Agent skill
development-harness
Development Harness plugin overview and skill router — use when unsure which dh skill to invoke. Routes by intent — capture, groom, plan, execute, single task, quality gates, or milestone. Activates on 'which skill', 'where do I start', 'development workflow', or direct /dh invocation.
Install this agent skill to your Project
npx add-skill https://github.com/Jamie-BitFlight/claude_skills/tree/main/plugins/development-harness/skills/development-harness
SKILL.md
Development Harness — Plugin Overview and Skill Router
This skill routes to the correct entry point for the development lifecycle. Read it to decide which skill to invoke — not to execute work.
SAM Workflow Pipeline
/dh:add-new-feature ──> /dh:implement-feature ──> /dh:complete-implementation
(planning) (execution loop) (quality gates)
What This Plugin Provides
The development-harness plugin implements the structured development lifecycle for tracked backlog items. It spans capture through verified closure using a chain of skills backed by GitHub Issues as the source of truth and ~/.dh/projects/{slug}/ as the local state directory.
Skills available: /dh:create-backlog-item, /dh:groom-backlog-item, /dh:work-backlog-item, /dh:add-new-feature, /dh:implement-feature, /dh:complete-implementation, /dh:work-milestone
Plugin-level source copies exist at plugins/development-harness/skills/ for each skill.
Skill Router — "I want to do X"
flowchart TD
Start([What do you want to do?]) --> Q1{Intent?}
Q1 -->|Capture new work —<br>bug, feature idea, observation| Create["/dh:create-backlog-item<br>Modes: guided intake, quick title, --auto title<br>Writes to ~/.dh/projects/{slug}/backlog/"]
Q1 -->|Prepare an item for planning —<br>verify claims, map impact, estimate effort| Groom["/dh:groom-backlog-item {title|section|all}<br>RT-ICA + parallel swarm: fact-checker,<br>impact-analyst, rtica-assessor, classifier, groomer<br>Requires: item exists in backlog"]
Q1 -->|Plan AND execute a backlog item<br>end-to-end through closure| Work["/dh:work-backlog-item {title|#N|--auto}<br>Handles: auto-groom, RT-ICA gate, SAM planning,<br>GitHub sync, close, resolve<br>STOPS if item already has a Plan field"]
Q1 -->|Plan a feature — produce SAM artifacts<br>without executing| Plan["/dh:add-new-feature {feature description}<br>Phases: discovery → codebase analysis →<br>architecture spec → task decomposition →<br>validation → context manifest<br>Output: feature slug + P{NNN} task plan"]
Q1 -->|Execute an existing plan —<br>task plan already produced| Execute["/dh:implement-feature {plan path or slug}<br>Loops ready tasks, dispatches agents,<br>calls complete-implementation when all tasks COMPLETE"]
Q1 -->|Work a single specific task<br>inside an existing plan| Single["/dh:start-task {plan path} --task {task-id}<br>Used by implement-feature per-task dispatch —<br>invoke directly to target one task"]
Q1 -->|Run quality gates after<br>all tasks are COMPLETE| QG["/dh:complete-implementation {plan path|#N}<br>6-phase SAM path (with plan) or<br>3-phase proportional path (issue only):<br>code review → verification → integration →<br>doc drift → doc update → context refinement"]
Q1 -->|Work a full milestone<br>in parallel isolated worktrees| Milestone["/dh:work-milestone<br>Wave-based parallel execution — each item<br>gets its own worktree. Use /dh:groom-milestone first."]
Lifecycle — Creation to Verified Closure
flowchart TD
Capture["/dh:create-backlog-item<br>Per-item file in ~/.dh/.../backlog/"] --> Groom
Groom["/dh:groom-backlog-item<br>RT-ICA + impact radius + fact-check<br>Item status: needs-grooming → groomed"] --> Work
Work["/dh:work-backlog-item<br>Auto-groom gate → RT-ICA gate →<br>SAM planning via /add-new-feature<br>Attaches plan to backlog item"] --> Execute
Execute["/dh:implement-feature<br>SAM dispatch loop — ready tasks →<br>agents → hooks update task status"] --> QG
QG["/dh:complete-implementation<br>6 quality gate phases → status:verified label<br>Fixes #N commit — issue closure"] --> Done(["Item resolved"])
Work -.->|item already has Plan field| Execute
Work -.->|close or resolve mode| Done
Key invariants derived from the skill sources:
/dh:work-backlog-itemstops immediately when the item already has aPlanfield — use/dh:implement-featureinstead/dh:work-backlog-itemstops at the RT-ICA gate when MISSING conditions remain unresolved- Task-level commits produced during
/dh:implement-featuremust NOT includeFixes #N— that trailer is reserved for the final commit in/dh:complete-implementation - The
status:verifiedlabel applied by/dh:complete-implementationis a prerequisite for/dh:work-backlog-item resolve
Quick Decision Reference
| Situation | Skill |
|---|---|
| Item does not exist yet | /dh:create-backlog-item |
| Item exists, not yet groomed | /dh:groom-backlog-item {title} |
| Item is groomed, no plan yet | /dh:work-backlog-item {title} |
| Item has a Plan field | /dh:implement-feature {plan path or slug} |
| Plan is executing, one task needs focus | /dh:start-task {plan} --task {id} |
| All tasks complete, run quality gates | /dh:complete-implementation {plan path} |
| Issue number, no plan | /dh:complete-implementation #{N} (proportional gates) |
| Groomed item, skip to planning directly | /dh:add-new-feature {description} then /dh:implement-feature |
| Full milestone in parallel worktrees | /dh:groom-milestone then /dh:work-milestone |
| Dismiss without completing | /dh:work-backlog-item close {title} |
| Mark completed with evidence | /dh:work-backlog-item resolve {title} |
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