Dx New

dx-new — the entry point and router

Every piece of work starts here. Your one job is to pick the container level, create its identity file, and print the next command. You do not research, frame, or plan — you route.

Guard. If context/ isn't scaffolded (no changes/ or efforts/), stop and tell the user to run /dx-init. Never auto-create the parent tree.

Slice of an existing effort — read the id, don't invent one

If invoked as dx-new <effort-id> <slice-n>, this is a child change — a different path from everything below. Read context/efforts/<effort-id>/roadmap.md and find ### Slice <slice-n>: its - change: <slug> line is the id dx-roadmap already assigned, and the slice name is the title. Use them as-is — do not derive a new slug from scratch, that would orphan the roadmap's link. Missing effort or slice → tell the user to run /dx-roadmap <effort-id> first.

Create context/changes/<slug>/change.md with effort: <effort-id>, slice: <slice-n>, status: new. Default type: feature unless effort.md's ## Notes carries the marker line Refactor effort — findings promoted from /dx-refactor-discover. (written once at effort creation — see Promoted entries), then type: refactor. Fill every other frontmatter field the schema defines — invoke dx-references with topic change-md for the exact shape. The child inherits the effort's research/ and frame.md in place (nothing is copied) — its problem framing is already settled, so skip straight to /dx-plan <slug>. Optionally run /dx-frame <slug> first instead: in slice mode it adds only this slice's own ## User cases to a small frame.md of its own, without reopening the inherited framing.

Name it (change or effort, not a slice)

Derive a kebab-case slug from the idea (Add Google sign-in → oauth-login). If foundation/glossary.md exists, read it first and prefer its terms so the id matches the project's language. Reject a slug that collides with an existing change/effort/archive folder — ask for another.

Pick the level

Infer from size and clarity; when it's a coin-flip, ask one question and stop.

• Small / clear → a change. A single shippable unit. Create context/changes/<id>/change.md. Set type (feature | defect | refactor | migration — default feature), effort: null, slice: null, status: new, plus every other field the schema defines. Invoke dx-references with topic change-md for the exact shape.
• Large / decomposes into slices → an effort. Work that produces changes. Create context/efforts/<id>/effort.md with a one-paragraph ## Goal, status: new, plus every other field the schema defines. Invoke dx-references with topic effort-md for the exact shape.

Never nest a change inside a change. Large work is an effort that spawns flat child changes.

Promoted entries

dx-diagnose, dx-refactor-discover, and dx-brainstorm are separate discovery skills that hand a finding here. When invoked with a pre-seeded diagnosis.md (bug) or refactor finding, drop it into the new change's folder as its seed research and set type accordingly (defect / refactor). Don't re-derive what the discovery skill already found. dx-brainstorm creates its own container, so when a brainstorm already ran the bundling test the change-vs-effort level is handed over, not re-derived — you won't be routing that work at all.

Multi-finding effort seed. An argument opening with the heading ## Refactor opportunities (from /dx-refactor-discover) is dx-refactor-discover's promote-many output — an effort's worth of findings, not a short idea to slugify. Derive the effort slug via Name it, fed a short descriptor built from the seed's closing Start with: line (e.g. refactor: <top-pick module> + N other modules), not the whole blob. Write context/efforts/<id>/effort.md (topic effort-md) with a one-sentence ## Goal citing that Start with: line, plus the ## Notes marker Refactor effort — findings promoted from /dx-refactor-discover. — written once; this is the fact the slice-creation check above reads. Then write one context/efforts/<id>/research/<topic>.md per numbered finding: provenance frontmatter (topic, kind: codebase, source — the file(s) from that finding's "What & where", gathered — today, git_commit — git rev-parse HEAD) and that finding's entry (title, What & where, Why, Shape, Proposed, Dependency category) verbatim as the body, minus its list numeral — a standalone file has nothing to be numbered against — with its Sketch: line kept only when the finding carries one. Slug each topic from the finding's module/file name, not its deepening verb, collision-checked the same way Name it checks any slug. Any other argument — including a long one — still falls through to Name it / Pick the level unchanged.

Done when

The identity file exists with every frontmatter field filled (plus any seeded finding). Print the exact next command and stop — never run it:

Change:       Next: /dx-research <id> <topic>   → /dx-frame <id>   → /dx-plan <id>
              (both optional — small/clear work can go straight to /dx-plan <id>)
Effort:       Next: /dx-research <id> <topic>   → /dx-frame <id>   → /dx-roadmap <id>
Child change: Next: /dx-frame <slug>   → /dx-plan <slug>    (frame optional — adds this slice's own user cases)

Stop. Do not chain into another skill.