Product Line

Pack Availability Guard

Before telling the user to run a skill from another project-local pack, check .agents/project.json.enabled_packs. If the target pack is not enabled, recommend $pack install <pack> instead of the target skill. Global skills are always valid. Skills from this same pack are valid because the current skill is already running from that pack.

Product Line — Product Path Portfolio Management

Invoke as $product-line.

Manage the portfolio of product paths tracked in research/.progress.yaml. This skill provides five modes for working with the product-path manifest: reviewing the portfolio, promoting deferred paths to active, pruning abandoned paths, forking new paths from mid-pipeline discoveries, and checking revisit triggers.

Product paths are research divergences — different ICPs, expansion candidates, pivots, competitive gaps — not git branches. Each path tracks its pipeline stage, evidence maturity, and revisit conditions.

Prerequisites

research/.progress.yaml must exist for all modes except fork (which can create it). If missing, tell the user: "No product-path manifest found. Run $idea-scope-brief or $icp first — they create the manifest when multiple product directions emerge."

Manifest Schema

The canonical manifest lives at research/.progress.yaml:

active_paths:           # list of path IDs currently being researched
  - "path-id-1"
max_concurrent: 1       # max simultaneous active paths (default 1)
product_paths:
  - id: "path-id-1"
    label: "Human-readable name"
    source_skill: "icp"
    scope_path: "research/icp-smb.md"
    status: active       # active | deferred | revisit_candidate | promoted | abandoned
    reason: "Why this path exists"
    evidence_refs:
      - "research/icp.md"
    revisit_trigger: "Condition that should re-evaluate this path"
    next_skill: "$competitive-analysis"
    last_touched: "2026-05-27"
    pipeline_stage: "icp"  # last completed skill in the chain

Backward Compatibility

When reading the manifest, handle the legacy singular active_path field:

• If active_path (string) exists and active_paths (list) does not, treat it as active_paths: [<active_path value>].
• When writing, always use the plural active_paths form. Remove the singular active_path field on write to complete migration.

Modes

1. review — Portfolio Dashboard

Invocation: $product-line review

Scan the manifest and present a dashboard comparing all paths:

Evidence maturity is derived from which research files exist under the path's scope_path or are listed in evidence_refs:

• Early — only concept brief or initial ICP
• Developing — ICP + competitive analysis or positioning
• Mature — journey map + metrics + GTM or monetization
• Complete — full pipeline through experiment or PMF assessment

Pipeline stage shows the last completed skill. Map common stages to a visual progress indicator:

idea-scope-brief → icp → competitive-analysis → positioning → journey-map → metrics → gtm → monetization → experiment

Group paths by status. For deferred and revisit_candidate paths, highlight the revisit trigger prominently.

When deferred paths accumulate (3+ deferred with no recent promotion), recommend: "Consider running $product-line triggers to check whether any deferred paths should be promoted."

2. promote <path-id> — Activate a Deferred Path

Invocation: $product-line promote <path-id>

1. Validate the path exists and has status deferred, revisit_candidate, or abandoned.
2. Check max_concurrent against current active_paths count.
   • If at capacity, present the user with options: deactivate an existing active path first, or increase max_concurrent.
3. Scan existing research files to determine the path's current pipeline stage.
4. Update the manifest:
   • Set status: promoted then status: active
   • Add the path ID to active_paths
   • Set last_touched to today
   • Set pipeline_stage from the scan
5. Present the promotion result and recommend the next skill based on where the path left off.

3. prune <path-id> — Abandon a Path

Invocation: $product-line prune <path-id>

1. Validate the path exists and is not already abandoned.
2. Ask the user for a rationale.
3. Update the manifest:
   • Set status: abandoned
   • Remove from active_paths if present
   • Append the rationale to reason
   • Set last_touched to today
4. Present confirmation with the documented rationale.

4. fork <label> [--from <skill>] — Create a New Path

Invocation: $product-line fork "Enterprise vertical" --from competitive-analysis

Create a new product path from a mid-pipeline discovery.

1. Generate a path ID from the label (lowercase, hyphenated slug).
2. Ask the user for evidence, revisit trigger, and active/deferred status.
3. Determine scope_path — suggest research/{slug}/ for a new research subdirectory.
4. Create the manifest entry with all required fields.
5. If status is active, check max_concurrent capacity (same logic as promote).
6. Create the research/.progress.yaml file if it doesn't exist, or append to product_paths if it does.
7. Create the research/{slug}/ directory if the path is active.

5. triggers — Check Revisit Conditions

Invocation: $product-line triggers

Scan all paths with status: deferred or status: revisit_candidate and evaluate their revisit_trigger conditions:

• File-based triggers → check if the referenced file exists
• Evidence-based triggers → check research files for relevant data
• Time-based triggers → compare against current date
• External triggers → flag as requiring manual check

Classify each trigger: fired, pending, or manual.

For fired triggers, recommend $product-line promote <path-id>.

Output

This skill modifies research/.progress.yaml only. It does not create research documents.

Constraints

• Manifest-only mutations. Reads and writes research/.progress.yaml only.
• No automatic pipeline execution. Recommend next skills but do not run them.
• Backward compatible reads. Handle both active_path (singular) and active_paths (plural).
• Forward-only writes. Always write active_paths (plural).
• Prune rationale is required. Never abandon without documented evidence.
• Respect max_concurrent. Do not exceed without user approval.
• Use product-path terminology. Never use "branch" to mean a product path.

Default Shipping Contract

Follow the shared shipping contract convention in CLAUDE.md (adapted for Codex: commit and push changes to the repository primary branch).