How-to: choose your workflow¶

Pick the route that matches your situation. Each is a canonical chris-code workflow — a graph of the skills it chains, when to reach for it, and how to start. Follow the link for the step-by-step recipe, or the why link for the design rationale.

All routes converge on the same engines: design-open work runs the pipeline; everything with a settled end-state runs through coherent-change (which finds the method and sizes the change); discovery skills propose and hand off, they never apply.

Build a new feature¶

Use when what to build is still open — a feature, a new subsystem, anything design-first.

flowchart LR
  b[brainstorming] --> s[lean-spec] --> p[lean-plan] --> e[subagent-driven-development] --> v[verification] --> f[finishing]

Start: /brainstorming (or just describe the feature). → recipe · why

Make a determined change¶

Use when the behavior is settled and only the implementation is open — a refactor, migration, or API alignment.

flowchart LR
  c[coherent-change] --> d{scale?}
  d -->|single edit| inline[build inline → close]
  d -->|major| plan[lean-spec → lean-plan → SDD]

Start: /coherent-change. → recipe · why

Fix a bug — cause known¶

Use when you have a known defect (a tracked issue, a review finding) with more than one plausible fix.

flowchart LR
  r[remediating-issues] --> c[coherent-change] --> rt[regression-test] --> v[verification] --> f[finishing]

Start: /remediating-issues. → recipe

Fix a bug — cause unknown¶

Use when something fails unexpectedly and you don't yet know why — never patch before the root cause is found.

flowchart LR
  sd[systematic-debugging] -->|root cause| c[coherent-change] --> close[regression → verification → finishing]

Start: /systematic-debugging. → recipe

Remediate a sweeping audit¶

Use when an audit has surfaced many findings at once (code-archaeology's gaps/stubs, bug-hunt's edge-case bugs).

flowchart LR
  a[code-archaeology / bug-hunt] --> art[(report)] --> off{remediate?}
  off -->|defer| later[keep the artifact]
  off -->|batch| c[coherent-change / remediating-issues — batch] --> sp[one lean-spec → lean-plan → SDD]

Start: /code-archaeology or /bug-hunt; accept the remediation offer to batch. → recipe

Remediate a sweeping review¶

Use when a senior review has proposed many changes across a subsystem (python-review, rust-review, technical-review).

flowchart LR
  rv[python-review / rust-review / technical-review] --> prop[propose end-states] --> c[coherent-change — batch] --> sp[one lean-spec → lean-plan → SDD]

Start: /python-review (etc.); the review proposes, then routes the set to the engine. → recipe · single ad-hoc review → review a branch

Run a quality campaign¶

Use when you want to go hunting proactively — find bugs, sweep the API surface, or surface unfinished work.

flowchart LR
  qc[bug-hunt / test-sweep / code-archaeology] --> art[(findings / failing tests)]

Start: /bug-hunt, /test-sweep, or /code-archaeology; findings feed the batch-remediation route above. → recipe

Cut a release¶

Use when you're publishing a new version.

flowchart LR
  rel[release] --> ver[version bump] --> cl[changelog] --> gh[GitHub release]

Start: /release. → recipe

For the full list of skills and what triggers them, see the Skills reference. For why the routes are shaped this way, see Explanation.