name: steering-specs-generator description: Extract tacit engineering knowledge through guided interviews and generate structured steerings. Use when user mentions "steerings", "tacit knowledge", "conventions", "engineering practices", "interview", or wants to document team/project knowledge. Also activates when user asks for "steerings for X", "document X conventions", "continue steerings", "resume interview", or wants to extract knowledge about a specific topic. Supports reviewing and transforming existing steerings to standard format. Auto-detects existing sessions and offers to continue incomplete ones. allowed-tools: Read, Write, AskUserQuestion, Glob, Task

Steering Specs Generator

Conducts context-aware interviews to extract tacit engineering knowledge and generate agent-readable steerings. Format: Intent (Why) → Rules (What) → Practices (How) → Meta.

Supports predefined packs (8 areas) and custom topics (user-specified).

Flow overview: See flow-diagram.md for visual representation.

Prerequisites

pack-reference.md — Topic areas and questions
steering-template.md — Output format
Access to AskUserQuestion and Task tools

Mode Selection

Keywords	Mode
"review steerings", "transform steerings", "fix format"	→ Review Mode (Step R)
"continue steerings", "continue session", "resume interview"	→ Interview Mode (Step 0) with session check
"steerings", "tacit knowledge", "interview", "conventions"	→ Interview Mode (Step 0)

Interview Flow

Step 0: Check for Existing Sessions

Before configuring paths, check if sessions already exist in the repo:

Scan common session directories:
- .sessions/
- sessions/
- docs/sessions/
If sessions found, present AskUserQuestion:

questions:
  - question: "Found existing session(s). Continue or start fresh?"
    header: "Session"
    options:
      - label: "Continue {sessionId}"
        description: "Resume incomplete session ({N} of {M} packs done)"
      - label: "Start new session"
        description: "Create fresh session with new ID"

If continuing existing session:
- Set sessionsPath to parent directory of found session
- Set sessionId to selected session name
- Scan {sessionsPath}{sessionId}/ for completed pack files
- Completed pack detection: A pack is complete if:
  - File {packId}.md exists AND
  - Contains ## Interview section with at least one ### Q entry
- Store completedPacks[] list (pack IDs to skip)
- Read explore-docs-conventions.md and explore-repo-context.md paths if they exist
- Skip to Step 3 (Pack Interview Loop), filtering out completed packs
If starting new or no sessions found → Continue to Step 0a

Step 0a: Configure Output Paths

Ask user to confirm paths using AskUserQuestion:

questions:
  - question: "Where should steering files be saved?"
    header: "Steerings"
    options: ["./steerings/", "docs/steerings/", ".memory-bank/steerings/", "Custom"]
  - question: "Where should session files be saved?"
    header: "Sessions"
    options: ["./sessions/", ".sessions/", "docs/sessions/", "Custom"]
  - question: "Where should action items be saved?"
    header: "Backlog"
    options: ["./backlog/", "Same as steerings parent", ".backlog/", "Custom"]

Store: steeringsPath, sessionsPath, backlogPath. Create directories if needed.

Defaults: steerings/, sessions/, backlog/

Step 0b: Generate `sessionId` - short words id

Step 1: Define Topics

Custom topic detected (patterns: "steerings for X", "document X conventions"):

If clear → Generate packId, packName, packType: "custom", customTopicDescription
If broad → Clarify with AskUserQuestion (aspects, level, scope)

No custom topic → Present 8 predefined packs as multi-select:

Pack	ID
Codebase Topology & Ownership	`codebase-topology-ownership`
Architecture & Design Invariants	`architecture-design-invariants`
Business Domain Contracts	`business-domain-contracts`
Quality & Style Assurance	`quality-style-assurance`
Testing & Verification Strategy	`testing-verification-strategy`
Risk & Historical Landmines	`risk-historical-landmines`
Security, Data & Compliance	`security-data-compliance`
Delivery Lifecycle & Change Flow	`delivery-lifecycle-change-flow`

Step 2: Discovery (Parallel Explore)

Run TWO Explore agents in parallel. Each writes report to {sessionsPath}{sessionId} and returns path.

Explore #1 - Docs & Conventions:

Analyze repository for: steering files, CONVENTIONS.md, ARCHITECTURE.md,
CLAUDE.md, README conventions, eslint/prettier/tsconfig.

OUTPUT: Write to `{sessionsPath}{sessionId}/explore-docs-conventions.md`, return path.

Explore #2 - Repo Context:

Analyze: project purpose, tech stack, directory structure, main modules, patterns.

OUTPUT: Write to `{sessionsPath}{sessionId}/explore-repo-context.md`, return path.

Capture paths: docsConventionsReportPath, repoContextReportPath

Step 3: Pack Interview Loop

Filter packs: If completedPacks[] exists (from session continuation), exclude those pack IDs from processing.

Show progress when continuing:

Continuing session: {sessionId}
✅ Completed: {completedPacks.join(', ')}
⏳ Remaining: {remainingPacks.join(', ')}

Spawn a Task agent per pack (only sequentally, do not run in parallel).

subagent_type: "general-purpose"
description: "Interview for {packName}"
prompt: |
  Conduct interview for a single pack and save results.

  ## Pack Info
  - Pack ID: {packId}
  - Pack Name: {packName}
  - Pack Type: {packType}  # "predefined" or "custom"
  - Custom Description: {customTopicDescription}  # only if custom

  ## Context Files
  - Pack Reference: .claude/skills/steering-specs-generator/pack-reference.md
  - Repo Context: {repoContextReportPath}
  - Docs & Conventions: {docsConventionsReportPath}

  ## Output
  - Path: {sessionsPath}{sessionId}/{packId}.md

  ## Instructions

  ### 1. Read Context
  Read pack-reference.md to get:
  - Explore prompt template for this pack
  - Question themes for this pack

  Read repoContextReportPath and docsConventionsReportPath for grounding.

  ### 2. Topic-Specific Explore (Step 4)
  Run Explore agent using pack's template prompt.
  For custom packs: generate prompt from customTopicDescription.

  ### 3. Generate Questions (Step 5)
  Question count:
  - Predefined: 5
  - Custom (narrow): 3-4
  - Custom (medium): 5
  - Custom (broad): 6-7

  Guidelines:
  - Ground in Explore findings + existing docs
  - Reference actual code: "I see X in Y file..."
  - Ask about conventions, not roadmap
  - Offer 4 options (A/B/C/D)
  - Mark one as "⭐ Recommended" at end of description

  Pattern:
  Q: I found {finding}. How should {convention question}?
  A) {Option} — {rationale}
  B) {Option} — {rationale} ⭐ Recommended
  C) {Option} — {rationale}
  D) {Option} — {rationale}

  ### 4. Conduct Interview (Step 6)
  Present via AskUserQuestion (max 4 per call).

  ### 5. Classify Responses (Step 6.5)
  For each response, classify as:
  - CONVENTION: Timeless, future-focused ("When implementing X, do Y")
  - ACTION_ITEM: Temporal, fixes current state ("Replace X", "Fix X")

  ### 6. Save Results
  Write to {sessionsPath}{sessionId}/{packId}.md

Session structure:

{sessionsPath}
└── {sessionId}/
    ├── codebase-topology-ownership.md
    ├── architecture-design-invariants.md
    ├── {custom-pack-id}.md
    └── ...

Pack file format:

# {Pack Name}
**Pack ID:** {id}

## Explore Findings
{summary of topic-specific exploration}

## Interview

### Q1: {Short question summary}
**Selected:** {Selected option text}
**Notes:** {User's additional context, if any}
**Classification:** CONVENTION | ACTION_ITEM

### Q2: ...

Step 4: Await Pack Interviews

Wait for all pack interview agents to complete. Each writes its results to {sessionsPath}{sessionId}/{packId}.md with classifications already included.

Step 5: Generate Outputs

Delegate to general-purpose subagent, choose Opus model:

subagent_type: "general-purpose"
description: "Generate steerings and action items"
prompt: |
  Generate steerings AND action items from interview sessions.

  Session directory: {sessionsPath}{sessionId}/
  (contains one .md file per pack with classifications)

  Docs report: {docsConventionsReportPath}
  Repo report: {repoContextReportPath}
  Template: .claude/skills/steering-specs-generator/steering-template.md

  Output paths: {steeringsPath}, {backlogPath}

  Instructions:
  1. Read all pack files from session directory
  2. Extract CONVENTION items → generate steering files
  3. Extract ACTION_ITEM items → generate backlog file
  4. Generate index.md for steerings

Steering filenames:

Pack ID	Filename
codebase-topology-ownership	code-ownership.md
architecture-design-invariants	architecture-invariants.md
business-domain-contracts	domain-invariants.md
quality-style-assurance	quality-and-style.md
testing-verification-strategy	testing-strategy.md
risk-historical-landmines	risk-registry.md
security-data-compliance	security-and-compliance.md
delivery-lifecycle-change-flow	delivery-lifecycle.md
{custom-pack-id}	{custom-pack-id}.md

Rule style:

✅ "When implementing X, do Y" / "Use X for Y" / "New features require X"
❌ "Proactively refactor X" / "Continue using X" / "Add X to existing code"

Action items file: {backlogPath}steering-specs-action-items.md

Severity: 🔴 CRITICAL (data loss, security) → 🟡 HIGH → 🟢 MEDIUM → 🔵 LOW → ⏸️ DEFERRED

Step 6: Present Results

Generated steerings:
- {steeringsPath}*.md (N rules, M practices each)
- {steeringsPath}index.md

Action Items: {backlogPath}steering-specs-action-items.md
- 🔴 Critical: N | 🟡 High: N | 🟢 Medium: N

Session: {sessionsPath}{sessionId}/
- {packId-1}.md
- {packId-2}.md
- ...

Review Mode (Step R)

Transform existing steerings to standard format.

R1: Locate Steerings

Auto-detect or ask: steerings/, docs/steerings/, .steerings/

R2: Analyze with Explore

subagent_type: "Explore"
prompt: |
  Analyze steering files in {steeringsPath}:
  - Structure: Intent → Rules → Practices → Meta?
  - Rules: numbered, prescriptive, no metadata?
  - Code examples: 5-15 lines?
  - File size: <200 lines?

  Report compliant vs non-compliant files with specific issues.

R3: Present Summary

✅ Compliant: file1.md, file2.md
⚠️ Need transformation:
- file3.md: Missing Intent, verbose rules
- file4.md: Code examples too long

R4: Ask Action

Options: Transform all | Transform specific | Backup and transform | Plan only | Skip

R5: Transform

Delegate to general-purpose subagent with transformation guidelines from steering-template.md.

R6: Present Results

Show changes per file, regenerate index.md.

Quick Reference

Activation keywords: steerings, tacit knowledge, interview, conventions, "steerings for X", "continue steerings"

Session continuation: Auto-detects existing sessions in .sessions/, sessions/, docs/sessions/. Offers to resume incomplete sessions, skipping completed packs.

8 Predefined Packs: Topology, Architecture, Domain, Quality, Testing, Risk, Security, Delivery

Output format: Intent (1 sentence) → Rules (numbered) → Practices (heading + explanation) → Meta

Files generated:

{steeringsPath}*.md — Steering files
{steeringsPath}index.md — Table of contents
{backlogPath}steering-specs-action-items.md — Action items
{sessionsPath}{sessionId}/{packId}.md — Interview responses per pack
{sessionsPath}explore-*.md — Discovery reports

Reference files:

flow-diagram.md — Visual flow
pack-reference.md — Pack definitions and Explore prompts
steering-template.md — Output format validation

steering-specs-generator