spec-index

<!-- PROMPT-ENHANCE:STEP-TASK-ANCHOR:START -->

[BLOCKING] Execute skill steps in declared order. NEVER skip, reorder, or merge steps without explicit user approval.
[BLOCKING] Before each step or sub-skill call, update task tracking: set in_progress when step starts, set completed when step ends.
[BLOCKING] Every completed/skipped step MUST include brief evidence or explicit skip reason.
[BLOCKING] If Task tools are unavailable, create and maintain an equivalent step-by-step plan tracker with the same status transitions.

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Quick Summary

Portability: docs/specs/ is the fixed Feature Spec root.

Goal: Generate, on demand, a regenerable single-writer navigation layer (catalog + cross-capability ERD + rebuild guide) assembled FROM the canonical tech-free 8-section Feature Specs under docs/specs/{Bucket}/ — so a bucket can be browsed or replatformed without ever forking a second, hand-maintained source of truth. The Feature Specs are the source of truth; this skill only assembles regenerable aids over them.

Summary:

• Purpose: a DERIVED-aid assembler ONLY — reads §1 Overview, §5 Domain Model Mermaid, §8 TCs from existing Feature Specs to build INDEX.md (default) + optional cross-capability {Bucket}.erd.md + optional {Bucket}.reimplementation-guide.md; it NEVER authors business content. The Feature Spec stays the source of truth.
• Main steps (run in order): Step 0 Scope Gate — AskUserQuestion (bucket + mode + artifacts), BLOCKING before any read; no README.*.md specs → STOP, route to /spec. Step 1 Read source specs — extract capability name+link, §1 summary, §8 feature code/TC count/status, §5 Mermaid entities+relationships. Step 2 Assemble aids — 2a INDEX.md catalog, 2b cross-capability ERD, 2c reimplementation guide. Step 3 Stamp & Write — DERIVED banner + date, write each artifact immediately (never accumulate in context). Step 4 Verify — no retired artifacts, every link resolves, banner present, prose tech-free, no canonical claims.
• Modes: index (default — regenerate derived aids) · audit (report which derived aids are stale vs their source specs).
• Hard prohibition is the load-bearing rule: never emit the retired A-E engineering tree, M## dirs, 00-module-registry.md, 01-domain-erd.md, 06-reimplementation-guide.md, or docs/specs/README.md/PRIORITY-INDEX.md. Use the {Bucket}.* filenames instead — why: an A-E bundle becomes a second source of truth competing with the Feature Spec.
• Every generated file carries the > DERIVED — regenerate via /spec-index; do NOT hand-edit banner, links each row/entity back to its source spec, and keeps INDEX/ERD prose tech-free — only the reimplementation guide may name a target stack.

Renamed: repurposes the former /spec-discovery skill (v4.0.0 derived-aid rewrite) — /spec-discovery no longer resolves as a slash command; use /spec-index.

[SCOPE] This skill assembles a DERIVED index / ERD / reimplementation guide over the canonical Feature Specs. It MUST NOT emit a per-module A-E engineering bundle (A-domain-model, B-business-rules, C-api-contracts, D-events, E-user-journeys), M## directories, 00-module-registry.md, 01-domain-erd.md, or 06-reimplementation-guide.md — those are not part of the spec model; their content lives in the Feature Spec (thin-index-only contract: output is DERIVED — never emit A-E bundle files). Authority: [docs/project-reference/spec-system-reference.md](../../../docs/project-reference/spec-system-reference.md).

Inputs: the canonical 8-section Feature Specs (§1 Overview, §5 Domain Model Mermaid, §8 TCs). Code is the technical source of truth — read it ONLY to resolve cross-spec ERD relationships or a reimplementation build order, never to populate a parallel spec layer.

Modes:

Workflow: /scout (locate specs) → /spec-index (assemble derived aids) → /changes-review → /watzup

Key Rules:

• [BLOCKING] Output is DERIVED and regenerable — every generated file carries a > DERIVED — regenerate via /spec-index; do NOT hand-edit banner. It is NEVER a second source of truth.
• [BLOCKING] MUST NOT emit M## dirs, A-E files, 00-module-registry.md, 01-domain-erd.md, 06-reimplementation-guide.md, docs/specs/README.md, or docs/specs/PRIORITY-INDEX.md (all retired). See Hard Prohibitions.
• §1-7 of a Feature Spec are tech-free; the derived INDEX/ERD inherit that. The reimplementation guide is the sole artifact allowed to name a target stack (it is a rebuild guide — spec-principles.md §3 exception).
• Every catalog row / ERD entity links back to the source Feature Spec; mark [UNVERIFIED] rather than guessing.
• Read [docs/project-reference/spec-principles.md](../../../docs/project-reference/spec-principles.md) §3 (tech-agnostic + banned-token list) before writing any prose.

App Bucket Mapping

Derived aids are organized by App Bucket (matches the single-home spec tree). Resolve service→bucket assignments from the canonical table in [docs/project-reference/spec-system-reference.md](../../../docs/project-reference/spec-system-reference.md) → App Bucket Mapping — do not inline project-specific bucket names in this skill.

Step 0 — Scope Gate (MANDATORY FIRST)

Before reading anything, use AskUserQuestion. Confirm:

[BLOCKING] If the target bucket has no Feature Specs matching docs/specs/{Bucket}/README.*.md, STOP and route the user to /spec — there is nothing to derive from. NEVER fabricate a spec to index.

Step 1 — Read the Source Feature Specs

1. Glob docs/specs/{Bucket}/README.*.md → enumerate the canonical specs.
2. For each spec, read and extract ONLY:

- Capability name + file link - Summary — first sentence of ## 1. Overview - Feature code + TC count + status mix from ## 8. Test Specifications - Entities + relationships from the ## 5. Domain Model `mermaid block (for ERD assembly)

1. Do NOT re-derive business rules, API contracts, or events into new files — those live in the Feature Spec (§1-7) and in code. You are indexing, not extracting.

Scale note: For a bucket with many specs, you MAY spawn parallel reader sub-agents (one per spec) that each return the extracted fields above. This is an optimization, not a gate — there is no per-module A-E extraction to parallelize anymore.

Step 2 — Assemble the Derived Aids

2a. Bucket INDEX.md (default)

Regenerate docs/specs/{Bucket}/INDEX.md as a feature catalog:

> **DERIVED — regenerate via `/spec-index`; do NOT hand-edit.** Source of truth: the Feature Specs in `docs/specs/{Bucket}/README.*.md`.

# {Bucket} — Feature Index

| Capability                 | Summary             | Feature Code | TCs | Status         |
| -------------------------- | ------------------- | ------------ | --- | -------------- |
| [{Name}](README.{Name}.md) | {one-line overview} | {FC}         | {n} | {Active/Draft} |

/spec owns the canonical Feature Specs only. /spec-index owns this derived INDEX.md and regenerates it deterministically from the specs, so there is one writer for the derived navigation file.

2b. Cross-Capability ERD (on request)

Assemble one Mermaid erDiagram from every spec's §5 block in the bucket:

• Merge entities; dedupe by name; keep cross-capability relationships.
• Resolve a relationship only present implicitly in code by reading the code — but the ERD stays tech-free (entity + relationship names only, no class/table identifiers in prose).
• Write to docs/specs/{Bucket}/{Bucket}.erd.md with the DERIVED banner. Do NOT name it 01-domain-erd.md (retired).

2c. Reimplementation Guide (on explicit request only)

A build-order narrative: capability dependency order, integration touchpoints, suggested rebuild sequence.

• This is the only derived artifact permitted to name a target stack (rebuild-guide exception, spec-principles.md §3).
• Write to docs/specs/{Bucket}/{Bucket}.reimplementation-guide.md with the DERIVED banner. Do NOT name it 06-reimplementation-guide.md (retired).

Step 3 — Stamp & Write

• Every generated file opens with the > DERIVED — regenerate via /spec-index; do NOT hand-edit banner + a regenerate date.
• Write each file immediately after assembling it; do NOT accumulate large outputs in context.

Step 4 — Verify (self-check before completing)

• No retired artifacts emitted — grep your own output paths: zero M[0-9], zero A-domain-model/B-business-rules/C-api-contracts/D-events/E-user-journeys, zero 00-module-registry/01-domain-erd/06-reimplementation-guide, zero docs/specs/README.md/PRIORITY-INDEX.md.
• Every catalog row links to an existing Feature Spec (no dangling links).
• DERIVED banner present on each generated file.
• §1-7-derived prose is tech-free (INDEX/ERD); only the reimplementation guide may name a stack.
• No canonical claims — the derived files never assert they are the source of truth.

Hard Prohibitions (R1 mitigation — NON-NEGOTIABLE)

This skill produces only the DERIVED index / ERD / reimplementation guide. Emitting an A-E engineering tree would create a second source of truth competing with the Feature Spec. Therefore this skill MUST NEVER create:

If a user explicitly asks for an A-E bundle, explain it is retired and offer the derived index/ERD instead. The thin-index-only contract applies — output is DERIVED, never an A-E bundle.

Selective Artifact Mode

Next Steps

[BLOCKING] After completing, use AskUserQuestion — DO NOT skip:

• "/docs-update (Recommended)" — sync the Feature Specs + Section 8 if any source content was found stale during indexing
• "/watzup" — wrap up if index generation is the final step
• "Skip, continue manually" — user decides

Related Skills

What Is Spec Discovery? (v4.0.0)

A derived-index generator over the single-home spec tree. The canonical knowledge is the tech-free 8-section Feature Spec; this skill assembles regenerable navigation aids (catalog, cross-capability ERD, rebuild guide) so readers can browse a bucket or plan a replatform without a second hand-maintained layer. It does NOT reverse-engineer code into a parallel spec bundle — that role was retired with the A-E tree.

<!-- SYNC:cross-service-check -->

Cross-Service Check — Microservices/event-driven: MANDATORY before concluding investigation, plan, spec, or feature doc. Missing downstream consumer = silent regression.

| Boundary | Grep terms |
| ------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Event producers | Publish, Dispatch, Send, emit, EventBus, outbox, IntegrationEvent |
| Event consumers | Consumer, EventHandler, Subscribe, @EventListener, inbox |
| Sagas/orchestration | Saga, ProcessManager, Choreography, Workflow, Orchestrator |
| Sync service calls | HTTP/gRPC calls to/from other services |
| Shared contracts | OpenAPI spec, proto, shared DTO — flag breaking changes |
| Data ownership | Other service reads/writes same table/collection → Shared-DB anti-pattern |

Per touchpoint: owner service · message name · consumers · risk (NONE / ADDITIVE / BREAKING).

BLOCKED until: Producers scanned · Consumers scanned · Sagas checked · Contracts reviewed · Breaking-change risk flagged

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<!-- SYNC:ai-mistake-prevention -->

AI Mistake Prevention — Failure modes to avoid on every task:

Re-read files after context changes. Context compaction, resume, or long-running work can make memory stale; verify current files before acting.
Verify generated content against source evidence. AI hallucinates APIs, names, claims, and document facts. Check the relevant source before documenting or referencing.
Check downstream references before deleting or renaming. Removing an artifact can stale docs, generated mirrors, configs, and callers; map references first.
Trace the full impact chain after edits. Changing a definition can miss derived outputs and consumers. Follow the affected chain before declaring done.
Verify ALL affected outputs, not just the first. One green check is not all green checks; validate every output surface the change can affect.
Assume existing values are intentional — ask WHY before changing OR flagging one as a defect. Before changing or reporting a constant, limit, flag, cutoff, wording, or pattern, read nearby context and history, the CALLER's ordering, and 2+ sibling call sites of the same convention. A doc stating WHAT without WHY is missing rationale, not proof of a missing guard.
Surface ambiguity before acting — don't pick silently. Multiple valid interpretations require an explicit question or stated assumption with risk.
Assert the outcome your system owns, not the intermediate state your infrastructure owns. When verifying async work, assert the final business state — never the delivery/retry bookkeeping held in shared infrastructure that any co-running process can write. Such a check passes when run alone and flakes the moment anything else shares that infrastructure.
Keep shared guidance role-relevant. Universal guidance must help every receiving skill or agent; code-specific obligations belong only in code-specific protocols.

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<!-- SYNC:critical-thinking-mindset -->

Critical Thinking Mindset — Apply critical thinking, sequential thinking. Every claim needs traced proof, confidence >80% to act.
Anti-hallucination: Never present guess as fact — cite sources for every claim, admit uncertainty freely, self-check output for errors, cross-reference independently, stay skeptical of own confidence — certainty without evidence root of all hallucination.

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<!-- SYNC:critical-thinking-mindset:reminder -->

MUST ATTENTION apply critical + sequential thinking — every claim needs appropriate traced evidence (file:line for repo/code claims; source URL or artifact section for research, product, content, and docs claims); confidence >80% to act, <60% DO NOT recommend. Anti-hallucination: never present guess as fact, admit uncertainty freely, cross-reference independently, stay skeptical of own confidence.

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<!-- SYNC:ai-mistake-prevention:reminder -->

MUST ATTENTION apply AI mistake prevention — verify generated content against evidence, trace downstream references before deleting or renaming, verify all affected outputs, re-read files after context loss, and surface ambiguity before acting.

<!-- /SYNC:ai-mistake-prevention:reminder -->

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Prompt-Enhance Closing Anchors

IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION follow declared step order for this skill; NEVER skip, reorder, or merge steps without explicit user approval IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION for every step/sub-skill call: set in_progress before execution, set completed after execution IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION every skipped step MUST include explicit reason; every completed step MUST include concise evidence IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION if Task tools unavailable, maintain an equivalent step-by-step plan tracker with synchronized statuses

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<!-- SYNC:parallel-subagent-dispatch -->

Parallel Sub-Agent Dispatch — Plan parallelism the moment a task breakdown exists, BEFORE executing it — running provably independent tasks sequentially wastes wall-clock. Applies to every multi-step job: workflow steps, planning, batch updates, investigation, research, scans, reviews, doc sync. Plan execution is metadata-gated, NEVER default-parallel — fan-out follows ONLY what the plan declares (PAR/SEQ tags + per-phase write set); an untagged plan runs sequentially — why: a derived write set cannot see cascade or generated writes.

1. Tag every task PAR or SEQ. PAR = inputs exclude every pending task's output AND write set disjoint from every other PAR. Else SEQ — MUST ATTENTION name the dependency forcing it.
2. Group PAR into waves. No edge between members. Two writers of one file NEVER share a wave. Read-only work (search, investigation, review, research) parallelizes freely.
3. Declare before dispatch: Parallel plan: wave 1 = [...] · wave 2 = [...] · SEQ = [...] (reason).
4. Spawn each wave in ONE message — every Agent call in one response, NEVER dripped per turn. Route each task to its specialist (.claude/skills/shared/sub-agent-selection-guide.md); NEVER code-reviewer as catch-all.
5. Brief each sub-agent self-contained: goal · scope + owned files · reference docs · return contract (summary + Full report: path, per SYNC:subagent-return-contract) · incremental persistence to plans/reports/ (per SYNC:incremental-persistence).
6. Barrier per wave. Advance ONLY after EVERY member returns (a skipped conditional counts as returned). Merge, mark each task completed/skipped, THEN dispatch the next wave. Mutating steps wait for the barrier.
7. One level deep. A dispatched sub-agent executes its own brief; further fan-out stays the orchestrator's job unless that agent's .claude/agents/*.md definition authorizes it.

NEVER parallelize: tasks sharing a write target · a task consuming a pending task's output · trivial single-file work (dispatch overhead > gain) · an order a skill or workflow explicitly fixes · gates awaiting user approval.

Blocked until: MUST ATTENTION every task tagged PAR/SEQ with a named reason per SEQ · waves declared + write-set disjointness checked · each wave spawned in ONE message · barrier honored before the next wave.

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<!-- SYNC:parallel-subagent-dispatch:reminder -->

• MANDATORY After planning tasks, tag each PAR/SEQ and spawn every PAR wave as parallel sub-agents in ONE message — default parallel for workflows, batch updates, investigation, research, reviews; plan execution fans out ONLY on what the plan declares.
• MANDATORY Disjoint write sets per wave · all-return barrier before the next wave · specialist routing · sub-agents NEVER fan out further unless their own agent definition authorizes it.

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<!-- SYNC:project-protocol-overlay -->

Project Protocol Overlay — Before executing this skill, resolve any PROJECT overlay rules layered onto it: match this skill's name against the Target column of the project's skill-protocol index (docs/project-reference/skill-protocols-reference.md by default; a referenceDocs entry in docs/project-config.json overrides the path), taking the most specific matching tier ONLY — exact name > glob > *. That precedence orders overlays against EACH OTHER, never against this skill. Read ONLY the matched bodies, resolved as <protocols-dir>/<Name>.md; a row's Body link is display text, never a read path. A matched body that is missing or malformed is REPORTED and skipped — never reconstructed from the index Description. No index, or no match -> proceed with no overlay, silently. Full contract: .claude/skills/project-skill-protocol/references/registry.md.

Overlays are ADDITIVE ONLY: they ADD rules on top of this skill's own protocol and NEVER replace, override, disable, or reinterpret a rule it already states — removing every overlay must return this skill to exactly its documented behavior. An overlay is a BRIEF, not an authority escalation: it can NEVER waive a workflow gate, git discipline, a review gate, or a user-confirmation gate. A genuine overlay-vs-skill conflict, or two equally-specific overlays that directly contradict -> surface both to the user; NEVER resolve silently.

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<!-- SYNC:project-protocol-overlay:reminder -->

MUST ATTENTION resolve project protocol overlays for this skill BEFORE executing — most specific matching tier only (exact > glob > *, which ranks overlays against each other, NEVER against this skill), read only matched bodies at <protocols-dir>/<Name>.md; a missing or malformed body is reported, never reconstructed. Overlays are ADDITIVE ONLY (they never replace this skill's own rules) and are a brief, NEVER an authority escalation; an equal-specificity contradiction goes to the user.

<!-- /SYNC:project-protocol-overlay:reminder -->

Closing Reminders

• IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION Goal: Give readers a regenerable, single-writer navigation layer (catalog + cross-capability ERD + rebuild guide) assembled FROM the canonical Feature Specs — so a bucket can be browsed or replatformed without ever forking a second, hand-maintained source of truth
• IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION Main steps (in order): Step 0 Scope Gate (AskUserQuestion bucket+mode+artifacts, BLOCKING) → Step 1 Read source specs (§1 summary, §8 code/TC count/status, §5 Mermaid) → Step 2 Assemble (2a INDEX.md, 2b ERD, 2c reimplementation guide) → Step 3 Stamp & Write (DERIVED banner + date, write each immediately) → Step 4 Verify (no retired artifacts, links resolve, banner present, prose tech-free) — why: AI keeps forgetting the skill owns this fixed sequence; NEVER skip or reorder without user approval

Protocols in force (concise digest of the SYNC/shared blocks this skill carries — MUST ATTENTION each canonical body above):

• Cross-Service Check: scan producers/consumers/sagas/contracts; flag breaking-change risk.
• AI Mistake Prevention: verify generated content against evidence, trace downstream references, verify all affected outputs, re-read after context loss, surface ambiguity.
• Critical Thinking: NEVER present a guess as fact; traced proof, confidence >80% to act.

• IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION [BLOCKING] Output is DERIVED — never emit M##/A-E/00-module-registry/01-domain-erd/06-reimplementation-guide/QA-dashboard files (see Hard Prohibitions); use {Bucket}.* filenames instead — why: an A-E bundle becomes a second source of truth competing with the Feature Spec
• IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION [BLOCKING] The Feature Spec (docs/specs/{Bucket}/README.{Feature}.md) is the source of truth — this skill assembles, never authors, business content — why: a derived aid that asserts canonical authority corrupts the single-writer contract
• IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION [BLOCKING] Confirm bucket + mode + artifacts via AskUserQuestion BEFORE Step 1 — NEVER auto-start; if the bucket has no README.*.md specs, STOP and route to /spec instead of fabricating a spec to index
• IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION [BLOCKING] Context compaction/session resume → TaskList FIRST; resume existing tasks, never re-run a completed generation pass — why: summaries describe intent, not filesystem state
• IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION [BLOCKING] Stamp the DERIVED banner + regenerate date on every generated file; write after each artifact, never accumulate large outputs in context
• IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION [REQUIRED] INDEX/ERD prose tech-agnostic (read spec-principles.md §3 banned-token list FIRST); only a reimplementation guide may name a target stack (rebuild-guide exception)
• IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION [REQUIRED] Every catalog row / ERD entity links to an existing Feature Spec — grep the source path to confirm it resolves; mark [UNVERIFIED] rather than guessing — why: dangling links silently rot the navigation layer
• IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION Read code ONLY to resolve a cross-spec ERD relationship or a reimplementation build order — never to populate a parallel spec layer — why: code is the technical source of truth, not a spec substitute
• IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION Cite file:line evidence for every extracted field and link (confidence >80% to act, <60% mark [UNVERIFIED]) — NEVER fabricate a capability name, feature code, or TC count; grep the source spec to confirm
• IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION Before authoring any new derived format, grep 3+ existing INDEX.md/*.erd.md siblings and match their structure — verify the new bucket shares the same spec layout before copying a nearby pattern
• IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION Break task scope into small TaskCreate todos (one per artifact) before acting; mark each completed immediately after its file is written; keep exactly one in_progress
• Parallel Sub-Agent Dispatch: Tag tasks PAR/SEQ, group PAR into disjoint-write-set waves, spawn each wave in ONE message, barrier before advancing.

Anti-Rationalization:

[TASK-PLANNING] MUST ATTENTION analyze task scope and break into small todo tasks/sub-tasks via TaskCreate before acting.

[IMPORTANT] Break into many small todo tasks systematically before starting — this is critical.

IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION Output is DERIVED + regenerable — never a second source of truth; the Feature Spec is canonical. IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION Confirm bucket + mode + artifacts via AskUserQuestion BEFORE any read; no specs → STOP, route to /spec. IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION Cite file:line for every extracted field; mark [UNVERIFIED] rather than guessing; never emit retired A-E/M##/QA-dashboard files.