Conductor: Context-Driven Development

Measure twice, code once.

Overview

Conductor enables context-driven development by:

Establishing project context (product vision, tech stack, workflow)
Organizing work into "tracks" (features, bugs, improvements)
Creating specs and phased implementation plans
Executing with TDD practices and progress tracking
Parallel execution of independent tasks using sub-agents

For parallel execution details (annotations, state schema, when to use), see references/workflows.md.

Context Loading

When this skill activates, load these files to understand the project:

conductor/product.md - Product vision and goals
conductor/tech-stack.md - Technology constraints
conductor/workflow.md - Development methodology (TDD, commits)
conductor/tracks.md - Current work status
conductor/patterns.md - Codebase patterns (read before starting work)

Important: Conductor commits locally but never pushes. Users decide when to push to remote.

For active tracks, also load:

conductor/tracks/<track_id>/spec.md
conductor/tracks/<track_id>/plan.md
conductor/tracks/<track_id>/learnings.md - Patterns/gotchas from this track

Learnings System (Ralph-style)

Conductor captures and consolidates learnings across tracks. For full details, see references/learnings-system.md.

Key Files

conductor/patterns.md - Project-level consolidated patterns
conductor/tracks/<id>/learnings.md - Per-track discoveries

Templates

references/patterns-template.md - Full patterns.md template
references/learnings-template.md - Full learnings.md template

Knowledge Flywheel

Capture - After each task, append to track's learnings.md
Elevate - At phase/track completion, promote reusable patterns to patterns.md
Archive - Extract remaining patterns before archiving
Inherit - New tracks read patterns.md to prime context

Beads Integration

Beads integration is always attempted for persistent task memory. If bd CLI is unavailable or fails, the user can choose to continue without it. All conductor commands work normally without Beads.

For full Beads details (availability check, CLI commands, session protocol, chemistry patterns), see references/beads-integration.md.

For Beads overview within workflow context (sync behavior, configuration, graceful degradation), see references/workflows.md.

Quick Detection (MUST check before using bd commands)

if which bd > /dev/null 2>&1 && [ -f conductor/beads.json ]; then
  BEADS_ENABLED=$(cat conductor/beads.json | grep -o '"enabled"[[:space:]]*:[[:space:]]*true' || echo "")
  if [ -n "$BEADS_ENABLED" ]; then
    # Beads is available and enabled - use bd commands (requires Dolt server: bd dolt start)
  fi
fi

Proactive Behaviors

On new session: Check for in-progress tracks, offer to resume
On task completion: Suggest next task or phase verification
On blocked detection: Alert user and suggest alternatives
On all tasks complete: Congratulate and offer archive/cleanup
On stale context detected: If setup >2 days old or significant codebase changes detected, suggest /conductor-refresh
On Beads available: If bd CLI detected during setup, offer integration
On implement start: Read patterns.md and announce pattern count
On task complete: Prompt for learnings capture
On phase complete: Offer pattern elevation to patterns.md
On archive: Extract remaining patterns before archiving
On refresh: Consolidate learnings across all tracks

Intent Mapping

User Intent	Command
"Set up this project"	`/conductor-setup`
"Create a new feature"	`/conductor-newtrack [desc]`
"Start working" / "Implement"	`/conductor-implement [id]`
"What's the status?"	`/conductor-status`
"Undo that" / "Revert"	`/conductor-revert`
"Check for issues"	`/conductor-validate`
"This is blocked"	`/conductor-block`
"Skip this task"	`/conductor-skip`
"This needs revision" / "Spec is wrong"	`/conductor-revise`
"Save context" / "Handoff" / "Transfer to next section"	`/conductor-handoff`
"Archive completed"	`/conductor-archive`
"Export summary"	`/conductor-export`
"Docs are outdated" / "Sync with codebase"	`/conductor-refresh`
"List templates" / "Show formulas"	`/conductor-formula`
"Quick exploration" / "Ephemeral track"	`/conductor-wisp [formula]`
"Extract template" / "Create reusable pattern"	`/conductor-distill [track_id]`

Command Execution

When a user invokes any /conductor-* command, read the corresponding command reference for the full step-by-step protocol:

Command	Full Protocol
`/conductor-setup`	references/commands/setup.md
`/conductor-newtrack`	references/commands/newtrack.md
`/conductor-implement`	references/commands/implement.md
`/conductor-status`	references/commands/status.md
`/conductor-revert`	references/commands/revert.md
`/conductor-validate`	references/commands/validate.md
`/conductor-block`	references/commands/block.md
`/conductor-skip`	references/commands/skip.md
`/conductor-revise`	references/commands/revise.md
`/conductor-archive`	references/commands/archive.md
`/conductor-export`	references/commands/export.md
`/conductor-handoff`	references/commands/handoff.md
`/conductor-refresh`	references/commands/refresh.md
`/conductor-formula`	references/commands/formula.md
`/conductor-wisp`	references/commands/wisp.md
`/conductor-distill`	references/commands/distill.md

Important: Always read the full command reference before executing. Each file contains the complete protocol with error handling, Beads integration, and user interaction flows.

References

Workflow overview: references/workflows.md - Commands table, Beads overview, state files, status markers, parallel execution
Command protocols: references/commands/ - Full step-by-step execution details for all 16 commands
Directory structure: references/structure.md - File layout and status markers
Beads integration: references/beads-integration.md - Session protocol, CLI commands, chemistry patterns
Learnings system: references/learnings-system.md - Ralph-style knowledge capture details
Patterns template: references/patterns-template.md - Template for conductor/patterns.md
Learnings template: references/learnings-template.md - Template for track learnings.md

conductor

SKILL.md.claude/skills/conductor