/create-app

name: create-app
license: MIT
description: >-
  End-to-end app creation from a single description. Five tiers: blank project,
  guided, templated, fully generated, or feature addition to existing codebase.
  Routes through PRD, architecture, and Archon campaign with verification at every step.
user-invocable: true
auto-trigger: false
trigger_keywords:
  - create app
  - build app
  - build me
  - make an app
  - new app
  - generate app
  - add auth
  - add payments
  - integrate
last-updated: 2026-11-04

/create-app — From Description to Verified Application

Orientation

**Use when:** building a new app from scratch -- full scaffold, design system, and feature set from a single description. **Don't use when:** adding a feature to an existing app (use /marshal or /archon); generating a single component (use /scaffold).

Tier Detection

Use when the user wants to create an app, add a feature, or scaffold a project. Classify the input into one of five tiers:

Tier 1: Blank Project

• Trigger: "create a blank project", "new project", "scaffold"
• Action: Run /scaffold with stack detection. No PRD, no architecture.

Tier 2: Guided

• Trigger: "I want to build...", "help me create...", description with questions
• Action: /prd → user approves → /architect → user approves → /archon
• Human checkpoints: after PRD, after architecture, before each major phase.

Tier 3: Templated

• Trigger: Describes a well-known app type ("a todo app", "a blog", "a dashboard with auth")
• Action: Load template PRD if available → /architect with template defaults → /archon
• Template detection: check `.planning/_templates/app-types/` for matching templates.

If no template matches, fall through to Tier 2.

Tier 4: Generated (Full Autonomy)

• Trigger: "build me [detailed description]", "create [app] and deploy it"
• Action: /prd (minimal questions) → /architect (auto-approve if confidence high) → /archon with self-correction loop
• Human checkpoints: after PRD only. Architecture and execution are autonomous.
• Safety: all Archon self-correction mechanisms active. Direction alignment every

2 phases. Quality spot-checks every phase. Circuit breakers armed.

Tier 5: Feature Addition (Existing Codebase)

• Trigger: existing project + feature description ("add auth", "add a dashboard", "add dark mode")
• Detection: project has source files (src/, app/, lib/, package.json with deps) AND description is a feature, not a standalone app
• Action: /prd in feature mode → /architect in existing codebase mode → /archon
• Key differences from greenfield tiers:
• PRD reads existing codebase before asking questions
• Architecture describes changes to existing files, not a standalone system
• Phase 0 is always "Baseline" — record current typecheck/test state
• Every phase end condition includes "no new typecheck errors" + "existing tests pass"
• Risk register always includes "regression in existing functionality"
• Human checkpoints: after feature spec (PRD). Architecture can auto-approve if

the feature is well-scoped and all conditions are machine-verifiable.

Tier Classification

| Input Pattern | Tier | |---|---| | "blank project", "scaffold", "new empty" | 1 | | "help me build", "I want to create", "guide me" | 2 | | "todo app", "blog", "dashboard", well-known app type | 3 | | "build me [detailed]", "create [app]", confident description | 4 | | "add [feature]", "implement [feature]", existing project + feature description | 5 | | Ambiguous | Default to Tier 2 (safest) |

Protocol

Step 1: CLASSIFY

Read the user's input. Determine the tier. Announce what you'll do in plain language — not tier numbers. If the classification is wrong, accept user overrides ("just scaffold it" → Tier 1, "just build it" → Tier 4).

Proposal-only and pre-approval turns

Use the host session's configured effort level for this routing and proposal turn. Downstream skills keep their own effort settings.

When the user requests a stack proposal or first steps before approving a build, present that proposal after the initial project and matching-template check. Choose reasonable defaults and state assumptions. Defer environment diagnostics, additional stack/architecture research, dependency installation, and application code until approval. A proposal-only turn ends at that approval boundary; it does not enter the downstream build campaign.

Step 2: EXECUTE TIER

**Tier 1:** Invoke /scaffold. Done.

**Tier 2:** /prd → user approves → /architect → user approves → Archon campaign → brief user after each major phase.

**Tier 3:** Check `.planning/_templates/app-types/` for template → present PRD, ask for changes → /architect with template defaults → Archon campaign.

**Tier 4:** 1. /prd express mode (0-1 questions) 2. User approves PRD (only mandatory checkpoint) 3. /architect (auto-approve if all end conditions are machine-verifiable) 4. Archon campaign with ALL safety systems active:

• Direction alignment every 2 phases, quality spot-check every phase
• Circuit breakers: 3 failures = new approach, 5+ type errors = park

5. Execute autonomously until complete or parked 6. Run full verification of all PRD end conditions, present results

**Tier 5 (Feature Addition):** 1. Read existing codebase — file tree, package.json, key entry points, existing patterns 2. /prd in feature mode (max 2 questions) 3. User approves feature spec (one mandatory checkpoint) 4. /architect in existing codebase mode — Phase 0 always "Baseline" (run typecheck + tests, record counts). Auto-approve if machine-verifiable. 5. Archon campaign — every phase end condition includes "no new typecheck errors vs baseline" and "existing tests pass" 6. On completion: verify all feature end conditions + baseline regression check, present results

Step 3: VERIFY (All Tiers except 1)

Check each PRD end condition (run commands, check files, invoke /live-preview for visual checks). Report PASS / PARTIAL / FAIL with specifics