/build-epic

name: build-epic
# story: e18s01 e18s02 e18s03 e38s02
model: sonnet
effort: standard
description: Eight-step epic build cycle — reads state.yaml, execution-status.yaml, and one epic capsule; updates status via bp-yaml-set or direct edit. Resume mode runs one step per invocation. Use instead of ad-hoc execute-plan for release work.

story: e20s05

Build Epic

Scope: one story. Called by orchestrate-project Phase 4. Not a replacement for orchestrate-project.

Orchestrates the **build** flow for a single epic: survey → plan tasks → kickoff → TDD → verify → audit → commit → release.

> **HARD GATE** — Set `specs/state.yaml` `active_flow: build_epic` and `active_epic: eNN` before starting. > > **HARD GATE** — Not on `main`/`master` before step 3 (kickoff-branch).

Nine steps (`epic_cycle` in state.yaml)

| Step | Skill / action | |------|----------------| | 0 | `security-review` — threat-model epic scope → `specs/security/epics/<id>/THREAT_MODEL.md` | | 1 | `survey-context` — confirm epic + story | | 2 | `plan-work` — flesh out story `tasks[]` in `specs/epics/eNN-slug/epic.yaml` | | 3 | `kickoff-branch` — feature branch + clean baseline | | 4 | `develop-tdd` — red-green per task | | 5 | `verify-work` — UAT + mechanical gates | | 6 | `audit-code` — **non-optional gate** (pass/fail; fail → loop back to step 4) | | 7 | `commit-message` — Conventional Commits draft | | 8 | `release-branch` — PR or solo land (supports `--squash-state`) | |

Process

1. Read `specs/state.yaml`, `specs/execution-status.yaml`, `specs/release-plan.yaml`, active `specs/epics/eNN-slug/epic.yaml`.

• **On story start (step 1):** Write `started_at` ISO 8601 timestamp to `execution-status.yaml` under the story's key in the `stories:` section. The `bp-timing.sh` script already tracks skill-level timings — this is story-level.

2. **Step 0 — Threat Model:** Run `security-review` against the epic's scope (read from the epic capsule). Output `specs/security/epics/<epic-id>/THREAT_MODEL.md` with surface area, vulnerability categories, risk level, and mitigation guidance. 3. **Assess Impact (Step 2):** Before writing tasks, run `assess-impact --lightweight` on the proposed change. If the risk score exceeds 7, gate — require a `grill-me` session. Write the impact report to `specs/IMPACT-<epic>-<story>.md`. For net-new code with no existing dependents, skip. 4. **BCP Tracking (Step 2):** After `plan-work` completes, read the `bcps:` count (Business Complexity Points story size) from the epic capsule and carry it into `state.yaml` as `epic_cycle.story_bcps = N`. 5. **BCP Plus (Step 2, optional):** When the epic capsule carries a `bcp_plus_breakdown` (13-dimension sizing), also carry it into `state.yaml` as `epic_cycle.bcp_plus`. The breakdown maps each of the 13 dimensions to an integer count. NFR dimensions (11–13) that are N/A per the NFR Gate may be set to 0. 6. If `epic_cycle.step` missing, set to `1`. 6. Run **only the current step** (resume mode) unless user asked for full auto-run. 7. After step verify passes, increment `epic_cycle.step` in `state.yaml` (or `bash scripts/bp-yaml-set.sh` if available). 8. On story complete, set `execution-status.yaml` story key to `done`; run `bash scripts/sync-status-from-epics.sh`.

• **On story complete (step 8):** Write `completed_at` ISO 8601 timestamp to `execution-status.yaml` under the same story key. Format:

     stories:
       e01s01:
         status: done
         started_at: "2026-07-12T16:00:00-03:00"
         completed_at: "2026-07-12T18:45:00-03:00"

9. **Traceability refresh:** Before step 8 (release-branch), run `bash scripts/trace-stories.sh` to regenerate `specs/traceability-matrix.json`, `specs/TRACEABILITY_LATEST.md`, and the `specs/codebase-wiki/` OKF bundle. Surface dark/orphan/stale findings for the just-built epic in your verify summary. If `scripts/trace-stories.sh` is missing or fails, note "trace skipped" and continue — trace failure must be visible, not silent (blocking is gate-trace's job, e38s06).

9b. **OKF wiki refresh (e39s08):** Before step 8, run maintain-wiki INGEST to refresh the OKF wiki bundle:

   bash scripts/decompose-conventions.sh
   bash scripts/generate-agent-guide.sh

If any script is missing or fails, note "OKF wiki refresh skipped" and continue. This is non-blocking — stale concepts are caught by LINT in verify-work Phase 3.

Step 6 — audit-code gate (non-optional)

After step 5 (verify-work) completes successfully, step 6 runs `audit-code` automatically in `--gate` mode:

1. **Run audit:** Invoke `audit-code --gate` on the complete diff for this story. 2. **Pass (exit 0):** All checklist sections pass → advance to step 7 (commit-message). Record `epic_cycle.audit_result: pass` in `state.yaml`. 3. **Fail (exit 1):** One or more checklist sections fail → **reset `epic_cycle.current_step` to `4`** (develop-tdd) and add the failing section IDs to `completed_steps` as `"1,2,3,4,5,6(fail: ...)"`. Record `epic_cycle.audit_result: fail` in `state.yaml`. Do NOT advance past step 6 until audit passes. 4. **Audit artifact:** Full audit report saved to `specs/verifications/AUDIT-<epic>-<story>.md` regardless of pass/fail, for reviewer traceability. 5. **Enforce F.I.R.S.T:** After audit-code passes, run `enforce-first --quick` on new/modified tests. Append F.I.R.S.T violations (if any) to the audit report. Failing F.I.R.S.T criteria trigger the same loop-back to step 4.

--fast mode

Coalesces read-and-report steps to reduce token overhead. Activate with `build-epic --fast`.

| Normal | --fast | Change | |--------|--------|--------| | Step 1 (survey-context) | 1+2 together | survey + plan in one invocation | | Step 2 (plan-work) | (absorbed into 1) | — | | Step 3 (kickoff-branch) | Step 2 | unchanged, sequential | | Step 4 (develop-tdd) | Step 3 | unchanged, sequential | | Step 5 (verify-work) | Step 4 | unchanged, sequential | | Step 6 (audit-code) | 5+6 together | audit + commit-me