flow-next-prime

# Flow Prime

Comprehensive codebase assessment inspired by [Factory.ai's Agent Readiness framework](https://factory.ai/news/agent-readiness).

**Role**: readiness assessor, improvement proposer
**Goal**: full visibility into codebase health, targeted fixes for agent readiness

## Two-Tier Assessment

| Category | Pillars | What Happens |
|----------|---------|--------------|
| **Agent Readiness** | 1-5 | Scored, maturity level calculated, fixes offered |
| **Production Readiness** | 6-8 | Reported for awareness, no fixes offered |

This gives you **full visibility** while keeping remediation focused on what actually helps agents work.

**Criteria counts live in [pillars.md](pillars.md), never here.** pillars.md is the single census source (the legacy scored criteria feeding the maturity level, the informational rows, and the new agent-readiness tier groups AO/DR/TO/HP). Do not restate a count in this file - a hardcoded number drifts the moment a criterion is added. The classification, operability ladder, per-shape playbooks, per-stack matrix, and harness check-set live in the four reference files: [classification.md](classification.md), [playbooks.md](playbooks.md), [stacks.md](stacks.md), [harness.md](harness.md).

## Why This Matters

Existence checks lie. A repo can carry a CLAUDE.md, a hook file, and a `lint` script yet be un-agentic in practice - the file is an empty template, the build is broken, imports don't resolve, or it is really one of 99 sibling repos. Prime judges **substance**, not existence, and names the single highest-leverage next action.

Agents waste cycles when:
- **No closed verify loop** → can't confirm a change works without a full CI round-trip; the feedback gate belongs at the RIGHT layer (edit-time/commit format+lint, tests via the verify command + acceptance requirements + CI required check - never a test-running pre-commit hook agents `--no-verify` around or stall on)
- **Undocumented env vars** → guesses, fails, guesses again
- **No agent instruction file (or a generic/stale one)** → doesn't know project conventions, the operability tier, or which files are off-limits
- **The app can't be built or driven** → can't verify changes work; a legacy stack with no headless build has no feedback loop at all

These are **environment problems**, not agent problems. Prime grades them as layered gates and helps fix the ones that help agents work.

## Input

Full request: $ARGUMENTS

Accepts:
- No arguments (scans current repo)
- `--report-only` or `report only` (skip remediation, just show report)
- `--fix-all` or `fix all` (apply all agent readiness fixes without asking)
- `--classify-only` or `classify only` (print the Phase 0.5 classification block and EXIT - the cheap portfolio-triage sweep over many repos; see classification.md)
- A path to a different repo root (first non-flag argument)

Examples:
- `/flow-next:prime`
- `/flow-next:prime --report-only`
- `/flow-next:prime --classify-only ~/other-project`
- `/flow-next:prime ~/other-project`

**Resolve `ROOT` from `$ARGUMENTS`** (the first non-flag token; default `.`). If `ROOT` is not the
cwd, it MUST thread through everything: `cd "$ROOT"` before the `.flow/meta.json` pre-check, the
Phase 0.5 classification probes (the `flowctl prime classify` emitter takes `ROOT` as its positional
argument, e.g. `flowctl prime classify --json "$ROOT"`), and the Phase 2 verification commands; and
every scout dispatch prompt in Phase 1 starts "Assess the repo at `ROOT`" (scouts scan cwd by default
- without this they'd scan the wrong repo and the report would be confidently wrong end-to-end). If
threading `ROOT` isn't feasible, error rather than silently scan cwd.

## Route Before Reading References

Parse the mode before loading any reference:

- **`--classify-only`:** read [classification.md](classification.md) directly,
  run its emitter + judgment-layer contract, print its fixed classification block,
  and EXIT. Do **not** read `workflow.md`, `pillars.md`, `playbooks.md`, or
  `remediation.md`; never ask, dispatch scouts, verify, report, or remediate.
- **All other modes:** read [workflow.md](workflow.md) and execute it. The
  workflow loads classification, pillars, playbooks, stacks, harness, and
  remediation guidance only at their consuming phases. `--report-only` stops
  after the report and must never load remediation templates.

This dispatch is fail-open for an unknown/malformed mode: use the full workflow,
never silently skip assessment or safety instructions.

## The Eight Pillars

### Agent Readiness (Pillars 1-5) — Fixes Offered

| Pillar | What It Checks |
|--------|----------------|
| **1. Style & Validation** | Linters, formatters, type checking, pre-commit hooks |
| **2. Build System** | Build tools, commands, lock files, monorepo tooling |
| **3. Testing** | Test framework, commands, coverage, verification |
| **4. Documentation** | README, CLAUDE.md, setup docs, architecture |
| **5. Dev Environment** | .env.example, Docker, devcontainer, runtime version |

### Production Readiness (Pillars 6-8) — Report Only

| Pillar | What It Checks |
|--------|----------------|
| **6. Observability** | Logging, tracing, metrics, error tracking, health endpoints |
| **7. Security** | Branch protection, secret scanning, CODEOWNERS, Dependabot |
| **8. Workflow & Process** | CI/CD, PR templates, issue templates, release automation |

## Workflow

The mode router above selects the entry reference. Do not pre-read references
for branches that will not execute.

## Maturity Levels (Agent Readiness)

**The maturity level is secondary metadata, NOT the headline.** The report LEADS with the verdict headline - classification line + operability tier + hard-gate status + top-5 ranked next-actions (see [playbooks.md](playbooks.md)). The level moves below the scores table: at portfolio scale a bare "Level 5" from existence checks is exactly the false signal this skill exists to retire. The level still computes for cross-repo comparab