autodev

/autodev — goal → proof, fully autonomous

One invocation from "here's a fuzzy goal" to "here is proof each acceptance criterion is satisfied." /autodev is the autonomous sibling of /afk: where /afk queues work and hands it to the async scheduler spine, /autodev drives the work to completion in one detached Workflow run and ends with a proof report. It composes the existing skills — it does not re-implement them:

Stage	Reuses	What it does
Grill	/auto-grill engine (inlined)	decompose the goal → self-answer each decision from vault/code/web → adversarially verify grounding
Slice	/slice contract	grounded decisions → parent PRD + tracer-bullet children (≥1 (LIVE E2E) AC, ## Covers AC, rung-0 first)
Impl + Evaluate	/impl + /tdd + geo-dev evaluator loop	per child: TDD red-green → independent evaluator → regenerate on fail (K=3) → land or escalate
Proof	scripts/proof-report.ts (net-new)	render a per-AC PROOF report from the run's results: verdict + evidence + commit + test summary

The Workflow IS the control loop (deterministic JS, runs detached) — the session kicks it once and reads the result, it never orchestrates by agent-turn (the expensive anti-pattern, thinking/aha/2026-04-18-orchestration-on-script.md). All agents run Opus (design judgment + codegen + adversarial verification); do not downgrade.

Usage

/autodev <goal>          # full run: grill → slice → impl+evaluate → proof report
/autodev <goal> --dry-run   # grill + slice spec + would-impl, files/edits NOTHING; renders a DRY proof report
/autodev #N              # an issue number: fetch the body as the goal context first

Autonomy model — escalate-not-break (the crux, READ FIRST)

A no-human loop collides with two facts: /auto-grill --unattended leaves ungrounded gaps OPEN (it never guesses), and /slice refuses to operate on an unsettled plan. The seam that reconciles them is escalate-not-break:

• Grounded decisions (a re-read citation verifiably supports the pick) flow into the slice. Ungrounded gaps are filed as HITL issues (owner:human, [autodev gap]) — the loop never guesses-and-builds on what evidence could not settle. A confidently fabricated answer that buries a real gap is the one failure this whole system exists to prevent.
• Zero grounded decisions → honest no-op: surface every gap, build nothing. That is the correct outcome on a pure-taste / pure-strategy goal, not a failure.
• Reflection-tier goal (no implementation surface) → stop after grill; no slice, no impl.
• A child that fails its evaluator after K=3 iterations is escalated (re-labelled owner:human, left OPEN, branch kept) — never push broken work behind a green PR.

The proof report tells the truth about all of this: escalated children and unverified ACs show as UNVERIFIED / escalated, never silently dropped.

Config

Vault path: read from ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/brain-os.config.md (user-local ~/.brain-os/brain-os.config.md takes precedence). Key vault_path:. Substitute the resolved value for every {vault}/.... If unresolvable → abort with a fail outcome line. Do NOT guess from cwd.

Plugin root: resolve CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT (env var → glob fallback ~/.claude/plugins/cache/brain-os-marketplace/brain-os/*/). Pass the absolute path into the Workflow as args.pluginRoot — the Workflow agents shell proof-report.ts and create-task-issue.sh by absolute path.

Source repo paths

• Workflow: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/autodev/references/autodev.workflow.js
• Proof renderer (SSOT): ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/proof-report.ts
• Grill engine reused from: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/auto-grill/references/auto-grill.workflow.js
• Issues filed to: sonthanh/ai-brain (hook-enforced; never the plugin repo)

Phase 1 — Gather context (deterministic, before the Workflow)

1. Resolve vault_path, gh_task_repo, and CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT.
2. Compute today's date (date +%Y-%m-%d) — pass as args.date; Workflow scripts cannot call new Date().
3. If the goal is an issue reference (#N), run gh issue view N --repo <gh_task_repo> FIRST and pass the body as args.context. Never autodev an already-closed issue.
4. If this run was preceded by a /grill or /grill-fast design artifact, pass its vault-relative path as args.designRef so the proof report and gap issues backlink to it.

Phase 2 — Kick the Workflow (one call; it does the rest)

This is ultracode territory — the run spawns one agent per decision plus verifiers, a slice synthesizer, and an impl+evaluator chain per child. Only invoke the Workflow when the user opted into multi-agent orchestration (said ultracode, asked for a workflow, or invoked this skill).

Invoke the Workflow tool with scriptPath: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/autodev/references/autodev.workflow.js and args as an actual JSON object (never a JSON string — a stringified object reaches the script as one string and every args.x reads undefined):

args: {
  goal, context, vaultPath, taskRepo, date,
  dryRun,            // true for --dry-run: files/edits NOTHING
  pluginRoot,        // absolute CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT
  area,              // default "plugin-brain-os"
  areaRepoPath,      // cwd for implementation edits, default "~/work/brain-os-plugin"
  designRef,         // optional grill-session path
  maxChildren        // default 5
}

The Workflow runs detached and does, in order (all agents Opus, own contexts):

1. Grill — decompose → pipeline(auto-answer → verify-grounding). Splits decisions into grounded vs gaps.
2. Seam — escalate-not-break (above). Files gaps as HITL; stops on reflection-tier / all-gaps.
3. Slice — synthesize parent PRD + tracer-bullet children; deterministic AC-coverage gate + (LIVE E2E) gate + rung-0 ordering. Files them unless --dry-run.
4. Implement → Evaluate — per child (rung-0 first): TDD red-green → independent adversarial evaluator runs the real acceptance commands → regenerate on fail up to K=3 → land (PR + Acceptance verified: AC#N — … evidence comment) or escalate.
5. Report — shells proof-report.ts --build-results to render the per-AC proof, writes {vault}/daily/autodev-reports/{date}-{slug}.md, appends the outcome row, runs a completeness critic.

Do NOT poll the Workflow with Bash/Monitor loops — that re-introduces orchestrate-by-agent. The harness re-invokes you when it finishes; then read its returned summary.

Phase 3 — Finalize (after the Workflow returns)

Branch on the returned summary's shape FIRST — a clean early exit is NOT a crash:

• Early exit (summary.stoppedAfter is set). The Workflow stopped honestly before the Report phase and carries reason, not a reportPath/verdict. Surface the honest no-op, do NOT call it a crash:
  • stoppedAfter:'grill', reason:'reflection-tier' → "Goal is reflection-only — no build surface. Decisions surfaced; nothing to implement." Outcome pass | reason=reflection-tier.
  • stoppedAfter:'grill', reason:'all-gaps' → "Evidence couldn't ground any decision — every one became a HITL gap; nothing built autonomously." Outcome pass | reason=all-gaps.
  • stoppedAfter:'slice', error:'ac-coverage' | 'no-live-e2e-ac' | 'slice-synth-failed' → state which gate stopped it. Outcome partial | reason=<error>.
  • stoppedAfter:'grill', error:'…' (no decisions) → partial | reason=<error>.
• Full run (no stoppedAfter). The summary carries resolved / gaps / children / implemented / escalated / reportPath, and summary.report holds the report agent's one-line return including the PROVEN/PARTIAL/UNPROVEN verdict (the verdict is computed by proof-report.ts and lives in the report file + that line — it is NOT a separate top-level summary key). Lead with the verdict, the reportPath, and any escalated children / filed gaps. Be honest: a PARTIAL with 2 escalated children is not "done."
• Hard crash (a thrown error, no structured summary). Only here write the fail outcome line yourself (reason=workflow-crash) — distinct from the clean early exits above.

Then notify the user (long-running orchestrator alert): sp tab banner, falling back to osascript display notification, with the verdict (or the honest no-op reason) + report path.

Gotchas

• Escalate-not-break is non-negotiable. Never let the slice consume an ungrounded decision. A fabricated answer that buries a real gap is the worst failure mode; the grounding verifier defaults to NOT grounded when uncertain, and gaps become HITL issues, not guesses.
• Proof is the deliverable, not a handoff. /autodev ends with proof-report.ts output — per-AC evidence (test summary + commit SHA + evidence-comment link), not "queued, watch here." That is the whole difference from /afk.
• proof-report.ts is the SSOT renderer. The Workflow shells it; do not hand-write a proof report in an agent prompt — that re-introduces the drift the renderer exists to kill.
• Opus everywhere. The grounding gate and the evaluator are only as good as the model; do not cost-optimize the grill or evaluator to Sonnet.
• Never edit the installed plugin copy. Workflow agents edit source repos only.
• Issues go to sonthanh/ai-brain via create-task-issue.sh — never inline gh issue create, never the plugin repo (hook-enforced).
• --dry-run files and edits nothing. It proves the chain wiring and renders a DRY proof report; use it to validate a new goal class before a real run.
• /afk --auto delegates here. /afk --auto <goal> is the documented entry point that routes into /autodev; /afk goal mode without --auto stays interactive (grill → slice → handoff).

Outcome log

Follow skill-spec.md § 11. The Workflow's Report phase appends one row to {vault}/daily/skill-outcomes/autodev.log:

{date} | autodev | {run|dry} | ~/work/brain-os-plugin | daily/autodev-reports/{date}-{slug}.md | commit:{hash|N/A} | {result} | goal="{goal}" resolved=R gaps=G children=C implemented=I escalated=E verdict={PROVEN|PARTIAL|UNPROVEN}

• result: pass if verdict PROVEN; partial if PARTIAL or any child escalated / gap filed; fail if UNPROVEN or the Workflow errored.
• resolved=R gaps=G is the grounding metric (rising gaps on a covered goal = retriever/verifier regression — the signal /improve mines); escalated=E is the impl-quality signal.