---
name: autodev
description: |
  Auto-chaining orchestrator that drives the full BUILD → SHIP → EVOLVE workflow from problem gathering through release and retrospective.
  Detects current project state from _docs/ folder, resumes from where it left off, and flows through
  problem → research → plan (incl. ADRs) → test specs → decompose → implement → tests → docs sync → deploy → release → retrospective without manual skill invocation.
  Maximizes work per conversation by auto-transitioning between skills.
  Trigger phrases:
  - "autodev", "auto", "start", "continue"
  - "what's next", "where am I", "project status"
category: meta
tags: [orchestrator, workflow, auto-chain, state-machine, meta-skill]
disable-model-invocation: true
---

# Autodev Orchestrator

Auto-chaining execution engine that drives the full BUILD → SHIP → EVOLVE workflow. Detects project state from `_docs/`, resumes from where work stopped, and flows through skills automatically. The user invokes `/autodev` once — the engine handles sequencing, transitions, and re-entry.

## File Index

| File | Purpose |
|------|---------|
| `flows/greenfield.md` | Detection rules, step table, and auto-chain rules for new projects |
| `flows/existing-code.md` | Detection rules, step table, and auto-chain rules for existing codebases |
| `flows/meta-repo.md` | Detection rules, step table, and auto-chain rules for meta-repositories (submodule aggregators, workspace monorepos) |
| `state.md` | State file format, rules, re-entry protocol, session boundaries |
| `protocols.md` | User interaction, tracker auth, choice format, error handling, status summary |

**On every invocation**: read `state.md`, `protocols.md`, and the active flow file before executing any logic. You don't need to read flow files for flows you're not in.

## Core Principles

- **Auto-chain**: when a skill completes, immediately start the next one — no pause between skills
- **Only pause at decision points**: BLOCKING gates inside sub-skills are the natural pause points; do not add artificial stops between steps
- **State from disk**: current step is persisted to `_docs/_autodev_state.md` and cross-checked against `_docs/` folder structure
- **Re-entry**: on every invocation, read the state file and cross-check against `_docs/` folders before continuing
- **Delegate, don't duplicate**: read and execute each sub-skill's SKILL.md; never inline their logic here
- **Sound on pause**: follow `.cursor/rules/human-attention-sound.mdc` — play a notification sound before every pause that requires human input (AskQuestion tool preferred for structured choices; fall back to plain text if unavailable)
- **Minimize interruptions**: only ask the user when the decision genuinely cannot be resolved automatically
- **Single project per workspace**: all `_docs/` paths are relative to workspace root; for multi-component systems, each component needs its own Cursor workspace. **Exception**: a meta-repo workspace (git-submodule aggregator or monorepo workspace) uses the `meta-repo` flow and maintains cross-cutting artifacts via `monorepo-*` skills rather than per-component BUILD-SHIP flows.

## Flow Resolution

Determine which flow to use (check in order — first match wins):

1. If `_docs/_autodev_state.md` exists → read the `flow` field and use that flow. (When a greenfield project completes its final cycle, the Done step rewrites `flow: existing-code` in-band so the next invocation enters the feature-cycle loop — see greenfield "Done".)
2. If the workspace is a **meta-repo** → **meta-repo flow**. Detected by: presence of `.gitmodules` with ≥2 submodules, OR `package.json` with `workspaces` field, OR `pnpm-workspace.yaml`, OR `Cargo.toml` with `[workspace]` section, OR `go.work`, OR an ad-hoc structure with multiple top-level component folders each containing their own project manifests. Optional tiebreaker: the workspace has little or no source code of its own at the root (just registry + orchestration files).
3. If workspace has **no source code files** → **greenfield flow**
4. If workspace has source code files **and** `_docs/` does not exist → **existing-code flow**
5. If workspace has source code files **and** `_docs/` exists → **existing-code flow**

After selecting the flow, apply its detection rules (first match wins) to determine the current step.

**Note**: the meta-repo flow uses a different artifact layout — its source of truth is `_docs/_repo-config.yaml`, not `_docs/NN_*/` folders. After Step 2.5 it also produces `_docs/glossary.md` and a `## Architecture Vision` section in the cross-cutting architecture doc identified by `docs.cross_cutting`. Other detection rules assume the BUILD-SHIP artifact layout; they don't apply to meta-repos.

## Execution Loop

Every invocation has three phases: **Bootstrap** (runs once), **Resolve** (runs once), **Execute Loop** (runs per step). Exit conditions are explicit.

```
### Bootstrap (once per invocation)
B1. Process leftovers       — delegate to `.cursor/rules/tracker.mdc` → Leftovers Mechanism
                               (authoritative spec: replay rules, escalation, blocker handling).
B2. Surface Recent Lessons  — print top 3 entries from `_docs/LESSONS.md` if present; skip silently otherwise.
B3. Read state              — `_docs/_autodev_state.md` (if it exists).
B4. Read File Index         — `state.md`, `protocols.md`, and the active flow file.

### Resolve (once per invocation, after Bootstrap)
R1. Reconcile state         — verify state file against `_docs/` contents; probe `<workspace-root>/../docs`
                               (parent suite `docs/` — see `state.md` → "State File Rules" #4); on disagreement,
                               trust the folders and update the state file (rules: `state.md` → "State File Rules" #4).
                               After this step, `state.step` / `state.status` are authoritative.
R2. Resolve flow            — see §Flow Resolution above.
R3. Resolve current step    — when a state file exists, `state.step` drives detection.
                               When no state file exists, walk the active flow's detection rules in order;
                               first folder-probe match wins.
R4. Present Status Summary  — banner template in `protocols.md` + step-list fragment from the active flow file.

### Execute Loop (per step)
loop:
  E1. Delegate to the current skill (see §Skill Delegation below).
  E2. On FAILED
        → apply Failure Handling (`protocols.md`): increment retry_count, auto-retry up to 3.
        → if retry_count reaches 3 → set status: failed → EXIT (escalate on next invocation).
  E3. On success
        → reset retry_count, update state file (rules: `state.md`).
  E4. Re-detect next step from the active flow's detection rules.
  E5. If the transition is marked as a session boundary in the flow's Auto-Chain Rules
        → update state, present boundary Choose block, suggest new conversation → EXIT.
  E6. If all steps done
        → update state, report completion → EXIT.
  E7. Else
        → continue loop (go to E1 with the next skill).
```

## Skill Delegation

For each step, the delegation pattern is:

1. Update state file: set `step` to the autodev step number, status to `in_progress`, set `sub_step` to the sub-skill's current internal phase using the structured `{phase, name, detail}` schema (see `state.md`), reset `retry_count: 0`
2. Announce: "Starting [Skill Name]..."
3. Read the skill file: `.cursor/skills/[name]/SKILL.md`
4. Execute the skill's workflow exactly as written, including all BLOCKING gates, self-verification checklists, save actions, and escalation rules. Update `sub_step.phase`, `sub_step.name`, and optional `sub_step.detail` in state each time the sub-skill advances to a new internal phase.
5. If the skill **fails**: follow Failure Handling in `protocols.md` — increment `retry_count`, auto-retry up to 3 times, then escalate.
6. When complete (success): reset `retry_count: 0`, update state file to the next step with `status: not_started` and `sub_step: {phase: 0, name: awaiting-invocation, detail: ""}`, return to auto-chain rules (from active flow file)

**sub_step read fallback**: when reading `sub_step`, parse the structured form. If parsing fails (legacy free-text value) OR the named phase is not recognized, log a warning and fall back to a folder scan of the sub-skill's artifact directory to infer progress. Do not silently treat a malformed sub_step as phase 0 — that would cause a sub-skill to restart from scratch after each resume.

Do NOT modify, skip, or abbreviate any part of the sub-skill's workflow. The autodev is a sequencer, not an optimizer.

## State File

The state file (`_docs/_autodev_state.md`) is a minimal pointer — only the current step. See `state.md` for the authoritative template, field semantics, update rules, and worked examples. Do not restate the schema here — `state.md` is the single source of truth.

**Conciseness rule (authoritative).** The state file MUST stay short. Acceptable content per field:

- `name` — the step title from the active flow's Step Reference Table. That's it.
- `sub_step.name` — kebab-case identifier from the active sub-skill. That's it.
- `sub_step.detail` — **leave empty (`""`) by default.** Add a one-line note ONLY when the next-session resumer cannot infer where to pick up from `phase` + `name` + on-disk artifacts alone (e.g. `"batch 2 of 4"`, `"blocked on D-PROJ-2 reply"`, `"variant 1b"`). NEVER use `detail` as a changelog, recap, or summary of completed work — those facts belong in the relevant `_docs/` artifact (glossary, traceability matrix, leftovers folder, retro report, etc.) and in git history.
- **Total file size target: <30 lines.** If you're tempted to write more, you're using the wrong artifact — write in `_docs/` instead.

Multi-line `detail` blobs that recap what was just completed are a smell. The state file is a *pointer*, not a logbook.

## Trigger Conditions

This skill activates when the user wants to:
- Start a new project from scratch
- Continue an in-progress project
- Check project status
- Let the AI guide them through the full workflow

**Keywords**: "autodev", "auto", "start", "continue", "what's next", "where am I", "project status"

**Invocation model**: this skill is explicitly user-invoked only (`disable-model-invocation: true` in the front matter). The keywords above aid skill discovery and tooling (other skills / agents can reason about when `/autodev` is appropriate), but the model never auto-fires this skill from a keyword match. The user always types `/autodev`.

**Differentiation**:
- User wants only research → use `/research` directly
- User wants only planning → use `/plan` directly
- User wants to document an existing codebase → use `/document` directly
- User wants the full guided workflow → use `/autodev`

## Flow Reference

See `flows/greenfield.md`, `flows/existing-code.md`, and `flows/meta-repo.md` for step tables, detection rules, auto-chain rules, and each flow's Status Summary step-list fragment. The banner that wraps those fragments lives in `protocols.md` → "Banner Template (authoritative)".
