# Implement

> Use when an approved plan and task list exist and it is time to turn them into working, tested code — the SDD phase after `analyze` and before `verify`. Enforces TDD: a failing test comes before the code that makes it pass, one task at a time, appended to a progress ledger that survives compaction. Delegates test tooling to the stack skill and fans disjoint tasks out via `parallel`. NOT spec writing (that is `specify`), NOT planning (that is `plan`), NOT the final lint/test/audit gate (that is `verify`).

- Skill: `ericrisco/implement` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 7 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add ericrisco/implement`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/ericrisco/implement/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Security
- Author: ericrisco (https://skillmd.com/u/ericrisco)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/ericrisco/implement

---


# implement — turn the task list into tested code

You have a spec, a plan, and an ordered task list (from `specify` → `plan` → `tasks`), and the
`analyze` gate has cleared. This skill does the building: it walks the tasks in order, writes each
one **test-first**, stops to show its work after every task, and records the decisions it makes
along the way. It is the *intent → shipped code* engine's hands — `verify` is the gate that comes
after, not part of this skill.

This is a **process skill**. It owns the discipline (red → green → refactor, checkpoints, decision
logging, constitution adherence). It does **not** own the test tooling — pytest fixtures, `go test`
table-drivers, Vitest/Playwright, `flutter test` — those belong to the stack skill, and you call
into them rather than reinventing them.

## Before you write a line of code

Run this short gate. Skipping it is the most common way an implement session goes sideways.
**This gate is a hard refuse, not a checklist to feel good about:** if it fails you stop and route
back — you do not write feature code anyway.

1. **The spec + plan must exist AND be approved.** Open the spec (`02-DOCS/wiki/sdd/specs/<slug>.md`),
   the plan (`02-DOCS/wiki/sdd/plans/<slug>.md`, which holds the task list), and the constitution
   (`02-DOCS/wiki/sdd/constitution.md`). If any is missing, **you are not allowed to implement** —
   route back: no spec → `specify`; no plan → `plan`; no task list inside the plan → `tasks`;
   unresolved `analyze` findings → resolve them first. If a spec/plan exists but the user has not
   actually seen and **approved** it, get that approval first. Never "start coding to discover the
   plan as you go", and never accept "just build it, skip the spec" on a non-trivial feature — name
   the gate in one friendly line and route to `specify`. (Only a true one-line, low-risk change
   earns a skip, and you say so.)
2. **Read the SDD runtime config.** Open `02-DOCS/wiki/sdd/config.yaml`. If it is missing on
   non-trivial work, stop and route to `sdd-init`. Use `testing.strict_tdd`,
   `testing.commands.apply`, `testing.commands.verify`, `sdd.review_budget` and
   `sdd.registry_path`. Do not choose a different test command from memory while config exists.
3. **Read the skill registry.** Open `.rsc/skill-registry.json` if present. Select only the
   relevant stack/process skills for this task, then digest them into compact rules. If the
   registry is missing, run or recommend `npx @ericrisco/rsc registry refresh` and record the fallback.
4. **Read the accompaniment dial.** Open `02-DOCS/wiki/harness/user-profile.md` and read the
   technical + accompaniment level. It sets how loud you are at each checkpoint (see the dial table
   below). No profile yet → assume non-technical, narrate more, and ask before any irreversible step.
5. **Confirm isolation.** Implementation happens on a feature branch or worktree, never directly on
   the default branch. If you are on `main`/`master`, stop and hand to `worktrees` before the first
   commit.
6. **Scan the tasks for independence.** Mark which tasks share files/state and which are disjoint.
   Disjoint clusters are candidates for `parallel`; everything else runs in order.

## The loop — one task at a time

For **each task** in the list, in order (or dispatched per the parallel rule below):

```text
RED      → write the smallest failing test that encodes the task's done-check. Run it. Watch it FAIL
           for the right reason (assertion, not import error). A test that was never red proves nothing.
GREEN    → write the least code that makes that test pass. No extra features, no "while I'm here".
           Run the test. Watch it PASS.
TRIANGULATE → add the smallest edge-case test that proves the behavior is not hard-coded
           (only when config.testing.strict_tdd is true and the task has meaningful edge cases).
REFACTOR → with the test green, clean up names/duplication/shape. Re-run; still green. Only now.
CHECK    → re-read the task's done-check. Met? Constitution still honored? Decision worth logging?
PROGRESS → append task/test/blocker/decision state to 02-DOCS/wiki/sdd/progress/<slug>.md.
COMMIT   → commit this task as one logical unit (authorship = Eric; see ship for the rule).
REVIEW   → dispatch a fresh reviewer subagent over THIS task's commits (see "Per-task review gate").
           Fold its Critical/Important findings back in before you move on; Minor can wait.
CHECKPOINT → stop and show: what changed, test output, review verdict, the next task. Wait per the dial.
```

The order is load-bearing. **Red before green** is not a suggestion — a test you write *after* the
code tells you nothing about whether it can fail. **Refactor only on green** keeps every cleanup
reversible against a passing bar. **Checkpoint after each task** is what makes this resumable and
reviewable instead of a 2000-line surprise diff.

### Four things you may never do to reach green

The loop only means anything if green cannot be manufactured. These are absolute, and each one is a
way people reach green without fixing anything:

1. **Never weaken a test to make it pass.** Not broadening an assertion, not adding a skip, not
   raising a tolerance, not deleting it. A test that looks wrong is a **spec conversation** — surface
   it, don't bury it.
2. **Never edit a test and the implementation in the same step to reach green.** Change one, run,
   then the other. Simultaneous edits let you redefine correctness to match your bug without
   noticing you did it.
3. **Never mock the unit under test**, or mock so much that the test only exercises the mocks. Mock
   boundaries you don't own — network, clock, filesystem, third-party SDK — never the logic you are
   being paid to verify.
4. **Never chase the coverage number.** Coverage detects untested code; it is not a target. A test
   added to touch lines, with no meaningful assertion, is gaming — and mutation testing exists
   precisely to catch it (`../testing-py/SKILL.md`, `../testing-web/SKILL.md`, `../testing-go/SKILL.md`).

### The done-check is the contract

Each task carries a done-check from the `tasks` phase ("returns 409 on duplicate email", "list
renders empty state when zero items"). That sentence **is** your first failing test. Do not invent a
looser check, and do not mark a task done because the code "looks right" — done means the done-check's
test is green and the relevant acceptance criterion in the spec is satisfied.

## Delegating the test tooling (do not reinvent it)

Write the *intent* of the test here; get the *mechanics* from the stack skill. The discipline is
yours; the fixtures, runners and idioms are theirs.

| Stack | Where the test mechanics live | What you delegate |
| --- | --- | --- |
| FastAPI / async Python | `../fastapi/references/testing.md` | `ASGITransport` in-process client, `dependency_overrides`, transactional rollback fixture, `pytest-asyncio` |
| Go services | `../go/references/testing.md` | table-driven subtests, `httptest`, interface fakes, golden files, `errors.Is` checks |
| Next.js / React | `../nextjs/references/testing.md` | Vitest + Testing Library for units, Playwright for flows, server-action / RSC testing |
| Flutter | `../flutter/references/testing.md` | `flutter test` widget tests, `pump`/`pumpAndSettle`, golden tests, mocked repositories |

If the feature spans two stacks (a Next.js front-end calling a FastAPI back-end), each task names its
stack and pulls that stack's testing reference — you do not mix idioms inside one task.

## Skill digestion and resolution

When a task or subagent needs skill context, use the registry path from config:

```text
.rsc/skill-registry.json
```

Select the smallest set of skills that match the task. Digest each selected skill into 4-5 compact rules that affect this task. A task brief or checkpoint includes:

```text
Selected skills: fastapi, postgresdb, implement
Compact rules:
- Use the configured apply command from config.yaml.
- Red test first; verify it fails for the right reason.
- Keep DB migrations expand-contract when touching production tables.
Skill resolution:
- used: [...]
- missing: [...]
- fallback: [...]
```

If a skill is referenced but unavailable, say so and record the fallback. Do not silently pretend it was used.

## Apply progress

Maintain an append-only progress file:

```text
02-DOCS/wiki/sdd/progress/<slug>.md
```

Entry shape:

```markdown
## T004 — 2026-06-02
- status: complete
- red: `pytest tests/auth/test_login.py::test_bad_password_returns_401` failed for expected missing route
- green: same test passed
- triangulation: blank title returns 422
- files: app/auth.py, tests/auth/test_login.py
- decision: none
- blocker: none
```

This file is what makes resumes and archive reliable. Never rewrite old entries; append corrections as new entries.

### Resume & recovery — trust the ledger, not memory

The progress file is the source of truth across compaction and restarts:

- **A task recorded `status: complete` here is DONE — never re-dispatch it.** Re-running completed
  tasks (re-implementing, re-committing) is the single most expensive recovery failure: it rebuilds
  work that already exists and can clobber later commits.
- **After a compaction or a fresh session, reconstruct state from this ledger + `git log`, not from
  memory.** Read the progress entries and the commit history first; resume at the first task not
  marked complete. If the ledger and the working tree disagree, believe the tree and append a
  correction entry — do not silently re-run.

## Running independent tasks in parallel

When two or more tasks are genuinely disjoint — **no shared files, no shared state, no ordering
dependency** — fan them out with `parallel` rather than serializing. The rule of thumb:

- **Serialize** when a later task imports, edits, or asserts against an earlier task's output, or
  when they touch the same file.
- **Parallelize** when each task could be done by a different person who never talks to the others
  (e.g. "add the `users` repository" and "add the `invoices` repository" in separate modules).

Each parallel branch still runs its own full red → green → refactor loop and reports back its diff +
test output. You merge the branches, then run the *combined* test suite before the next checkpoint —
green-in-isolation is not green-together. Hand the orchestration to `parallel`; keep the TDD
discipline inside each branch.

**Dispatch implementation work to the `developer` subagent.** rsc installs a `developer` agent
pinned to the balanced tier (Sonnet by default, chosen at onboarding, never `light`). When you
delegate a task or fan out via `parallel`, dispatch it to that agent (e.g. Claude Code
`subagent_type: developer`) so the bulk of TDD execution runs on the cheaper-but-capable model
while you stay on the session model to orchestrate. Full rationale: `../sdd/references/model-routing.md`.

### The dispatch contract (carriers, statuses, escalation)

A dispatched worker is **context-isolated** — it sees only what you hand it, not your session. Make
each dispatch self-sufficient and make its return machine-checkable:

- **Carry the task, not your context.** Hand the worker its task brief, its **Interfaces** block
  (`Consumes`/`Produces`, exact signatures — from `tasks`), and the plan's **§0 Global Constraints**.
  Anything not in those three is invisible to it. Prefer **file paths over pasted text** (use
  `scripts/task-brief` and `scripts/review-package`, below) — pasted briefs and diffs stay resident
  in your context and get re-read every turn.
- **Model is REQUIRED on every dispatch.** Always set the subagent's model explicitly (the
  `developer` agent already pins balanced). An omitted model silently inherits the session's model —
  usually the most expensive one — which is the quiet way fan-out cost explodes.
- **The worker reports one of four statuses** (it does not guess when unsure):
  - `DONE` — done-check green, `Produces` contract met.
  - `DONE_WITH_CONCERNS` — green, but it flagged a risk/assumption for you to adjudicate.
  - `BLOCKED` — cannot proceed (failing dependency, contradiction, missing access). Stops; does not
    hack around it.
  - `NEEDS_CONTEXT` — a `Consumes`/constraint it needed was not in the brief. Stops; names what's missing.
- **Never force the same model to retry unchanged.** On `BLOCKED`/`NEEDS_CONTEXT` you must *change
  something* before re-dispatching: add the missing context/interface, fix the dependency, or
  escalate the tier (balanced → heavy) for a genuinely hard sub-problem. Re-running an identical
  prompt on an identical model is how a loop burns budget without progress.

## Per-task review gate

After a task is committed and before its checkpoint, run a **small, fresh-eyes review of that task
alone** — catching over-/under-building while it is one commit cheap to fix, instead of waiting for
the whole-branch review when it is buried in a large diff. It is a mid-build gate, not the finish
line (see the boundary below).

How to run it:

1. **Package the diff as a file, not a paste.** `scripts/review-package <BASE> <HEAD>` where `BASE`
   is the task's *recorded* base sha (never `HEAD~1` — that drops every commit but the last of a
   multi-commit task). It writes the commit list + `--stat` + full diff to one file.
2. **Dispatch a fresh reviewer subagent** (context-isolated — it must NOT inherit your session
   reasoning). Hand it: the review-package *path*, the task's **done-check**, the task's
   **Interfaces → Produces** contract, and the plan's **§0 Global Constraints**. With routing on,
   balanced is the floor; escalate to heavy for a risky/security-touching task. The frozen brief
   lives in `references/per-task-review.md`.
3. **It returns two verdicts in one pass:** *spec compliance* (missing / extra / misunderstood vs the
   done-check + Produces) and *code quality* — every finding tagged severity
   (`Critical`/`Important`/`Minor`) with `file:line` evidence.
4. **Fold `Critical`/`Important` back in now**; `Minor` may wait for the end-of-branch review.

**Anti-pre-judging (hard rule).** The dispatch must never tell the reviewer what *not* to flag,
pre-rate a finding's severity, or explain why a choice is fine ("the plan chose X, treat as Minor").
A stated rationale never downgrades a finding — that is laundering your own bias through the reviewer.
Hand it the evidence and the contract; let it judge.

**Boundary — this does not replace the end gates.** `verify` still runs the *whole* suite and the
acceptance criteria once at the end, and `review` still reads the *whole* diff adversarially once
before `ship`. The per-task gate is the cheap early pass; the broad reviews remain. Skip the per-task
gate on a genuinely trivial task (a one-line change), like the rest of the chain.

## Model tier — `balanced` (opt-in routing)

This phase's default model tier is **`balanced`** — it is the bulk of TDD execution: cost-sensitive, with quality balanced handles well. Routing is **off** unless `models.enabled: true` in `02-DOCS/wiki/sdd/config.yaml`. When on: resolve this phase's tier (`models.overrides` wins over `models.phases`), map it to a model via `models.tiers`, and apply per `../sdd/references/model-routing.md` — announce the switch per the accompaniment dial when it differs from the session model, and dispatch any `Task`/`parallel` subagents on that model (this is where routing pays off most — fan-out runs on `balanced` while a hard sub-problem can be escalated to `heavy`). Routing off or no profile → honor the session model silently. Never fake a switch a tool can't make; skip routing on a one-line change.

## The accompaniment dial — how loud at each checkpoint

Read the level from `02-DOCS/wiki/harness/user-profile.md` and match it. Same work, different volume.

| Level | At each checkpoint you show… | Questions you ask |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **L0** terse | one line: task done, tests green, moving on | none unless blocked or about to do something irreversible |
| **L1** brief | task + the one *why* behind any non-obvious choice | only where the plan genuinely forked |
| **L2** decisions | task + each relevant decision and its trade-off | confirm before deviating from the plan |
| **L3** full | task + reasoning, test output read aloud, what's next and why | ask to contextualize each decision; teach as you go |

The dial changes verbosity and question count — it **never** changes the engineering. TDD, the
done-checks, the constitution and decision logging hold at every level, including L0.

## Logging decisions (the 02-DOCS trail)

When you make a choice the plan did not fully specify — a library, a data shape, an error contract, a
deviation from the plan — append it to `02-DOCS/wiki/sdd/decisions.md` (append-only; create it if
absent and index it in `02-DOCS/wiki/index.md` (the Knowledge map; root `CLAUDE.md` keeps only a short pointer) under the `sdd/` topic). One entry:

```text
## YYYY-MM-DD — <short title>  (feature: <slug>, task: <n>)
Context   — what forced the choice
Options    — the 2–3 real alternatives weighed
Decision   — what you chose
Why        — the trade-off that decided it
```

Log the **non-obvious** ones — the choices a reviewer would otherwise have to reverse-engineer from
the diff. Do not log "named the variable `count`". If a decision contradicts the constitution, you do
not get to log your way around it: stop (see red flags).

## Staying inside the constitution

`02-DOCS/wiki/sdd/constitution.md` holds the project's non-negotiables (stack canon, quality bars,
naming, security posture). Every task you implement must honor it. If a task can only be done by
breaking a constitutional rule, that is a contradiction the `analyze` phase should have caught —
surface it and stop; do not quietly violate the constitution to make a test pass. The constitution
outranks the plan, and the plan outranks your in-the-moment preference.

## Anti-patterns → STOP

| Rationalization | Reality |
| --- | --- |
| "I'll write the tests after, once the code settles" | Then the test only confirms what you built, not what was asked. Red first, always. |
| "This task is trivial, skip the failing test" | Trivial code breaks too, and the next task may lean on it. Smallest red test still goes first. |
| "I'm here anyway, I'll also fix that other thing" | Scope creep buries the diff and breaks the done-check contract. One task, one commit. |
| "The test passed first try without ever being red" | It tests nothing. Make it fail on purpose, then make it pass. |
| "I'll batch ten tasks into one big commit to save time" | You just made the work unreviewable and un-resumable. One logical unit per task. |
| "The constitution's rule doesn't fit here, I'll bend it" | The constitution outranks you. Surface the conflict; don't bend it silently. |
| "These two tasks touch the same file but I'll parallelize anyway" | Shared file = shared state = merge pain and lost work. Serialize them. |
| "Refactor now, the test is still red" | Never refactor on red — you can't tell a cleanup from a regression. Get green first. |
| "I'll mark it done, the code looks correct" | Done = the done-check's test is green and the acceptance criterion holds. Looks ≠ green. |
| "I'll just write the .env so the integration test runs" | Never. Secrets are the user's; mock/stub the boundary or use a test fixture. |

## Red flags — stop and re-route

- **No plan or no task list** → you cannot implement intent you haven't planned. Route to `plan` /
  `tasks`.
- **Unresolved `analyze` findings** (contradiction between constitution ↔ spec ↔ plan ↔ tasks) →
  resolve them before any code; they will only get more expensive after the diff exists.
- **A task forces a constitution violation** → surface it, stop, kick it back to `analyze`/`plan`.
- **You're on the default branch** → stop before the first commit; hand to `worktrees`.
- **A test won't go red** (wrong reason — import error, syntax) → fix the test before trusting it.
- **The combined suite is red after a parallel merge** → do not checkpoint as done; debug with
  `debug` before continuing.
- **You're tempted to disable/skip a failing test to "make progress"** → that's the bug talking.
  Diagnose with `debug`; never ship around a red test.

## Checklist (copy per task)

```text
- [ ] Read the task's done-check; it is my first test's assertion
- [ ] RED: smallest test written, run, fails for the RIGHT reason
- [ ] GREEN: least code to pass; test now green
- [ ] REFACTOR: cleaned up on green; still green
- [ ] Constitution honored; no banned pattern introduced
- [ ] Non-obvious decision (if any) logged to 02-DOCS/wiki/sdd/decisions.md
- [ ] Apply progress appended to 02-DOCS/wiki/sdd/progress/<slug>.md
- [ ] Skill resolution recorded (used/missing/fallback/compact rules)
- [ ] Committed as one logical unit (authorship = Eric)
- [ ] Checkpoint shown at the dial's level; next task named
```

## Result envelope

End every implementation checkpoint or completed batch with:

```json result-envelope
{
  "status": "complete",
  "executive_summary": "Implemented task(s) with red/green/triangulate/refactor evidence.",
  "artifact": "02-DOCS/wiki/sdd/progress/<slug>.md",
  "next_recommended": "implement|verify",
  "risk": "low|medium|high",
  "skill_resolution": {
    "used": ["implement"],
    "missing": [],
    "fallback": [],
    "compact_rules": ["Use config testing commands.", "Append progress after every task."]
  },
  "evidence": ["red test output", "green test output", "progress entry path"]
}
```

## What this skill is NOT

- **Not the lint/type/audit gate.** Per-task tests prove the task; the *whole-suite* run plus
  lint/type/security audit and acceptance-criteria sign-off is `verify`'s job. Don't claim the
  feature is done here — that claim belongs to `verify`, on evidence.
- **Not spec or plan writing.** If you find the plan is wrong mid-build, stop and amend it via
  `plan`; don't silently re-architect inside a commit.
- **Not the deep-debug protocol.** When a test fails for a reason you don't understand, switch to
  `debug` (reproduce → isolate → hypothesize → fix → verify) instead of guessing.

## Where you are in the chain

`constitution` → `specify` → `clarify` → `plan` → `tasks` → `analyze` → **implement** → `verify` →
`review` → `ship`. On-demand from here: `debug` (a test fails mysteriously), `worktrees` (need
isolation), `parallel` (independent tasks to fan out).

**Next:** when every task's done-check is green and committed, go to `verify` — run the stack skill's
`scripts/verify.sh`, confirm the spec's acceptance criteria, and let evidence (not assertion) declare
the feature done.

## Orientación (siempre)

Cierra cada turno con el **bloque-brújula** (📍 dónde estás · ✅ qué hiciste · 🧭 por qué · ➡️ siguiente, terminando en pregunta), calibrado al dial de `02-DOCS/wiki/harness/user-profile.md`. **Nunca termines en seco.** Protocolo completo: skill `orient` → `skills/orient/references/orientation-contract.md`. (Defiere a `suggest` el "¿instalo la skill que falta?".)