proper-flow

Five Pi prompt templates that take Beads work from intake to verified implementation, plus the Beads resources behind them: the constitution and speckit formulas and the implement-ready.sh safety rail. The package installs no runtime extension code, skills, or npm dependencies; Pi loads only the prompts, while install.sh links the formulas and rail into ~/.beads/.

Commands

| Command | User-facing behavior | | --- | --- | | /triage <request> | Classifies the request as broken behavior, known concrete work, or fuzzy scope. It routes to /file, files a ready task directly, or routes to /spec. | | /file <bug> | Reproduces the bug, traces the root cause, checks prior work, presents findings for approval, then files precise bug beads with structured acceptance criteria. It does not implement unless explicitly asked. | | /spec <input> | Accepts one idea, epic, or P4 item; runs speckit in full or quick depth, pauses at clarification and approval gates, then creates or updates an epic with dependency-wired P0 to P3 tasks. | | /refine [card id/name[, ...]] [workers] | Researches and plans selected cards of any type or priority. With no card selector, it refines every open or deferred P4 backlog item. | | /implement-ready [scope] [workers] | Accepts an epic, task, or all; runs the scope through a rolling pool of 1 to 12 workers with worktree, integration, retry, verification, cleanup, and reporting controls. |

All five commands run bd for the user. When input is needed, they use ask_user_question and group related questions into one dialog. Plain-text questions are a fallback only when the tool is unavailable or fails before its UI appears.

Workflow behavior

/triage

• Broken or regressed behavior goes to /file.
• Small work with known files and verifiable acceptance criteria is filed directly, without a larger pipeline.
• Existing cards that need investigation/planning, plus whole-board backlog or ponytail-debt sweeps, go to /refine.
• New features, material unknowns, and multi-part work without a source card go to /spec.
• Borderline requests get one explicit user decision instead of a guess.

/file

• Requires a real reproduction before filing work.
• Separates root cause from symptoms and reports the affected code paths and blast radius before creating beads.
• Searches existing beads, session history, and docs/solutions/ when present so failed or superseded approaches are not repeated silently.
• Stores done conditions in Beads' native acceptance field. Every bug bead includes the regression test and original reproduction.
• Files separate latent bugs instead of widening one fix bead.
• Keeps reproduction work out of a dirty primary checkout by using scratch files or a disposable hook-free investigation worktree.
• Ends with an explicit learning disposition and absorbs the Beads audit log.
• /file [[llm-router: fable]] <bug> requests the strongest routing arm when proper-llm-router is active.

/spec

Accepted inputs include a new idea, an existing epic, or one direct P4 backlog item. Existing-card refinement and whole-board P4 refinement belong to /refine.

The underlying speckit pipeline performs:

1. Constitution check.
2. Specification draft.
3. Requirements, gaps, ambiguity, feasibility, scope, and stakeholder review.
4. Human clarification gate for product decisions.
5. Implementation plan and sequencing.
6. Alignment and plan-quality fix pass.
7. Human GO, GO-WITH-FIXES, or NO-GO gate.
8. Epic and task materialization.

Full depth writes one numbered specs/NNN-<feature>.md file and uses parallel review passes. Quick depth keeps the condensed spec and plan on the epic, but retains both human gates. File-writing runs use isolated hook-free worktrees, land as squash commits, clean up after success, and never push unless asked. Both depths require verifiable acceptance criteria, resolve every source P4, and verify implementation and test ownership for normative visual requirements before creating tasks.

/refine

• Acquires one atomic repository refinement lock, then resolves selected cards by id or unique title. With no selector, it snapshots every open or deferred P4 backlog item.
• Accepts source cards of any type or priority. Selected scope never mutates an unselected card; backlog scope may adopt a later P4 from a cluster's required live closure.
• Fans read-only reconnaissance across up to 12 workers, requiring local investigation and relevant current web documentation.
• Groups duplicate or same-epic outcomes into refinement clusters. Cross-epic file/shared-primitive conflicts remain separate and serialize.
• Runs one quick Speckit wisp per independent cluster and mediates its clarification and approval gates through the parent session.
• Refines a source in place without changing its non-epic type, creates coverage-first replacements before superseding it, preserves coverage for an already-retired source, retires an approved non-goal, or plans/promotes an epic after child coverage.
• Verifies every run source has one terminal disposition and no run source remains open or deferred at P4 before reporting success.
• Absorbs the Beads audit log once after all cluster wisps and final checks.

/implement-ready

• Resolves an epic id, one task id or unique title, or all. The worker limit defaults to 12 and never exceeds 12.
• Users can hold named tasks out of the run at any time. Routing state is infrastructure-owned: when LLM_ROUTER_OFF=1, the command simply runs unrouted; the prompts never probe routing state.
• Refuses P4 items and P0 to P3 items without acceptance criteria instead of letting workers invent scope.
• Uses the package rail for claims, hook-free task worktrees, declared-file overlap checks, worker result validation, integration locks, squash preparation, quality gates, cleanup, and audit staging.
• Keeps a rolling async pool. A finished task can integrate and unblock the next task without waiting for unrelated workers.
• Serializes tasks whose declared or observed files overlap.
• Retries only after a concrete change. Repeated failure signatures stop. Code defects may escalate one retry with [[llm-router: fable]]; missing tools or services are returned to the user for installation or repair.
• Runs repository gates after each integration and the full gate once at the end.
• Reports completed, retried, stuck, blocked, held, excluded, and unacceptable work separately, including leftover worktrees and model escalations.
• When available, records new ponytail: debt as deferred P4 backlog so it stays out of bd ready, runs one whole-run ponytail-review, and writes only reusable run learnings.

Common report states:

| State | Meaning | | --- | --- | | unacceptable | P0 to P3 work lacks structured acceptance criteria and must return to /file or /spec. | | p4_excluded | Backlog work is intentionally not dispatchable and should go through /refine with the card id or no selector for the full backlog. | | stuck | Attempts stopped on repeated failure, environment, conflict, missing concrete fix, or retry ceiling. | | stranded | Work remains blocked by a stuck task. | | held | User excluded the task from this run. |

Implementation rail

rail/implement-ready.sh never launches agents and never commits. It owns run state, task claims, hook-free task worktrees, declared-file overlap checks, worker result validation, the integration lock, squash preparation, integration verification, retry evidence, cleanup, and Beads audit staging. The /implement-ready prompt supplies all judgement; --help documents the rail's commands and stays the source of truth for arguments.

Install

From npm:

pi install npm:proper-flow

From a local checkout:

pi install /path/to/proper-pi-extensions/proper-flow

Remove same-named files from ~/.pi/agent/prompts/ so Pi discovers only one source for each command. Confirm the package with pi list, then reload Pi after prompt edits.

Then link the Beads resources (requires bd and jq; symlinks point into the checkout, so keep it in place):

/path/to/proper-pi-extensions/proper-flow/install.sh link
/path/to/proper-pi-extensions/proper-flow/install.sh check

link creates ~/.beads/formulas/ and ~/.beads/rail/ links plus the real empty ~/.beads/no-hooks/ directory, refuses to overwrite different existing files, and check verifies links, rail executability, and formula resolution.

Runtime requirements

The prompts expect:

• Beads CLI, bd.
• Git 2.35 or newer for staged-index preservation paths.
• constitution and speckit formulas under ~/.beads/formulas/.
• ~/.beads/rail/implement-ready.sh.
• The real empty ~/.beads/no-hooks/ directory for hook-free worktrees.

/refine requires pi-subagents for its rolling research/refinement pool. /implement-ready uses pi-subagents when available and otherwise works tasks serially. proper-llm-router is optional, but its default command pins and per-worker routing match these workflows. /constitution remains a Beads formula, not a prompt in this package.

Development

npm test
npm pack --dry-run
npm publish --dry-run

prepack runs the Node test before a tarball or publish. The Node test protects package discovery, autocomplete metadata, questionnaire use, structured acceptance, refinement clustering, task scope, rolling-pool behavior, and integration sequencing. Dependency-free shell suites under test/ cover the installer, the rail's survey filtering, integration recovery, retry and rebase behavior, audit absorption, and both Speckit formula contracts; the repository root gate runs them through test.sh. Node 22.19 or newer is required for development checks.

License

MIT