/flow-next-strategy

name: flow-next-strategy
description: "Create or maintain `STRATEGY.md` — the product's target problem, our approach, who it's for, key metrics, and tracks of work. Use when starting a new product, updating direction, or when prompts like 'write our strategy', 'update the roadmap', 'what are we working on', or 'set up the strategy doc' come up. Also fires when `/flow-next:prospect`, `/flow-next:plan`, `/flow-next:interview`, or `/flow-next:capture` need upstream grounding and no strategy doc exists yet."
user-invocable: false
allowed-tools: AskUserQuestion, Read, Write, Bash

/flow-next:strategy — repo-root STRATEGY.md anchor

`flow-next-strategy` produces and maintains `STRATEGY.md` — a short, durable anchor at the repo root (peer of `README.md` / `GLOSSARY.md`) that captures what the product is, who it serves, how it succeeds, and where the team is investing. Downstream skills (`/flow-next:prospect`, `/flow-next:plan`, `/flow-next:interview`, `/flow-next:capture`, `/flow-next:sync`) read it as grounding when `sections_filled >= 1`.

The document is short and structured on purpose. Good answers to a handful of sharp questions produce a better strategy than any amount of prose. This skill asks those questions, pushes back on weak answers, and writes the doc.

**Note: The current year is 2026.** Use this when dating the strategy document.

Preamble

flowctl is **bundled — NOT installed globally.** `which flowctl` will fail (expected). Define once; subsequent blocks use `$FLOWCTL`:

FLOWCTL="${DROID_PLUGIN_ROOT:-${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}}/scripts/flowctl"
[ -x "$FLOWCTL" ] || FLOWCTL=".flow/bin/flowctl"

Interaction Method

Default to `AskUserQuestion` (call `ToolSearch` with `select:AskUserQuestion` first if its schema isn't loaded). Fall back to numbered options in chat only when the tool is unreachable in the harness or the call errors — never silently skip the question. (sync-codex.sh rewrites this to a plain-text numbered prompt in the Codex mirror.)

Ask one question at a time. **Free-form responses for the substantive sections** (Target problem / Our approach / Who it's for / Key metrics / Tracks). **Single-select with lead-with-recommendation only for routing decisions** (which section to revisit, include this optional section, foreign-file resolution).

Focus Hint

<focus_hint> #$ARGUMENTS </focus_hint>

Interpret any argument as an optional focus: a section name to revisit (`metrics`, `approach`, `tracks`, `problem`, `persona`, `milestones`, `not-working-on`) or a scope hint. With no argument, proceed open-ended and let the file state decide the path.

Core Principles

1. **Anchor, not plan.** Strategy is what the product is and why. Features belong in `/flow-next:prospect`; tasks belong in specs and `/flow-next:plan`. Do not let either creep into the doc. 2. **Rigor in the questions, not the headings.** The section headers are plain English. The interview questions enforce strategy discipline (`references/interview.md`). 3. **Short is a feature.** The template is constrained. Adding sections costs more than it looks like. Push back on expansion. 4. **Durable across runs.** This skill is rerunnable. On a second run it updates in place, preserves what is working, and only challenges sections that look stale or weak. 5. **Survives `.flow/` wipe.** `STRATEGY.md` lives at repo root, never under `.flow/`. The project's strategy belongs to the project, not flow-next (R18 invariant from the 0.39.0 glossary epic).

Execution Flow

Phase 0: Route by file state

**0.1 — Ralph block (R17)**

`/flow-next:strategy` is exploratory and human-in-the-loop. Autonomous loops have no business deciding repo strategy. Hard-error with exit 2 when running under Ralph.

if [[ -n "${REVIEW_RECEIPT_PATH:-}" || "${FLOW_RALPH:-}" == "1" ]]; then
  echo "[STRATEGY: user-triggered only — Ralph cannot run /flow-next:strategy]" >&2
  exit 2
fi

No env-var opt-in. Ralph never decides direction.

**0.2 — Read file state**

STATUS_JSON=$("$FLOWCTL" strategy status --json 2>/dev/null) || STATUS_JSON=
if ! printf '%s' "$STATUS_JSON" | jq -e '
  type == "object"
  and (.exists | type == "boolean")
  and (.husk | type == "boolean")
  and (.sections_filled as $n
    | ($n | type) == "number"
    and ($n | floor) == $n
    and $n >= 0
    and $n <= 7)
  and (.total_sections as $n
    | ($n | type) == "number"
    and ($n | floor) == $n
    and $n >= 5
    and $n <= 7)
  and (.sections_filled <= .total_sections)
  and (.last_updated == null or (.last_updated | type == "string"))
  and (.file_path == null or (.file_path | type == "string"))
  and (.generator == null or (.generator | type == "string"))
  and (.generator_match | type == "boolean")
  and (.husk == ((.exists == true) and (.sections_filled == 0)))
  and (.generator_match == (.generator == "flow-next-strategy"))
' >/dev/null 2>&1; then
  echo "[STRATEGY: unable to classify STRATEGY.md safely — leaving it unchanged]" >&2
  exit 0
fi
EXISTS=$(printf '%s' "$STATUS_JSON" | jq -r '.exists')
HUSK=$(printf '%s' "$STATUS_JSON" | jq -r '.husk')
SECTIONS_FILLED=$(printf '%s' "$STATUS_JSON" | jq -r '.sections_filled')
GENERATOR_MATCH=$(printf '%s' "$STATUS_JSON" | jq -r '.generator_match')
FILE_PATH=$(printf '%s' "$STATUS_JSON" | jq -r '.file_path // empty')

JSON fields (frozen by Task 1):

• `exists` (bool) — file present
• `husk` (bool) — `exists: true` AND `sections_filled == 0`
• `sections_filled` (int) — populated required + included optional-section count (0-7)
• `total_sections` (int) — 5 required + populated optional sections (5-7)
• `last_updated` (str|null) — ISO date from frontmatter
• `file_path` (str|null) — absolute path of resolved STRATEGY.md
• `generator` (str|null) — frontmatter `generator` value
• `generator_match` (bool) — `generator == "flow-next-strategy"`

**0.3 — Subdirectory walk-up surfacing (R16)**

If `file_path` is set and differs from `${PWD}/STRATEGY.md`, surface one line in chat b