Create Architecture

Compile a source-attributed explanation of the whole system. Every delivery needs this artifact. The flow is requirements-grill -> create-architecture -> create-spec -> write-backlog; SPEC.md need not exist to run this compiler.

Steps

1. Read artifact-contract.md for source readiness, authority, freshness, retention, and handoff. Read the grill status first, then the durable log. Reconcile stable question IDs, explicit supersession, and the current glossary. Read referenced evidence and routed learnings needed to establish the accepted scope. Stop with the contract's atomic architecture-not-ready result when material inputs are unresolved.
2. Resolve the planning surface and capability folder through create-spec's folder-naming.md. Use ARCHITECTURE.md in that folder, applying the same identity and collision rules. Reserve the future sibling SPEC.md path without requiring or fabricating the file. Reuse an existing artifact only for the same capability.
3. Resolve and invoke the installed $flow-lenses skill on the accepted bounded flow. Trace intake, state, control, feedback, recovery, and handoff across linked abstraction levels. Account for every lens in its Flow Lenses with evidence, an explicit unknown, or a justified not-applicable result. Its candidate gaps remain candidates. Return each material gap to requirements-grill with its Altitude through the contract; compilation cannot accept a new mechanism or guarantee.
4. Compile a complete candidate using ARCHITECTURE-TEMPLATE.md. Start with actors, purpose, capability boundary, and canonical terms. Connect owners, authoritative state, entrypoints, critical flows, interfaces, dependencies, recovery, and observable completion across levels. Preserve every accepted detail through the contract's decision coverage; place accepted L3 Modules decisions in the template's Modules and Interfaces section. Assign stable block and flow selectors under the contract's Spec traceability rules; preserve exact grill entry anchors. Before SPEC exists, leave spec-code mapping explicitly pending. Explain how each low-level choice supports a system constraint; keep unknowns and parked work visible.
5. Resolve and invoke the installed $show-me skill to put the smallest useful views inside the document: a system map and applicable flow, state, or sequence views, each answering a distinct question. Use Mermaid for component, data, and control relationships; use pseudocode or shallow call/file trees when clearer. Place a short causal conclusion and question/evidence anchors beside each view. Preserve source labels, uncertainty, ownership, and order. Write context before detail in ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English, keeping exact accepted glossary terms and technical identifiers.
6. Check the complete candidate against the contract before replacing the canonical artifact. Resolve relative links and selectors, cover every accepted detail, and check each visual against its sources. Validate Mermaid with an available parser or renderer; record what ran and any unavailable check. A syntax defect needs correction; unavailable rendering must remain a stated limitation. Remove template instructions and empty optional sections.
7. Save the complete artifact and apply create-spec's wiki-bookkeeping.md to this artifact: use the architecture title, ARCHITECTURE.md path, and Compiled status in the existing planning indexes, applicable metadata, and maintained log. Before a spec exists, record only the architecture link. Preserve existing spec entries and unrelated work.
8. Follow the contract's path-limited retention and byte-verification procedure. Return its handoff only after retention succeeds. create-spec consumes that handoff next and completes spec-code mapping under the same contract before retaining the final pair. This skill performs no backlog/provider writes.