Increment

Plan Product Increment

CRITICAL: Plan Mode Required (BLOCKING)

You MUST be in plan mode before proceeding. If not, call EnterPlanMode now and wait for confirmation before continuing to Step 0A.

1. Call EnterPlanMode immediately
2. Wait for plan mode confirmation
3. Then proceed to Step 0A

Increment planning produces specs, plans, and task breakdowns that require user review. Do not skip plan mode or defer it — the user must approve the plan before any implementation begins.

Project Overrides

!s="increment"; for d in .specweave/skill-memories .claude/skill-memories "$HOME/.claude/skill-memories"; do p="$d/$s.md"; [ -f "$p" ] && awk '/^## Learnings$/{ok=1;next}/^## /{ok=0}ok' "$p" && break; done 2>/dev/null; true

Project Context

!.specweave/scripts/skill-context.sh increment 2>/dev/null; true

Self-contained increment planning for ANY user project after specweave init.

Workflow Overview

STEP 0A: Discipline Check (BLOCKING)
STEP 0B: WIP Enforcement
STEP 0C: Tech Stack Detection
STEP 1:  Pre-flight (TDD mode, multi-project, Deep Interview check)
STEP 2:  Project Context (resolve project/board)
STEP 3:  Create Increment (via Template API) ← folder + ID exist after this
STEP 3a: Deep Interview (if enabled) ← runs AFTER folder exists
STEP 4:  Delegation (architect + test-aware-planner)
STEP 5:  Post-Creation Sync
STEP 6:  Execution Strategy Recommendation

CRITICAL: Step 3 (Create Increment) MUST run before Step 3a (Deep Interview). The interview state file is written to .specweave/state/interview-{increment-id}.json, and the enforcement guard looks for it by increment ID. If the interview runs before the increment folder exists, the guard cannot find the state file and blocks spec.md writing.

Step 0A: Discipline Check (MANDATORY)

Cannot start N+1 until N is DONE.

if ! specweave check-discipline; then
  echo "Cannot create new increment! Close existing work first."
  echo "Run: /sw:done <id>"
  exit 1
fi

Step 0B: WIP Enforcement

Default: 1 active increment (focus). Allow 2 for emergencies.

const active = MetadataManager.getAllActive();
const limits = config.limits || { maxActiveIncrements: 1, hardCap: 3 };

if (active.length >= limits.hardCap) {
  // BLOCK - ask user to complete/pause existing
  console.log("WIP LIMIT REACHED");
  console.log("Options: /sw:done <id> | /sw:pause <id>");
}

if (active.length >= limits.maxActiveIncrements) {
  // SOFT WARNING - hotfix/bug can bypass
  const isEmergency = ['hotfix', 'bug'].includes(incrementType);
  if (!isEmergency) {
    // Prompt: complete, pause, or continue anyway
  }
}

Type-Based Limits:

• Hotfix/Bug: Unlimited (emergency)
• Feature/Change-Request: Max 2
• Refactor: Max 1
• Experiment: Unlimited

Step 0C: Tech Stack Detection

Auto-detect from project files:

If detection fails, ask user.

Step 1: Pre-flight Checks

# 1. Check TDD mode
jq -r '.testing.defaultTestMode // "test-after"' .specweave/config.json 2>/dev/null

# 2. Check multi-project config
specweave context projects 2>/dev/null

# 3. Check deep interview mode (note: interview itself runs at Step 3a, after increment exists)
DEEP_INTERVIEW=$(jq -r '.planning.deepInterview.enabled // false' .specweave/config.json 2>/dev/null)

# 4. Check WIP limits
find .specweave/increments -maxdepth 2 -name "metadata.json" -exec grep -l '"status":"active"' {} \; 2>/dev/null | wc -l

Step 2: Project Context

# Get project/board values for spec.md
specweave context projects

Every US MUST have **Project**: field. For 2-level structures, also **Board**:.

Step 3: Create Increment

3a. Determine Increment Location

CRITICAL for multi-repo setups:

# Check if this is a multi-repo umbrella project
if [ -d "repositories" ]; then
  echo "MULTI-REPO: Increments belong in EACH repo's .specweave/"
  ORG=$(jq -r '.repository.organization // empty' .specweave/config.json 2>/dev/null)
  [ -z "$ORG" ] && ORG=$(jq -r '[.sync.profiles[].config.owner // .sync.profiles[].config.organization] | map(select(. != null)) | first // empty' .specweave/config.json 2>/dev/null)
  [ -z "$ORG" ] && ORG=$(ls -d repositories/*/ 2>/dev/null | head -1 | xargs basename 2>/dev/null)
  echo "Organization: $ORG"
  ls -d repositories/*/* 2>/dev/null | head -20
else
  echo "SINGLE-REPO: Use .specweave/increments/"
fi

Multi-repo rules:

• Each repository has its OWN .specweave/increments/ directory
• Team agents MUST create increments in their assigned repo's .specweave/
• The umbrella root .specweave/ is for umbrella-level config ONLY
• Run specweave init in each repo if .specweave/ doesn't exist
• Repos MUST be at repositories/{ORG}/{repo-name}/ — NEVER directly under repositories/

3b. Get Unique ID

# Check ALL folders for existing IDs
find .specweave/increments -maxdepth 2 -type d -name "[0-9]*" 2>/dev/null | grep -oE '[0-9]{4}E?' | sort -u | tail -5

# For multi-repo, also check child repos
find repositories -path "*/specweave/increments/*" -maxdepth 5 -type d -name "[0-9]*" 2>/dev/null | grep -oE '[0-9]{4}E?' | sort -u | tail -5

3c. Create via CLI (preferred)

specweave create-increment --id "XXXX-name" --title "Feature Title" --description "Brief description" --project "my-app"

Optional flags: --type hotfix | --priority P1 | --board "team-name" | --json

3d. Create manually (if CLI unavailable)

mkdir -p .specweave/increments/XXXX-name

Create files in order: metadata.json FIRST, then spec.md, plan.md, tasks.md.

Quick Reference

Increment Types

Directory Structure

.specweave/increments/####-name/
├── metadata.json  # REQUIRED - create FIRST
├── spec.md        # REQUIRED - user stories, ACs
├── plan.md        # OPTIONAL - architecture
└── tasks.md       # REQUIRED - implementation

User Story Format

### US-001: Feature Name
**Project**: my-app    # <- REQUIRED! Get from: specweave context projects

**As a** [role]
**I want** [capability]
**So that** [benefit]

**Acceptance Criteria**:
- [ ] **AC-US1-01**: [Criterion 1]
- [ ] **AC-US1-02**: [Criterion 2]

Critical Rules

1. Project field is MANDATORY - Every US MUST have **Project**: field
2. Use Template Creator CLI (REQUIRED): specweave create-increment --id "XXXX-name" --title "Title" --description "Desc" --project "my-app"
3. NO agent spawning - Skills MUST NOT spawn Task() agents (causes crashes). Guide user in main conversation.
4. Increment naming - Format: ####-descriptive-kebab-case
5. Multi-repo - In umbrella projects with repositories/ folder, create increments in EACH repo's .specweave/, not the umbrella root

Step 3a: Deep Interview Mode (if enabled)

IMPORTANT: This step runs AFTER the increment folder is created (Step 3), so the interview state file can reference the real increment ID.

If deep interview is enabled, delegate to PM skill:

Skill({ skill: "sw:pm", args: "Deep interview for increment XXXX-name: <user description>" })

The PM skill will:

1. Assess complexity and determine question count (trivial: 0-3, small: 4-8, medium: 9-18, large: 19-40)
2. Interview the user across relevant categories
3. Write interview state to .specweave/state/interview-{increment-id}.json
4. Return interview summary for spec.md creation

After PM returns, read the interview state file to confirm all categories are covered before proceeding to spec.md creation (especially when enforcement: "strict").

Step 4: Delegation

After increment creation:

// Invoke architect for plan.md
Skill({ skill: "sw:architect", args: "Design architecture for increment XXXX" })

// Invoke test-aware planner for tasks.md
Skill({ skill: "sw:test-aware-planner", args: "Generate tasks for increment XXXX" })

Step 5: Post-Creation Sync

After delegation completes:

/sw:sync-specs {increment-id}
/sw-github:sync {increment-id}  # If configured

Step 6: Execution Strategy Recommendation

After delegation completes, analyze the increment:

1. Count tasks: grep -c '^\- \[ \]\|^### T-' tasks.md
2. Count domains from spec.md user stories and plan.md architecture
3. Classify: Low (<=8 tasks, 1 domain) | Medium (9-15, 1-2 domains) | High (>15 OR 3+ domains)

Show recommendation in output:

EXECUTION STRATEGY
================================================
Tasks: [N] | Domains: [M] | Complexity: [Low/Medium/High]

  /sw:do <id>         - Step-by-step, full control
  /sw:auto <id>       - Autonomous sequential (unattended)
  /sw:team-lead       - Parallel multi-agent (best quality for multi-domain, higher token cost)

See CLAUDE.md Execution Strategy section for the full decision matrix.

Output

Created increment 0003-user-authentication

   Tech stack: TypeScript, NextJS, PostgreSQL
   Location: .specweave/increments/0003-user-authentication/

   Files: spec.md, plan.md, tasks.md, metadata.json

   Next: /sw:do 0003 | /sw:auto 0003 | /sw:team-lead (see Execution Strategy)

Error Handling

• .specweave/ not found: "Run specweave init first"
• Vague description: Ask clarifying questions
• Skill fails: Fall back to keyword prompts for PM/Architect skills

This command is the main entry point for creating new work in SpecWeave.