/context-driven-development

name: context-driven-development
description: >-
  Creates and maintains project context artifacts (product.md, tech-stack.md, workflow.md, tracks.md)
  in a `conductor/` directory. Scaffolds new projects from scratch, extracts context from existing
  codebases, validates artifact consistency before implementation, and synchronizes documents as the
  project evolves. Use when setting up a project, creating or updating product docs, managing a tech
  stack file, defining development workflows, tracking work units, onboarding to an existing codebase,
  or running project scaffolding.
version: 1.0.0

Context-Driven Development

Guide for implementing and maintaining context as a managed artifact alongside code, enabling consistent AI interactions and team alignment through structured project documentation.

When to Use This Skill

• Setting up new projects with Conductor
• Understanding the relationship between context artifacts
• Maintaining consistency across AI-assisted development sessions
• Onboarding team members to an existing Conductor project
• Deciding when to update context documents
• Managing greenfield vs brownfield project contexts

Detailed patterns and worked examples

Detailed pattern documentation lives in `references/details.md`. Read that file when the navigation tier above is insufficient.

Best Practices

1. **Read context first**: Always read relevant artifacts before starting work 2. **Small updates**: Make incremental context changes, not massive rewrites 3. **Link decisions**: Reference context when making implementation choices 4. **Version context**: Commit context changes alongside code changes 5. **Review context**: Include context artifact reviews in code reviews 6. **Validate regularly**: Run context validation checklist before major work 7. **Communicate changes**: Notify team when context artifacts change significantly 8. **Preserve history**: Use git to track context evolution over time 9. **Question staleness**: If context feels wrong, investigate and update 10. **Keep it actionable**: Every context item should inform a decision or behavior