Implement

implement - build the approved spec

Context reuse: Reuse any required file already loaded in project instructions or the current session. Read it again only if absent, changed, or exact current bytes or line references are needed.

The approved blueprint/context/current-feature.md is the authoritative feature packet. Implement it and stop before the work-level commit or merge.

Start

First action: Before project inspection, preflight, or any other tool call, publish the implement activity as running when blueprint/.state/ exists. Combine it with the first preflight tool batch when supported.

In one preflight batch, read:

• blueprint/config.json
• blueprint/context/current-feature.md
• the current branch, status, and recent relevant log
• the Commands section already loaded from AGENTS.md

Stop for /doctor on invalid config. Stop for /feature, /fix, or /rollback when the active spec is empty. Preserve unrelated worktree changes.

Do not reread the full project overview, coding standards, interaction guide, history, findings, or review ledger before coding. The approved spec already contains the product contract and applicable conventions. Read one targeted section only when the spec explicitly depends on a missing detail. Read findings and review state once at the final handoff.

Inspect the implementation surface in one targeted, batched read before editing. Use one additional read batch only when an exact dependency remains unknown and blocks the next change. Do not list or survey the repository, inspect unrelated examples, or run scratch environment probes. Follow the declared runtime and existing target-area patterns, then let the narrow check expose incompatibilities.

Resolve the work branch before editing. Use the exact **Branch:** value in the spec when present. For an older spec without it, combine the configured prefix for its type with the work title: lowercase ASCII letters and digits, replace each run of other characters with one hyphen, and trim edge hyphens. Feature titles come from the named build-plan item; fix and rollback titles come from their spec heading or target. Stop if the type or title is ambiguous. Create or switch to that exact branch and never implement on the default branch. On resume, start at the first unchecked build step and use git status plus the checked boxes to distinguish finished work from unfinished work.

If the spec says Type: Rollback, read and follow reference/rollback-implementation.md before changing product files. Do not load that reference for a feature or fix.

Build loop

Follow build steps in order. Build only what the spec says. If a step requires an unresolved product decision, unsafe action, missing prerequisite, or material scope expansion, stop and revise the spec instead of improvising.

Add an abstraction, dependency, service, configuration surface, compatibility layer, or security mechanism only when the approved spec or an established repository requirement needs it now. Prefer existing code, the standard library, native platform features, and installed dependencies. If the simplest complete implementation conflicts with the spec, stop and revise the spec instead of silently building a larger design.

For each step:

1. Make the smallest coherent change that satisfies its Done when.
2. Add focused tests with logic when a test runner is configured. Never install a runner or runtime dependency unless the spec authorizes it.
3. Run the narrowest useful check while iterating. Do not run the full Verify command after every step when workflow.stepReview is feature; run it once after all steps. Run Verify earlier only when the step explicitly requires it or later work cannot proceed without it.
4. Self-review the diff for contract coverage, authorization and tenant scope, error handling, accidental scope, and unrelated changes.
5. Check the step box only after its code and focused check pass. Mark a repaired finding fixed, never closed.

With verification.logicTests: required, any logic-bearing step stops and points to /tests when no test runner is configured. Its focused logic tests must pass before the step can be checked. With verification.uiEvidence: required, a UI done-when cannot pass on build output alone. Capture the configured browser evidence, or stop and ask the user to start the required server when live evidence cannot run automatically.

With workflow.stepReview: feature, continue through passing steps and present one final review packet. With workflow.stepReview: every, stop after each step with the diff, a short explanation, evidence, and a manual try path when one exists. Continue only after approval.

Checkpoint commits are offered only when workflow.checkpointCommits is enabled and the current review gate was approved. Never commit without current approval. /complete owns the final work-level commit and merge.

Do not create a separate tool round merely to narrate a passing internal step. Keep the durable checkbox current and continue. Split a step when its diff is too large to review.

Before final verification, compare every In scope item and Done when against the finished diff. For user-facing work, inspect the reachability and error classification of each required state. Catch only known expected errors at a boundary; unexpected failures must reach the unexpected-error path. Fix any missing or contradicted contract before marking the spec verified.

Run a proportionality check before final verification: every new abstraction, dependency, service, configuration surface, compatibility layer, and security mechanism must trace to the approved spec or an established repository requirement. Remove speculative machinery this work added without weakening real trust-boundary validation, data-loss prevention, accessibility, or configured verification.

Verification

After all steps pass, run the project's final automated gate once. If AGENTS.md declares a Verify command, run that exact command. Otherwise run the fallback build and tests that are actually declared. Never claim a check passed without its output.

Apply configured regular gates:

• Audit and independent review follow qualityGates.regular.
• Check runs for always, for behavioral work under when-behavioral, or when explicitly requested.
• /check guide follows qualityGates.regular.tryGuide: it runs for always, for user-facing work under when-user-facing, or when explicitly requested.

Do not start a dev server. When a required runtime check needs one, ask the user to start it. Build output does not prove visual, persisted-data, authenticated, or end-to-end behavior.

If Verify or a required gate fails, repair only in-scope defects, rerun the narrow failing check, then rerun the final gate. Stop on repeated failure, missing infrastructure, or a product decision.

After final Verify and required Check pass, set the active spec to verified with every completed box checked. Then resolve independent review before the final packet:

1. If qualityGates.regular.independentReview does not select review and no request already exists, proceed directly to the final review packet.
2. Otherwise show the exact product/test checkpoint candidate and verified spec. Include the spec when tracked; an intentionally ignored spec uses Audit's local Spec snapshot contract without changing visibility. Obtain explicit commit approval when the exact checkpoint does not already exist, then create or use it. Configuration, including review.independentExecution: "automatic", never grants commit permission, even when normal checkpoint commits are disabled. A local-spec-only revision may reuse the same approved product HEAD after normal spec and verification gates, with a new snapshot/request and full fresh review. Do not create an empty commit for ignored spec changes.
3. Follow /audit independent current to prepare or reuse the request and record Requested execution. For requested automatic, start and wait for the generic isolated current-runtime child instructed from the project-local Audit skill, then validate the receipt. For requested manual, or when automatic capability or access to the same local spec/snapshot is unavailable, preserve the request and stop with the manual fresh-session handoff. Treat an existing request without Requested execution as legacy manual-only: never add execution fields or run a subagent against it.
4. Continue to the final packet only with a current passing receipt whose requested execution, actual execution, and reviewer context form an allowed pairing. Never self-review or silently skip a selected gate.

Final handoff

Read blueprint/context/findings.md and blueprint/context/review.md once. Open or fixed P0/P1 findings block /complete. Repair an open blocker as a new spec checklist step, mark it fixed after its check passes, then send it back to /audit for closure. Only the user can accept a finding.

When all steps and required gates pass:

• Update activity to ready with /complete as the resume command.
• Present the branch, changes grouped by area, exact checks run, how to try it, findings and independent-review state, known risks, configured gate outcomes, and /complete as the next action.

After the final packet, always offer these choices:

1. Walk me through the implementation.
2. Request changes.
3. Continue to the exact next workflow command.

The final walkthrough is available with either workflow.stepReview value and regardless of workflow.checkpointCommits. It is a read-only code tour, not the manual product-review path produced by /check guide, and it is not verification.

When the user chooses the walkthrough, begin with a short map of the completed feature, then follow the spec's build steps. For each step, explain its purpose, key files and symbols, important data or control flow, and non-obvious decisions. Use file and line links when the client supports them. Do not narrate every line or reload broad project context. End by offering a focused deep dive into one named area. If the feature spans too many distinct areas for one useful pass, name the sections first and let the user choose where to begin. Remain read-only unless the user separately requests changes.

Never create an ordinary step, product, or work-level commit from this skill. The sole exception is exactly one immutable independent-review checkpoint after showing its exact candidate and receiving current explicit commit approval. Configuration never supplies that approval. Never merge, push, deploy, publish, or start unrelated work from this skill.