plan

Planning phases (5-10) - see pl Entry Modes below

"design a feature" Start unified pipeline

"let's think through X" Start unified pipeline

Quick Reference

Unified Pipeline (10 Phases)

Phase Type Purpose Exit Criteria

1 DISCOVER Diverge Explore problem + research context Problem articulated

2 DEFINE Converge Frame problem + select approach Approach selected

3 DEVELOP Diverge Architecture + components Interfaces defined

4 VERIFY Converge Oracle audit + risk assessment Oracle APPROVED

5 DECOMPOSE Execute Create beads (fb) Beads filed

6 VALIDATE Execute Dependency check (bv) + Oracle review Dependencies valid

7 ASSIGN Execute Track assignments Tracks assigned

8 READY Complete Handoff to ci/co/ca Execution ready

9 EXECUTE Implement Run ci/co/ca on tracks All beads completed

10 FINISH Archive Extract learnings + archive track Track archived

See pipeline.md for full details.

Mode Routing

Complexity scoring determines execution mode:

Score Mode Phases A/P/C Research

< 4 SPEED 1,2,4,8 No 1 hook (start)

4-6 ASK User chooses Optional User chooses

6 FULL 1-10 Yes 2 hooks

Mode Comparison

Aspect SPEED (< 4) FULL (> 6)

Phases 1,2,4,8 All 10

A/P/C No Yes

Research 1 hook 2 hooks

Beads No Yes

Tracks No Yes

Verification Advisory Mandatory

Use [E] to escalate Yes N/A

Core Principles

• One question at a time - Don't overwhelm

• Multiple choice preferred - Easier to answer

• YAGNI ruthlessly - Remove unnecessary features

• Explore alternatives - Always propose 2-3 approaches

• Research consolidated - 2 strategic hooks, not 5

⛔ EXECUTION BLOCKS (CRITICAL)

This skill contains EXECUTION BLOCKS marked with ⛔. When you encounter one, you MUST:

• STOP what you're doing

• EXECUTE the tool calls specified (Task(), oracle(), skill())

• WAIT for results before proceeding

EXECUTION BLOCKS are NOT documentation - they are COMMANDS you must execute.

See pipeline.md for all execution blocks.

Session Flow

• Load Core - Load maestro-core for routing table and fallback policies

• Initialize - Load handoffs, CODEMAPS, verify conductor setup → session-init.md

• Research - ⛔ EXECUTION BLOCK at Phase 1 start (spawn 3 Task() agents)

• Route - Score complexity (< 4 = SPEED, > 6 = FULL) → design-routing-heuristics.md

• Execute - 10-phase pipeline with A/P/C checkpoints → pipeline.md

• Validate - ⛔ EXECUTION BLOCK at Phase 4 (call oracle())

• Complete - Phase 8 (READY) triggers ci /co /ca → Phase 9 (EXECUTE) → Phase 10 (FINISH)

Research Hooks (Consolidated)

Hook Trigger Agents Purpose

research-start Phase 1 (DISCOVER) Locator + Pattern + CODEMAPS + Architecture All initial context

research-verify Phase 3→4 (DEVELOP→VERIFY) Analyzer + Pattern + Impact + Web Design verification

Validation Gates

Checkpoint Focus Enforcement

CP1 (DISCOVER) Product alignment, no duplicate features WARN

CP2 (DEFINE) Problem clear, success measurable, scope explicit WARN

CP3 (DEVELOP) 3+ options, tech-stack alignment, risk analysis WARN

CP4 (VERIFY) Full validation + grounding + impact scan SPEED=WARN, FULL=HALT

Adaptive A/P/C System

A/P/C checkpoints work adaptively across the entire workflow.

State Ladder

INLINE → MICRO_APC → NUDGE → DS_FULL → DS_BRANCH → BRANCH_MERGE

State Description Trigger

INLINE Normal flow (conductor/beads) Default

MICRO_APC Lightweight checkpoint at boundaries End of spec/plan section

NUDGE Suggest upgrade to DS 3+ design iterations

DS_FULL Full 10-phase with A/P/C ds command or upgrade

DS_BRANCH DS attached to design branch Design rethink in track

BRANCH_MERGE Apply branch changes Branch complete

A/P/C in FULL Mode

At end of phases 1-4:

• [A] Advanced - Phase-specific deep dive

• [P] Party - Multi-agent feedback (BMAD v6) → bmad/

• [C] Continue - Proceed to next phase

• [↩ Back] - Return to previous phase

After Phase A Option

1 (DISCOVER) Advanced assumption audit

2 (DEFINE) Scope stress-test

3 (DEVELOP) Architecture deep-dive

4 (VERIFY) Oracle runs BEFORE showing menu

Priority Rules

• Explicit commands (ds ) always win

• Active DS/Branch blocks passive triggers

• Branch safety preferred when in implementation

• Micro A/P/C at checkpoint boundaries

• Nudge after 3+ iterations

See apc-checkpoints.md for implementation details.

Phase 4: VERIFY - Spike Execution

When risk assessment identifies HIGH risk items:

HIGH risk items → MUST spawn spike Task() │ ▼ For each HIGH risk: 1. Create spike bead + dir 2. MUST spawn Task() with time-box 3. Wait for completion 4. Capture result (YES/NO) │ ▼ MUST call oracle() for 6-dimension audit │ ┌───────┴───────┐ │ │ All spikes YES Any spike NO │ │ ▼ ▼ Continue HALT - user decision

⚠️ MANDATORY: You MUST call oracle() at Phase 4 - see pipeline.md

Phase 6: VALIDATE - Oracle Beads Review

⚠️ MANDATORY: After bv validation, you MUST call oracle() to review beads completeness.

See pipeline.md

Phase 8: READY - Auto-Orchestration

Ready to execute. Found N tracks: • Track A (BlueLake): 4 beads • Track B (GreenCastle): 3 beads

[O] Orchestrate (spawn workers) [S] Sequential (run ci manually) [R] Ralph (autonomous loop - ca)

Default: [O] after 30s

Note: [R] is available when ralph.enabled == true in track metadata.json .

⚠️ MANDATORY: If user selects [O] and ≥2 tracks exist, you MUST spawn Task() for each track.

See pipeline.md

pl Entry Gate

⚠️ MANDATORY: Before running pl , detect input and bootstrap if needed:

pl triggered │ ▼ Input detection (priority order): 1. design.md exists? → ALIAS mode (skip discovery) 2. PRD file exists? → STANDALONE mode (parse PRD) 3. User file attached? → STANDALONE mode 4. No input? → BOOTSTRAP mode (prompt → create track)

Input Source Mode Action

design.md ALIAS Skip Phase 5, run 6-10

PRD file STANDALONE Parse PRD, run 5-10

User file STANDALONE Use as context, run 5-10

None BOOTSTRAP Prompt → create track → run 5-10

BOOTSTRAP creates: conductor/tracks/<id>/ with design.md + metadata.json

pl Compatibility

Scenario Mode Behavior

pl after ds Phase 4 NO-OP Not needed - phases 5-10 auto-run in FULL mode

pl with design.md ALIAS Skip Phase 5 discovery, run 6-10

pl with PRD file STANDALONE Parse PRD, run full 5-10

pl with user request STANDALONE Run full discovery, phases 5-10

pl without any input ERROR Prompt for input source

Anti-Patterns

• ❌ Jumping to solutions before understanding the problem

• ❌ Skipping verification at Phase 4 (VERIFY)

• ❌ Asking multiple questions at once

• ❌ Over-engineering simple features (use SPEED mode)

• ❌ Running pl after ds completes (no longer needed)

Next Steps (after Phase 8: READY)

Command Description Phase

ci

/conductor-implement

• Execute track Phase 9 (EXECUTE)

co

/conductor-orchestrate

• Spawn parallel workers Phase 9 (EXECUTE)

ca

/conductor-autonomous

• Ralph loop Phase 9 (EXECUTE)

/conductor-finish

Archive track + extract learnings Phase 10 (FINISH)

See maestro-core for full routing table.

Dependencies

Auto-loads: maestro-core for routing and fallback policies.

Related

• conductor - Track creation and implementation

• tracking - Issue tracking after design

• orchestrator - Parallel execution in Phase 9 (EXECUTE)