$ca-feature — spec-driven feature

The feature entry maintains a useful spec and plan before full-lane implementation. The user request supplies the intended authorization; the artifact engine does not require another permission code. Check criteria and applicable tests before claiming completion.

Structured-artifact boundary

For new full-lane work or an existing .html spec/plan match, load includes/artifacts.md before resume classification or artifact I/O. After lane classification, call _select_authoring_route with the trusted project root, slug, workflow: feature, and the selected lane. Use only its returned mode, format, and paths. For a selected HTML route it checks the installed capability before writing; a missing or invalid helper is a STOP and the workflow must not fall back to Markdown. Its typed identity, binding, and task-progress operations replace rendered-label and Markdown status-cell assumptions for that pipeline. New full-lane specs use the installed structured-artifact engine and default to canonical .html. An existing .md pair remains on the legacy path. Discovery requires a complete same-extension spec/plan pair: select that exact pair as authoritative. A mixed-extension or duplicate match is a STOP. A lone spec resumes in its exact format, and the next plan must use the same extension. The workflow must not create, rename, or convert its counterpart to repair ambiguity. HTML --farm dispatch stays blocked. Small-lane behavior is unchanged: its confirmed mini-spec remains inline and does not create a spec artifact.

Orientation: if .codearbiter/code-map.md is present, read it first — a coarse concern→path→role map that orients task authoring. Absent is fine; it is read-on-demand, populated by context-creation or commit-gate heal. At each actual author or independent reviewer dispatch, use the private _artifactpromptlib.compose_feature_actor_input contract described in tdd and subagent-driven-development; send the bounded relevant input to that actor. Host permissions still apply to commands; delivery records do not independently grant or deny execution.

Resume — an interrupted pipeline is re-entered, never restarted

Before triage, scan <project-root>/.codearbiter/specs/ and plans/ for artifacts whose slug matches $ARGUMENTS (invoked bare, list every resumable pipeline and ask which). Call the private bridge resolver _resolve_workflow_pair with the trusted project root and selected slug; its returned paths and format own this resume. Select a complete same-extension pair as authoritative. A lone spec resumes in its exact format, and the next plan must use the same extension. A mixed-extension or duplicate match is a STOP. A crash, compaction, or closed session mid-pipeline loses nothing — the spec, the plan, and each task's state are on disk. For an HTML pair, obtain state only through the installed engine identity, index, and symbol-scoped read operations; do not scrape rendered labels or embedded JSON. For a Markdown pair, use the existing Markdown status ledger. Resume either exact format without creating or consulting a shadow artifact; the workflow must not create, rename, or convert its counterpart. On a match, summarize the resume point without requesting an additional permission reply, then re-enter at the furthest useful stage:

1. Plan exists with remaining, blocked, or unverified work → executing-plans for actual outstanding tasks. HTML REVIEW and DONE are implementation progress, not proof of passing checks.
2. Plan work complete with applicable checks recorded → the authorized commit-gate handoff, without making a proof receipt another permission.
3. Spec exists, no plan → writing-plans.
4. Spec exists but is incomplete → inspect the missing actual requirements with brainstorming, rather than restarting the interview.

Re-running brainstorming against a usable existing spec discards decisions and re-asks answered questions. Only an explicit user request ("start over") restarts an existing slug — and that is logged to triage.log like any classification.

Step 0 — change-class triage (logged)

Before routing, classify the request. The small lane applies only when ALL of these hold — judged against $ARGUMENTS and a quick look at the code, never assumed:

• the change touches ≤ 2 implementation files (plus their tests);
• no §4 reference-map scope-touch: auth/crypto/secrets, dependencies, migrations/schema, telemetry, public API surface, domain vocabulary;
• no new dependency, endpoint, command, or configuration surface;
• the behavior change is expressible as 1–3 concrete, individually testable acceptance criteria.

Small-lane SMARTS. Only when the change involves a material solution choice — two or more materially plausible ways to build it — run a SMARTS scan per includes/smarts/core.md, inline with no grader or scout, and state its one-line result with the mini-spec. Otherwise state SMARTS: no material solution choice and continue; that path adds no SMARTS table and no extra artifact. If the scan shows that the better approach would violate any small-lane criterion above, route to the full lane.

Small lane: state the mini-spec inline (the 1–3 criteria). Unless the user requested a pause or a real consequential question remains, proceed without a second permission reply. Append one line to <project-root>/.codearbiter/triage.log (append-only, >>):

[ISO-8601 timestamp] | BY: <git user.email> | LANE: small | SCOPE: <one-line> | BASIS: <criteria met>

Then route directly to tdd (routines/tdd/SKILL.md) — the stated criteria are its obligations; run applicable TDD checks — and exit through the full commit-gate and finishing-a-development-branch exactly as the full lane does. The lane trims ceremony, never gates.

Any criterion violated, or uncertain → full lane (below). Uncertainty is full-lane; the triage never guesses.

Flow — full lane

Route through the pipeline in order; each step gates the next:

1. brainstorming (routines/brainstorming/SKILL.md) — refine $ARGUMENTS into a concrete spec by Socratic questioning: challenge vague language, surface hidden complexity, force trade-offs. Writes the spec to route-selected spec path. New full-lane work writes <project-root>/.codearbiter/specs/<slug>.html through the installed engine. A missing consequential decision is asked once, not converted into a general spec-approval gate.
2. writing-plans (routines/writing-plans/SKILL.md) — turn the maintained spec into coherent tasks, each with relevant paths and a verification that maps to a tdd obligation (it does not replace one). Writes matching route-selected plan path with bijective criterion↔task coverage.
3. executing-plans (routines/executing-plans/SKILL.md) — runs coherent batches through subagent-driven-development, directly or with useful agents. Reports real progress and check results; pauses only for explicitly requested checkpoints or real missing decisions.
4. commit-gate — the only path to a commit; nine gates, including behavioral proof.
5. finishing-a-development-branch — terminal step: open-PR / merge-via-PR / discard. Every change lands through a PR; never a direct write to the default branch.

The autonomous counterpart ($ca-sprint) maintains the same spec→plan but passes the full plan to subagent-driven-development directly, without per-batch checkpoints. That path is its own entry, not /feature.

Scope routing

Scope suggests useful author skills (backend-author, frontend-author, infra-author), not mandatory one-agent-per-task dispatch. Run the affected local checks and preserve failures; exhaustive cross-area and cross-platform proof remains exact-head hosted CI before merge under includes/verification-boundary.md.

When NOT to use

• A known defect with a reproduction → /fix.
• A behavior-preserving restructure → /refactor.
• A question or quick discussion → /btw.
• Persisting work already written → /commit.

Hard gate

MUST preserve testable intent and perform applicable checks before claiming completion. An unapproved artifact is not a denial of an already-authorized feature. MUST NOT take the small lane unless every Step 0 criterion holds, and MUST log the classification to .codearbiter/triage.log before tdd begins. MUST NOT skip writing-plans in the full lane. MUST NOT guess consequential unresolved user decisions; keep the affected task visibly waiting. MUST NOT restart an interrupted pipeline whose artifacts exist on disk — resume at the furthest checkpoint per the Resume ladder, unless the user explicitly asks to start over.