the-startup

Deep-dive codebase analysis that explains how things actually work — business rules, architecture patterns, auth flows, data models, integrations, and performance hotspots. Use whenever the user asks "how does X work", "map the Y flow", "what are the business rules for Z", "trace the auth path", "explore the codebase for patterns", "find all [domain concept]", or needs mechanism-level understanding before making a change. Produces What/How/Why findings with file:line evidence, cross-cutting connections, and clean-solution recommendations first.

You MUST use this before any creative work — creating features, building components, adding functionality, or modifying behavior. Explores user intent, requirements, and design before implementation.

Create or update a project constitution with governance rules. Uses discovery-based approach to generate project-specific rules.

Systematically diagnose and resolve bugs through conversational investigation and root cause analysis

Generate and maintain documentation for code, APIs, and project components

Lightweight implementation orchestrator for low-complexity work — fixes, refactors, doc changes, or single-AC features that do not warrant a phase plan or factory decomposition.

Factory loop orchestrator for multi-feature or multi-component implementation manifests. Use for high-complexity work with parallel-eligible workstreams and holdout-scenario evaluation.

Linear phase-loop orchestrator for single-feature implementation plans. Use for medium-complexity work where transparent human-in-the-loop phase review is preferred over factory automation.

Implementation entry point. Use to execute a completed specification. Auto-detects the decomposition tier (Direct, Incremental, or Factory) from spec artifacts and dispatches to the matching execution sub-skill.

Refactor, simplify, or clean up code for improved maintainability without changing business logic

Multi-agent code review with specialized perspectives (security, performance, patterns, simplification, tests)

Decompose a multi-feature or multi-component specification into factory-consumable artifacts. Use this for high-complexity work — multiple features, three or more components, or parallel-eligible workstreams.

Decompose a single-feature specification into a linear, phase-by-phase implementation plan. Use this for medium-complexity work — single feature, one or two components — where transparent human-in-the-loop phase review is preferred over factory automation.

Scaffold, status-check, and manage specification directories. Use when creating a new spec, reading spec status, transitioning between phases, or logging decisions on a spec in .start/specs/.

Create and validate product requirements documents (PRD). Use when writing requirements, defining user stories, specifying acceptance criteria, analyzing user needs, or working on requirements.md files in .start/specs/.

Create and validate solution design documents (SDD). Use when designing architecture, defining interfaces, documenting technical decisions, analyzing system components, or working on solution.md files in .start/specs/.

Create a comprehensive specification from a brief description. Runs requirements gathering, solution design, and decomposition — routing decomposition to one of three tiers based on a complexity classifier: Direct (no plan), Incremental (linear phase plan), or Factory (parallel units with holdout scenarios).

Validate in any of six modes — spec quality, single-file review, spec-to-implementation drift, constitution rule enforcement, comparison between two artifacts, or sanity-checking your understanding. Use when checking a spec by ID, validating a file by path, detecting drift, enforcing constitution rules, comparing two sources ("$X against $Y"), or asking a freeform validation question.

Use when creating new skills, editing existing skills, auditing skill quality, converting skills to markdown conventions, or verifying skills before deployment. Triggers include skill authoring requests, skill review needs, or "the skill doesn't work" complaints.

RICE, MoSCoW, Kano, and value-effort prioritization frameworks with scoring methodologies and decision documentation. Use when prioritizing features, evaluating competing initiatives, creating roadmaps, or making build vs defer decisions.

Identify existing codebase patterns (naming conventions, architectural patterns, testing patterns) to maintain consistency. Use when generating code, reviewing changes, or understanding established practices.

Unified codebase discovery across structure navigation, tech-stack detection, and documentation extraction. Use when onboarding to a project, locating implementation paths, identifying frameworks/tooling, or validating docs against code reality.

Requirement gathering techniques, stakeholder analysis, user story patterns, and specification validation. Use when clarifying vague requirements, resolving conflicting needs, documenting specifications, or validating requirements with stakeholders.