Discuss Phase
<purpose>
Extract implementation decisions that downstream agents need. Analyze the phase to identify gray areas and capture decisions that guide research and planning.
Headless SDK variant — in autonomous mode, AI self-discusses by analyzing available context and making decisions based on project artifacts and codebase patterns.
</purpose>
<downstream_awareness>
**CONTEXT.md feeds into:**
1. **Researcher** — Reads CONTEXT.md to know WHAT to research
- Locked decisions guide research focus
- Discretion areas get options explored
2. **Planner** — Reads CONTEXT.md to know WHAT decisions are locked
- Locked decisions become non-negotiable plan constraints
- Discretion areas allow planner flexibility
</downstream_awareness>
<philosophy>
In headless mode, the AI acts as both visionary and builder. It:
- Analyzes the phase goal and available context
- Identifies gray areas that need decisions
- Makes autonomous decisions based on codebase patterns, requirements, and best practices
- Documents decisions clearly for downstream agents
</philosophy>
<scope_guardrail>
The phase boundary comes from the roadmap and is FIXED. Discussion clarifies HOW to implement what's scoped, never WHETHER to add new capabilities.
When analysis suggests scope creep: note it in "Deferred Ideas" section, do not act on it.
</scope_guardrail>
<process>
<step name="initialize" priority="first">
Load phase context from injected context files. Extract: phase directory, phase number, phase name, has_research, has_context, has_plans.
If phase not found: report error via event stream.
</step>
<step name="check_existing">
If CONTEXT.md already exists: load it and use as-is (in headless mode, existing context is not re-discussed).
If no CONTEXT.md: proceed to analysis.
</step>
<step name="load_prior_context">
Read project-level and prior phase context:
- PROJECT.md — vision, principles, non-negotiables
- REQUIREMENTS.md — acceptance criteria, constraints
- STATE.md — current progress, decisions
- Prior CONTEXT.md files — locked preferences from earlier phases
</step>
<step name="analyze_phase">
Analyze the phase to identify gray areas:
1. **Domain boundary** — What capability is this phase delivering?
2. **Check prior decisions** — What's already decided from earlier phases?
3. **Gray areas by category** — For each relevant category, identify 1-2 specific ambiguities
4. **Auto-resolve each gray area** — Make decisions based on:
- Codebase patterns (existing conventions)
- Prior phase decisions (consistency)
- Requirements (constraints)
- Best practices (industry standard)
5. **Log each decision** with rationale
</step>
<step name="pass_guard">
**CRITICAL — Single-pass guard:**
This step MUST complete in ONE pass. After writing CONTEXT.md, you are DONE. Do NOT re-read your own CONTEXT.md to identify "gaps", "undefined types", or "missing references" and run additional passes. Each decision naturally references other types and interfaces — this is expected, not a gap. The planner and executor will handle implementation details.
Self-referential gap-finding creates an infinite loop where:
1. Pass N creates decisions referencing types/interfaces
2. Pass N+1 "discovers" those references as "gaps"
3. Pass N+1 creates new decisions that reference more types
4. Repeat forever
Write your decisions once, comprehensively, then stop.
</step>
<step name="write_context">
Create CONTEXT.md capturing decisions made:when to use it
Community prompt sourced from the open-source GitHub repo Oisinwang/get-shit-done-codex (MIT). A "Discuss Phase" style prompt — adapt the placeholders and specifics to your task. Imported as-is and not independently retested here, so check the output before relying on it.
tags
productivitycommunitydeveloper
source
Oisinwang/get-shit-done-codex · MIT
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