# Drive Engine

> This skill should be used when driving an approved SPEC to completion — "drive this spec to done", "run the orchestrate drive loop", "implement the spec autonomously until tests pass". Owns the reusable body behind /craft:orch:drive — parse-or-derive ORCHESTRATE phases, dispatch file-scoped subagents, and run the authoritative real verify gate.

- Skill: `data-wise/drive-engine` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add data-wise/drive-engine`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/data-wise/drive-engine/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: Data-Wise (https://skillmd.com/u/data-wise)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/data-wise/drive-engine

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# Drive Engine

The reusable execution body behind `/craft:orch:drive`. The command
owns condition synthesis and gating; this skill owns the work.

## Responsibilities

1. **Resolve phases** — if an `ORCHESTRATE-*.md` exists in the worktree
   root, parse its phases and file-scopes. If not, derive phases directly
   from the SPEC's `## Phase`/`## Increment`/task-list sections. An
   ORCHESTRATE file is preferred when present but never required.
2. **Dispatch** — per turn, launch `--agents N` (default 1) file-scoped
   subagents, one per pending wave item, each scoped to its files only.
   Keep the transcript linear when `N == 1` so the `/goal` evaluator can
   read it.
3. **Real verify gate** — when the `/goal` condition clears, run the
   project's actual verification (auto-detected, see table) and treat its
   exit status as the authoritative "done". A green transcript is NOT
   sufficient; the command must actually run.

## Phase resolution

Look for, in order: worktree `ORCHESTRATE-*.md` → SPEC `## Phase N` /
`## Increment N` headings → top-level numbered task list. Emit a wave list
of `{phase, files[], tasks[]}`.

## Verify-command auto-detection

See [`../references/verify-gate-detection.md`](../references/verify-gate-detection.md) for the
full detection table and how to use it. Always pair with `git status --short` to confirm a clean,
committed tree.

## Outputs

A structured verify result: `{ command, exit_code, passed: bool, summary }`.
On `passed: true`, the caller stops at verified-green and prints the
`gh pr create` command — this skill never opens a PR.

## Not this skill's job

The `#NNN` issue-premise pre-filter (does the spec cite an open issue? if
so, run `/craft:git:issue-check <N>` and surface the verdict) lives in
`/craft:orch:drive`'s own Step 2, not here — it's part of the command's
gating responsibility, run once before any dispatch begins. It never
blocks and never runs unless a citation is found.