Development Loop

The primary workflow is a three-phase loop:

research-codebase    →  create-plan  →  implement-plan
        ↓                    ↓                 ↓
meta/research/codebase/ meta/plans/    checked-off plan

1. Research — research-codebase "how does auth work?": Investigate the codebase using parallel subagents. Produces a structured research document in meta/research/codebase/ with findings, file references, and architectural context.

2. Plan — create-plan ENG-1234: Build a phased implementation plan informed by research. Produces a plan document in meta/plans/ with specific file changes, success criteria, and testing strategy. The plan is reviewed by the developer before proceeding.

3. Implement — implement-plan @meta/plans/plan.md: Execute the plan phase by phase, checking off success criteria as each phase completes. The plan file serves as both instructions and progress tracker.

Companion skills

Three optional skills strengthen the loop around the plan. Use as many or as few as a change warrants:

• review-plan and stress-test-plan harden a plan before any code is written — review applies fixed quality lenses, stress-test interrogates your reasoning interactively. Update the plan in response and re-run as needed.
• validate-plan runs after implementation to confirm the code matches the plan and surface anything that drifted.

This loop is the centre of the wider Full Workflow. For the per-skill reference — invocation, arguments, and what each writes to meta/ — see Development Loop skills. For the investigative and note-capture companions that feed into it, see Investigation & Notes.