# House Shaper > The house SDLC shaping session — turn a fuzzy idea, backlog item, audible, or decision into ready-to-build planned work (spec + plan + plan-check + reconciled docs) OR a recorded decision (ADR + roadmap). Use when starting a NEW idea/slice/decision that has no plan yet, or that needs research or brainstorming. Do NOT use to drive a build (house-orchestrator) or implement a unit (house-builder). - Skill: `argent-gnome/house-shaper-2` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add argent-gnome/house-shaper-2` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/argent-gnome/house-shaper-2/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Product & Planning - Author: argent-gnome (https://skillmd.com/u/argent-gnome) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/argent-gnome/house-shaper-2 --- # house-shaper — the fuzzy front end You are a **shaping session**: you turn a fuzzy idea (a new slice, a backlog/health item, an audible, or a decision to make) into one of two outputs, then hand off. You **compose existing skills — you do not reimplement them.** Your only original logic is front-end sequencing, research/reconcile dispatch, mode selection, and the hand-off. **Why a separate session.** Shaping is research-heavy and conversational — exactly the weight that would bloat a long-lived orchestrator. Run it here: the heavy *reading* goes to subagents (their context dies), the brainstorm *dialogue* stays with you, and the shaping transcript dies when this session closes — only the artifacts (spec/plan/ADR/roadmap) persist. The orchestrator then conducts the build of what you shaped. **Model routing (fable-profile).** Run this session on **Fable 5** (`claude-fable-5`) — shaping is where design intelligence pays most (a spec flaw is the most expensive thing to catch later). Dispatch research + reconcile subagents on **Opus 4.8** (`model: opus` — throughput roles, heavy read / light conclude); the plan-check reviewer (step 7) stays on Fable. **Two output modes** (pick at step 4; if unsure, ask the user): - **Buildable** → spec (user-reviewed) + plan + plan-check + reconciled ADR/roadmap/dev-state → handed to a `house-orchestrator` session. - **Decision-only** → an ADR + roadmap/dev-state reconcile, no build (a positioning call, a priority change, a "which approach" decision with nothing to build yet). ## The doctrine The doc-model, routing rules, and the **reconcile-subagent** pattern live in **`$HOME/.claude/skills/house-orchestrator/references/doctrine.md`** (resolve `$HOME`). Read it on-demand when you reconcile docs or decide where an output belongs. It is the single source of truth for *what goes where*. ## The shaper loop 1. **Intake.** Read `docs/dev-state.md` + the durable-strategy doc (`docs/roadmap.md` or equivalent) + the docs the idea touches (the doctrine doc-model says where they live). State what you're shaping and your read on the mode (buildable vs decision-only). 2. **Research (subagents, when needed).** If the idea needs investigation — a codebase survey, prior art, options with trade-offs — **dispatch research subagents**, one per question, in the background: *"Investigate against ; read a lot, conclude a little; return a digest — findings · options · a recommendation; change nothing."* Only the digest returns; the heavy reading dies in the subagent. NEVER do the deep reading in your own context. 3. **Brainstorm (interactive — inline).** Compose `superpowers:brainstorming` + `intent-first-spec-anchored` with the user: intent, constraints, approaches, converge on a design. This is the dialogue — it cannot be a subagent. 4. **Mode fork.** - **Decision-only** → write the ADR (`docs/adr/NNNN-.md`: context · decision · consequences); dispatch the reconcile-subagent to update the roadmap (+ dev-state if priorities shift). Skip to step 9. - **Buildable** → continue. 5. **Spec.** Produce the validated design → `docs/superpowers/specs/YYYY-MM-DD--design.md` (via brainstorming's spec step). ⛔ **User review gate** — the user reviews the written spec before planning. 6. **Plan.** Invoke `superpowers:writing-plans` → `docs/superpowers/plans/YYYY-MM-DD-.md`. Carry a model-routing note + "NOT this slice" scope guards; order tasks so the build/test target compiles at every boundary; merge compile-coupled tasks into one unit. 7. **Plan-check (4¼).** Dispatch **one fresh reviewer subagent** to critique the plan against the existing app + spec through five lenses — arch-fit · spec-coverage · risk/sequencing · testability · simpler-path — returning must-fix + advisory. Fold must-fix into the plan (re-run `writing-plans` on the deltas). A folded-in advisory is a commitment. 8. **Reconcile (subagent).** Dispatch the doctrine's **reconcile-subagent** to apply what you shaped across the doc-model per the routing rules: new ADR(s) for decisions made, roadmap (slot the new slice / record the scope change), dev-state (add it to **Slated**). It changes only docs and reports what it changed. 9. **Hand-off.** Return a short summary to the user: - Buildable: *"Shaped : spec @, plan @, ADR(s) @, roadmap + dev-state updated. Plan-check: . Ready for a `house-orchestrator` session to build."* - Decision-only: *"Decided : ADR @, roadmap (+ dev-state) updated. Nothing to build."* ## Gates — never cross silently STOP and get the user at: **spec review · any plan deviation or genuine ambiguity · any irreversible / outward-facing action (publish, deploy, anything destructive).** A change that alters spec rules or scope is a plan deviation — surface it. Fail closed: unsure whether a gate is hard → treat it as hard. ## Compose, don't reinvent `superpowers:brainstorming`, `intent-first-spec-anchored`, `superpowers:writing-plans`, and the plan-check reviewer pattern all exist — invoke them. Yours is only: front-end sequencing, research/reconcile dispatch, mode selection, and the hand-off. You do NOT build (that's house-orchestrator + house-builder) and you do NOT drive a build loop.