Rai Epic Start

Epic Start

Purpose

Initialize an epic with scope artifacts and a tracker entry. Epics are logical containers (directory + tracker), not branches. Story branches are created directly from the development branch.

Mastery Levels (ShuHaRi)

• Shu: Follow all steps, verify each before proceeding
• Ha: Streamline scope for well-understood epics
• Ri: Integrate with release workflows and automated setup

Context

When to use: Starting a new body of work (3-10 stories), beginning a planned epic from the backlog.

When to skip: Small fixes or single stories (no epic needed). Continuation of existing epic.

Inputs: Epic number (E{N}), epic name/slug, high-level objective.

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

Steps

Step 1: Verify Development Branch

Ensure on {dev_branch} (for creating scope artifacts):

git branch --show-current

Step 2: Define Scope & Commit

Create TWO artifacts:

1. work/epics/e{N}-{name}/brief.md using templates/brief.md — hypothesis, success metrics, appetite, rabbit holes.
2. work/epics/e{N}-{name}/scope.md — objective, in/out scope, planned stories, done criteria.

Commit:

git add -A
git commit -m "epic(e{N}): initialize {epic-name}

Objective: {1-line}

In scope:
- {item 1}
- {item 2}

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

Register epic in the backlog tracker via CLI:

• If Jira issue exists: rai backlog transition {JIRA_KEY} "In Progress" -a jira
• If new epic (no Jira key): rai backlog create "{title}" -p RAISE -t Epic -l epic

Step 3: Present Next Steps

Show the developer:

• Commit hash and epic directory path
• Quick scope summary (objective + story count)
• Next: /rai-epic-design to formalize scope and stories

Output

Quality Checklist

• Epic Brief created from templates/brief.md
• Scope commit includes objective and boundaries
• Epic registered in tracker via rai backlog CLI
• No epic branch created — epics are logical containers only
• NEVER create epic branches — story branches go directly from {dev_branch}

References

• Next: /rai-epic-design
• Stories: /rai-story-start (branches from {dev_branch})
• Close: /rai-epic-close
• Branch model: CLAUDE.md § Branch Model