session-orchestrator

Use when the user asks to improve architecture, find refactoring opportunities, surface deepening opportunities, consolidate tightly-coupled modules, or make a codebase more testable and AI-navigable. Surfaces shallow modules and hypothetical seams using a precise vocabulary (Module / Interface / Implementation / Depth / Seam / Adapter / Leverage / Locality from LANGUAGE.md).

Use this skill when running an autonomous session-orchestration loop. Chains session-start → session-plan → wave-executor → session-end for N iterations with all 10 kill-switches (SPIRAL, FAILED wave, carryover > 50%, max-hours, max-sessions, resource-overload, token-budget, stall-timeout, sub-threshold confidence, user-abort). Reads Mode-Selector output (Phase B) to decide auto-execute vs. fallback. Writes one autopilot.jsonl record per loop run. Phase C scaffold (issue #277); implementation lives in scripts/lib/autopilot.mjs (Phase C-1 follow-up).

Use this skill when scaffolding the minimum repository structure required by session-orchestrator. Invoked automatically by the Bootstrap Gate when CLAUDE.md, Session Config, or bootstrap.lock is missing. Also available as /bootstrap for manual invocation. Three intensity tiers: fast (demos/spikes), standard (MVPs), deep (production/team).

Use when you have a feature idea but the scope or UX is still ambiguous — runs a lightweight Socratic design dialogue (3-5 AUQ rounds) and writes a spec markdown file. Use BEFORE /plan feature when product intent needs validation; skip to /plan feature when scope is already clear. HARD-GATE prevents any code work until the design is user-approved.

Use when detecting drift between CLAUDE.md (or AGENTS.md, the Codex CLI alias) / _meta narrative and live repository state. Ten checks: absolute-path resolution, 01-projects/ count claims, issue-reference freshness, session-file existence, command-count sync, session-config-parity (mandatory template keys = error, opt-in gaps = warning), vault-dir-parity (CLAUDE.md vs AGENTS.md), generated-rule-staleness (WARN-only), rule-scoping (paths:/globs: frontmatter defects, dangling rule citations, zero-match globs), and docs-parity (docs/components.md count-claims vs on-disk counts, template-vs-reference config-key parity, stale .claude/metrics/ paths). Full per-check spec in the body table. Invoked as an opt-in session-end phase; mirrors vault-sync's lean JSON+exit-code contract.

Monitor iterative improvement loops for convergence. Three signals — shrinking diff, pass-rate plateau, velocity — drive a Stop/Continue/Investigate decision at each inter-wave checkpoint. Distinct from /evolve (retrospective) and session-reviewer (wave output review): convergence-monitoring answers "are we making progress?" not "was the last wave correct?". Primary consumer: /autoresearch loops and wave-executor inter-wave checkpoints.

Use when encountering any bug, test failure, build break, or unexpected behavior — runs a 4-phase systematic debugging process before proposing any fix. Iron Law: NO FIXES WITHOUT ROOT CAUSE INVESTIGATION FIRST. Produces a `.orchestrator/debug/` artifact the fixer agent must reference.

Use this skill when running systematic quality discovery and issue detection. Runs modular probes adapted to the project's tech stack, presents findings interactively for user triage, and creates VCS issues for confirmed problems. Invoked standalone via /discovery or embedded in session-end.

Use when you want the orchestrator to pick the next repo to work on across your whole portfolio — it enumerates candidate repos below the confinement root, resolves free/busy from each repo's session.lock lease, ranks the FREE ones by backlog priority × staleness × readiness, recommends the single most worthwhile one via AskUserQuestion, atomically claims it, and routes you to the chosen entry command. Triggers: "what should I work on next", "dispatch me to a repo", "pick the next project", "run /dispatcher". <example>Context: operator finished a session and wants the next-best repo across the portfolio. user: "/dispatcher" assistant: "Ranked 18 free repos — top recommendation: Pencil-Designs (score 4.50, 90d stale). Confirm via the picker, I'll claim its lease atomically, then route you to /session deep."</example>

Use this skill when orchestrating documentation generation and updates within a session. Maps session scope to audience-specific docs tasks (User / Dev / Vault), dispatches the docs-writer agent with source-grounded prompts, and reports coverage gaps to session-end. Gated on `docs-orchestrator.enabled: true` in Session Config. Zero overhead when disabled.

Monitor health across configured service endpoints, CI pipelines, and critical issues. Automatically invoked during session-start when ecosystem-health is enabled in Session Config.

Explain a topic like I'm a 5 year old — restate my last output, or a named topic, in plain words without dropping a single fact. Use when the user types /eli5 [topic], or says an answer was too technical, too long, or unclear about what he now has to do.

Use this skill to run an honest session-process evaluation (Standard v1, aiat-llm-eval/1.0) — score the last completed orchestrator session against the pre-registered rubric-v1 dimensions, run /eval, evaluate this session, produce an eval report, or re-verify a stored eval run for reproducibility. Deterministic-first with an optional advisory LLM judge; never produces a global score.

Use this skill when extracting session patterns into reusable learnings. Three modes: analyze (extract from session history), review (edit/manage existing learnings), list (display active learnings). Manages .orchestrator/metrics/learnings.jsonl.

Injects the canonical vault frontmatter schema snippet into agent prompts before any vault-write task, preventing malformed YAML frontmatter in Obsidian notes. <example>Context: wave-executor is about to dispatch a vault-mirror agent that writes learning notes under ~/Projects/vault/40-learnings/. user: "dispatch vault-write agent" assistant: "Injecting frontmatter-guard snippet into agent prompt (vault scope detected). Required fields: id, type, created, updated. Enum type: note|daily|project|person|reference|idea|learning|session." <commentary>The wave-executor pre-dispatch hook calls detectVaultTaskScope() — the fileScope contains /Projects/vault/40-learnings/ so the guard triggers and the snippet is prepended to the agent system prompt.</commentary></example>

Use this skill when performing VCS operations on GitLab or GitHub repositories — creating, updating, or closing issues and MRs, applying label taxonomy, running `glab`/`gh` CLI commands, or resolving project paths dynamically. Acts as the single source of truth for CLI command syntax and label conventions; consuming skills reference this rather than duplicating logic. Triggers: "create a GitLab issue", "list open MRs", "apply priority label", "how do I resolve the project ID", "what's the carryover issue template". <example>Context: session-end needs to file a carryover issue for an incomplete task. user: "/close" assistant: "Creating carryover issue via glab with the Carryover Template from gitlab-ops — labels: carryover, priority::high."</example>

Use when you need a single-pane cross-repo health view across all vault-registered GitLab and GitHub projects. Discovers repos from `_overview.md` frontmatter in `<vault>/01-projects/*/`, aggregates open issues, MRs, critical labels, and stale signals via parallel `glab`/`gh` calls, then writes an idempotent `_PORTFOLIO.md` dashboard. Runs automatically at session-start Phase 2 when `gitlab-portfolio.enabled=true`. Triggers: "show portfolio status", "refresh the portfolio dashboard", "which repos have critical issues", "run /portfolio". <example>Context: session-start, gitlab-portfolio.enabled=true, vault has 5 registered repos. user: "/session deep" assistant: "Portfolio: 3 critical issues across 2 repos — run /portfolio for details. Dashboard written to vault/01-projects/_PORTFOLIO.md."</example>

Use when the user wants a plan, design, or PRD stress-tested before any build — relentlessly interrogates one decision at a time, grounds every question in the codebase, hunts contradictions against the domain language and the code, and challenges the load-bearing assumptions. Triggered by "grill me", "stress-test this plan", "poke holes in my design". Composable — run standalone or as an adversarial pass before /plan feature.

Use when creating, modifying, or debugging Claude Code hooks — PreToolUse, PostToolUse, Stop, SubagentStop, SessionStart, SessionEnd, UserPromptSubmit, PreCompact, Notification. Covers the plugin `hooks/hooks.json` wrapper format vs. the user `settings.json` direct format, matchers, security patterns, `$CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT` portability, lifecycle limitations, and debugging. Trigger on "add a hook", "validate tool use", "block dangerous commands", "enforce completion", "hook-based automation".

Use when creating a new MCP (Model Context Protocol) server, extending an existing one, or debugging tool discoverability/performance. Guides through research → implementation → test → eval phases with TypeScript-first guidance matching our stack. Trigger on phrases like "build an MCP server", "expose X as an MCP tool", "write MCP tools for Y", "integrate Z via MCP".

Use this skill when performing manual memory consolidation (Dream-equivalent). Reviews, consolidates, and prunes memory files under ~/.claude/projects/*/memory/. Run after major refactors, every 5+ sessions, or when memory quality degrades (broken links, stale references, contradictions, MEMORY.md > 200 lines). Invoke with /memory-cleanup.

Use this skill when performing deterministic mode selection for session-start. Reads Phase A STATE.md recommendations + (future) learnings, sessions, backlog, bootstrap signals and returns {mode, rationale, confidence, alternatives}. Pure-function contract — no side effects, no STATE.md writes. Phase B scaffold (issue #276); full heuristic is follow-up sub-issues.

Use when publishing this package to npm — a version release (npm publish), verifying the registry/pi.dev listing, or diagnosing npm auth failures (E403 2FA/token errors). Token-based flow via NPM_TOKEN in .env.local with a temp userconfig, the leakage gate before every publish, post-publish verification and marker/badge upkeep. Trigger on "publish to npm", "npm release", "E403 publish error".

Use this skill when driving native-UI AX-tree snapshots and screenshots via steipete/peekaboo (MIT, macOS-only). Dispatched by `skills/test-runner/` to capture native-UI AX-tree snapshots + screenshots on macOS 15+ targets, and exits with deterministic JSON output the orchestrator can parse.

Use this skill when you need multi-persona parallel content review — domain experts, buyer personas, compliance reviewers, or custom catalog entries reviewing a target file or output. Dispatches N persona agents in parallel, consolidates verdicts via a configurable mode (voting-quorum, hard-gate-threshold, or coordinator-summary), and writes a timestamped sidecar to .orchestrator/persona-panel/. Invoked via /persona-panel <target-path>.

Use this skill when performing structured project planning and PRD generation with three modes: new (project kickoff with repo scaffolding), feature (compact feature PRD), retro (data-driven retrospective). All modes share a researched Q&A engine that dispatches parallel Explore agents before each question wave, presents options via AskUserQuestion with recommendations, and produces documents with prioritized issue creation.

Use this skill when executing web tests via the canonical `playwright` npm package (Microsoft, Apache-2.0). Dispatched by `skills/test-runner/` to execute web tests against a target, captures token-frugal AX-tree snapshots + screenshots + console output under `.orchestrator/metrics/test-runs/<run-id>/`, and exits with deterministic JSON output the orchestrator can parse.

Use this skill when referencing canonical quality check commands for typecheck, test, and lint. Defines 4 variants (Baseline, Incremental, Full Gate, Per-File) used by session-start, wave-executor, session-end, and session-reviewer. Reference skill — not invoked directly.

Use this skill when the user wants to reconcile learnings into rules, run /reconcile, propose rules from learnings, turn learnings into .claude/rules/ entries, or review what rules would be generated from current session learnings. On-demand version of session-end Phase 3.6.8.

Use when local resource pressure would shrink or coordinator-direct a wave, a wave plan carries heavy build/test/audit roles (test, ui, perf), or the operator says offload, remote host, or auslagern — reference for routing that wave role to a declared SSH-reachable host instead of reducing agent count

Use this skill when the user wants to audit a repository for baseline compliance, check code quality, security posture, CI/CD setup, testing, documentation, and ecosystem configuration. Runs 9 checklist categories and emits a Markdown report plus JSON sidecar at .orchestrator/metrics/repo-audit-<timestamp>.json. <example>Context: User is in a project repo and wants a baseline compliance check. user: "/repo-audit" assistant: "Running repo-audit across 9 categories — Configuration, Code Quality, Git Hygiene, CI/CD, Testing, Security, Documentation, Clank Integration (optional), and MCP Configuration. Will produce a Markdown checklist report and JSON sidecar." <commentary>The user wants a compliance check; this skill is appropriate because it runs all 9 categories with pass/fail/warn/skipped statuses and writes structured output.</commentary></example>

Use this skill when performing a full session close-out: verifies all planned work against the agreed plan, creates issues for gaps, runs quality gates, commits cleanly, mirrors to GitHub, and produces a session summary. Triggered by /close command.

Creates a structured wave execution plan with role-based assignment after user alignment. Decomposes agreed tasks into configurable waves (default 5) with optimal agent assignment, dependency ordering, and inter-wave checkpoints. Activated by session-start after Q&A phase completes.

Use this skill when initializing a session for any project repo. Autonomously analyzes git state, VCS issues, SSOT files, branches, environment, and cross-repo status. Then presents structured findings with recommendations for user alignment before creating a wave plan. Triggered by /session [housekeeping|feature|deep] command.

Use when extracting a project into its own repo — a venture spinout (e.g. a product leaving its incubator repo) or a sanitized content-snapshot fork. Guided 5-step runbook: target sphere + path, confidentiality/sanitize check, copy + fresh git init, SNAPSHOT-FREEZE marker in the source repo, remotes + registration. Trigger on 'spin out X', 'extract this into its own repo', 'fork X sanitized'.

Use this skill when the user wants to identify unused, near-zero-use, or stale skills/agents/commands in the plugin surface so they can be demoted or retired. Combines agent-dispatch telemetry (start-events only) with static reference scanning, classifies every surface item into Active / Investigate / Demote / Retire, and emits a Markdown report plus JSON sidecar. NEVER auto-deletes — surfaces candidates for human decision. Quarterly cadence. <example>Context: The plugin surface has grown and the maintainer wants to prune dead weight. user: "/sunset-review" assistant: "Running the sunset walk — classifying skills, agents, and commands by usage telemetry + static refs, grouped by Retire / Demote / Investigate / Active. No item is deleted automatically; I'll surface Retire/Demote candidates for your decision." <commentary>The user wants a usage-driven prune candidate list; this skill runs the read-only walker, presents grouped verdicts, and writes a sidecar — it never deletes.</commentary></example>

Use this skill when orchestrating agentic end-to-end tests. Resolves target + profile, dispatches the right driver(s) (playwright for web today, peekaboo for macOS (issue #381)), invokes the ux-evaluator agent (opus, read-only) against driver artifacts, reconciles findings with the open issue tracker via scripts/lib/test-runner/issue-reconcile.mjs, and writes report.md + JSONL roll-up. Wraps upstream tools (no forks). Hard-gates Playwright MCP for browser drive (4× token cost vs CLI per Microsoft's own benchmark).

Use this skill when the operator wants a prepared tmux visualization layout for the session's side-channels (STATE.md tail, CI-watch, events.jsonl tail). Renders a 4-pane default layout or debug layout. Read-only side-channel observability — the coordinator chat stays in the operator's original terminal. Trigger phrases: "tmux layout", "split panes for ci watch", "visualize session side-channels", "show me state-md tail and ci".

Use this skill when dispatching implicit slash-command intent from the user's first message. Inspects the user's first message for implicit slash-command intent and dispatches to the highest-confidence matching entry-point skill via the Skill tool. Only active when `auto-skill-dispatch: true` in Session Config. Silent no-op otherwise.

Use when you need to populate the Meta-Vault with machine-generated notes derived from session-orchestrator JSONL records. Converts entries from `.orchestrator/metrics/sessions.jsonl` and `.orchestrator/metrics/learnings.jsonl` into vault-conformant Markdown under `50-sessions/` and `40-learnings/`. Called automatically at session-end Phase 3.7 and after evolve Phase 3.5 — only when `vault-integration.enabled=true` and `vault-integration.mode != "off"`. Idempotent: re-runs safely; skips hand-authored notes. Triggers: "mirror to vault", "sync session notes to vault", "write learning notes to vault", "vault-mirror failed at session close". <example>Context: session-end is finalizing, vault-integration.mode is "warn". user: "/close" assistant: "Running vault-mirror to write 50-sessions/session-2026-05-17.md from the closing session record — 1 created, 0 skipped."</example>

Use when you need to validate the Meta-Vault's Markdown frontmatter and wiki-link integrity before closing a session or after vault edits. Runs as a hard gate at session-end Phase 1 — blocks close if any `.md` file fails the Zod frontmatter schema or has dangling `[[wiki-links]]`. Supports three modes: `hard` (blocks on errors), `warn` (reports without blocking), `off` (skip). Reads `vault-sync.*` from Session Config; respects per-vault exclude globs from `CLAUDE.md`. Triggers: "vault validation failed at session close", "fix vault frontmatter errors", "check vault wiki-links", "why is session-end blocked by vault-sync". <example>Context: session-end Phase 1 quality gate, vault-sync.enabled=true, vault-sync.mode="hard". user: "/close" assistant: "vault-sync found 2 frontmatter errors in vault/40-learnings/ml-notes.md — missing required `id` field. Fixing before close."</example>

Use this skill when executing the agreed session plan in waves with role-based execution and parallel subagents. Handles inter-wave quality checks, plan adaptation, and progress tracking. Core orchestration engine for feature and deep sessions. Triggered by /go command.

Use when you have a PRD or design spec and need a bite-sized, executable implementation plan that any agent can follow without re-deriving structure. Produces `docs/plans/YYYY-MM-DD-<feature>.md` with per-task Files block, complete code per step (no placeholders), and exact verification commands. Rejects "TBD", "TODO", "add error handling", "similar to Task N".