Rai Epic Close

Epic Close

Purpose

Complete an epic by conducting a retrospective, tagging the milestone, and updating tracking. No branch merge needed — stories already merged to the development branch during story-close.

Mastery Levels (ShuHaRi)

• Shu: Follow all steps, complete full retrospective template
• Ha: Adjust retrospective depth based on epic complexity
• Ri: Integrate with release workflows, automate metrics extraction

Context

When to use: All stories complete and merged to {dev_branch}. Ready to close the epic lifecycle.

When to skip: Epic abandoned (document why, update backlog as "Abandoned").

Inputs: Epic scope document, all story retrospectives, passing test suite.

Branch config: Read branches.development from .raise/manifest.yaml for {dev_branch}. Default: main.

Steps

Step 1: Verify Stories Complete

Check all stories are done in the epic scope document:

grep -E "^\s*-\s*\[ \]" "work/epics/e{N}-{name}/scope.md"

Step 2: Run Tests & Write Retrospective

Determine which test command to run using this priority chain:

1. Check .raise/manifest.yaml for project.test_command — if set, use it directly (configuration over convention)
2. Detect language from project.project_type in manifest, or scan file extensions of changed files (git diff --name-only)
3. Map language to default using the table below

The table is a fallback — project.test_command always wins when present.

Create retrospective at work/epics/e{N}-{name}/retrospective.md using templates/retrospective.md. Fill from story retrospectives and git history.

Step 3: Tag Epic Milestone

Tag the current {dev_branch} HEAD to mark epic completion:

git tag -a "epic/e{N}-complete" -m "Epic E{N}: {Epic Name} complete

Delivered: [key deliverables]
Stories: N stories

Co-Authored-By: Rai <rai@humansys.ai>"

Commit retrospective and any final artifacts:

git add -A
git commit -m "epic(e{N}): close with retrospective

Co-Authored-By: Rai <rai@humansys.ai>"

Step 4: Update Backlog & Context

1. Mark epic complete via CLI:
   • If Jira issue exists: rai backlog transition {JIRA_KEY} "Done" -a jira
   • If no Jira key: rai backlog search "summary ~ '{epic name}'" -a jira to find it, then transition
2. Update CLAUDE.local.md to reflect completion and next epic
3. Emit telemetry:

rai signal emit-work epic E{N} --event complete

Output

Quality Checklist

• All stories complete before closing (gate)
• Tests pass before closing
• Retrospective captures metrics, patterns, and process insights
• Epic milestone tagged on {dev_branch}
• Backlog updated via rai backlog transition CLI
• No epic branch to clean up — epics are logical containers
• NEVER close without retrospective — learnings compound across epics

References

• Retrospective template: templates/retrospective.md
• Previous: All /rai-story-close completions
• Backlog: rai backlog CLI
• Next: /rai-epic-design for next epic