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Workflows overview

A workflow is a multi-step skill that drives a phase of the product lifecycle. This section documents the ones a developer or PO invokes directly. For the full per-command catalog (including internal helpers), see the Skills reference.

You don't have to remember these commands

The always-on router rule makes Claude the dispatcher: describe what you want in plain language ("I have an app idea", "fix #123", "what should I do next?") and Claude routes to the matching skill itself, announcing the choice in one line. The /steer:* forms below are the explicit way to invoke a workflow — handy when you already know the one you want — not something you must memorize. Decision gates (creating issues, approving a spec, merging, deploying) still pause for a human regardless of how the skill was reached — pushing the branch and opening the PR are autonomous.

flowchart LR
    subgraph Setup
      setup["/steer:setup<br/>detect & route"]
      init["/steer:init<br/>new repo"]
      adopt["/steer:adopt<br/>existing app"]
      setup --> init & adopt
    end
    subgraph Build loop
      issues["/steer:issues"]
      spec["/steer:spec"]
      work["/steer:work"]
    end
    subgraph Steady state
      sync["/steer:sync"]
      drift["/steer:audit spec"]
      audit["/steer:audit"]
    end
    Setup --> issues --> spec --> work --> drift
    work --> sync

I want to … → run …

A one-screen cheat sheet, keyed by intent rather than phase. You don't have to memorize it — describe the goal in plain language and Claude routes for you — but when you'd rather invoke the skill yourself, this is the index. The phase tables below give the detail.

I want to … Run
Get set up — I'm not sure what state the repo is in /steer:setup (detects & routes)
Start a brand-new repo from scratch /steer:init
Bring an existing app under steer /steer:adopt
Absorb a product owner's spec / roadmap document /steer:intake
Capture, triage, or decompose ideas into issues /steer:issues
Shape or approve a feature spec /steer:spec
Start, resume, or finish an issue /steer:work
Implement with a review-gated loop (vetted, not first-draft) /steer:work --reviewed
Build or prototype an app as a non-developer /steer:build
Find out what to do next /steer:next
Browse everything steer can do — not sure what to ask for /steer:help
Show or share a visual, plain-language page of one feature /steer:explain
Give a client a progress/status report ("what did we ship this week?") /steer:status
Check standards conformance, or that the /spec spine matches its tracker specs /steer:audit code · /steer:audit spec
Apply a new plugin release (migrations, scaffold, spine) /steer:sync
Generate a release-milestone timeline /steer:roadmap
Run the maintain-phase sweep on a schedule (triage → draft fix → PR) /steer:loop
Lock branch protection or flip the delivery mode /steer:protect
A tool is missing, or set up the local toolchain /steer:doctor
Every steer command fails at once (syntax error near unexpected token) — a CRLF-corrupted install, not a plugin bug /steer:doctor (§0 diagnoses it locally)
steer itself is misbehaving — file a plugin bug upstream /steer:report
Answer accumulated open questions /steer:questions
Record a hard-to-reverse or cross-cutting decision /steer:adr
Sweep loose files at the repo root into /spec /steer:tidy
Ship an emergency fix to a production incident /steer:work --hotfix
Load the rules manually (Desktop Chat tab / web chat, where the hook can't fire) /steer:standards

Setup (one-time)

Skill Use when
/steer:setup The front door — detects the repo state and routes to the right path below. Start here.
/steer:init (via setup) A new repo with no /spec spine — installs the bundled scaffold + spine.
/steer:adopt (via setup) An existing app with working code but no spine.

Build loop

Skill Use when
/steer:issues Drive an idea from capture → draft spec → decomposed work.
/steer:spec Think a feature through and shape/approve acceptance criteria.
/steer:work Start, resume, or finish a specific issue. Add --reviewed to run it through a review-gated loop (plan → plan-gate review → implement → /code-review → bounded fix) — vetted, not first-draft.
/steer:build A non-developer wants to build or prototype an idea.

Steady state

Skill Use when
/steer:sync (via /steer:setup) After a plugin release — apply migrations, reconcile spine + scaffold. Which migrations exist, and what each one rewrites, is in Versioning the contract.
/steer:audit Periodic read-only pass: code for whole-repo standards-conformance health, spec to diff the as-built /spec spine against its tracker specs, all for both.
/steer:next "What should I do next?" across the whole workspace. Read-only itself: it reconstructs, arbitrates, and names the one action that matters most. When that action is unambiguous and non-gated it is then announced and continued into as a fresh invocation of the owning skill (rule 00-router's bounded auto-continue); a close call, a gated step, or an action no command performs waits for you.
/steer:roadmap Generate a release-milestone timeline from the /spec spine (viewable as a GitHub Projects v2 roadmap).
/steer:loop Run a maintain-phase sweep autonomously on a schedule — discovers, triages, drafts a fix in an isolated worktree, has it checked by an independent reviewer it did not author with (steer-reviewer / /steer:audit — rule 53's split-ideation-from-verification step), pushes a branch, opens a draft PR. Never merges or deploys (see rule 53).