feat: founder discovery engine + /debug skill — v0.7.0 (#185)

* feat: add escalation protocol to preamble — all skills get DONE/BLOCKED/NEEDS_CONTEXT

Every skill now reports completion status (DONE, DONE_WITH_CONCERNS, BLOCKED,
NEEDS_CONTEXT) and has escalation rules: 3 failed attempts → STOP, security
uncertainty → STOP, scope exceeds verification → STOP.

"It is always OK to stop and say 'this is too hard for me.'"

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* feat: add verification gate to /ship (Step 6.5) — no push without fresh evidence

Before pushing, re-verify tests if code changed during review fixes.
Rationalization prevention: "Should work now" → RUN IT.
"I'm confident" → Confidence is not evidence.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* feat: add scope drift detection + verification of claims to /review

Step 1.5: Before reviewing code quality, check if the diff matches stated
intent. Flags scope creep and missing requirements (INFORMATIONAL).

Step 5 addition: Every review claim must cite evidence — "this pattern is
safe" needs a line reference, "tests cover this" needs a test name.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* feat: mandatory implementation alternatives + design doc lookup in /plan-ceo-review

Step 0C-bis: Every plan must consider 2-3 approaches (minimal viable vs ideal
architecture) before mode selection. RECOMMENDATION required.

Pre-Review System Audit now checks ~/.gstack/projects/ for /brainstorm design
docs (branch-filtered with fallback).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* feat: design doc lookup in /plan-eng-review + fix branch name sanitization

Step 0 now checks ~/.gstack/projects/ for /brainstorm design docs
(branch-filtered with fallback, reads Supersedes: for revision context).

Fix: branch names with '/' (e.g. garrytan/better-process) now get
sanitized via tr '/' '-' in test plan artifact filenames.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* feat: new /brainstorm and /debug skills

/brainstorm: Socratic design exploration before planning. Context gathering,
clarifying questions (smart-skip), related design discovery (keyword grep),
premise challenge, forced alternatives, design doc artifact with lineage
tracking (Supersedes: field). Writes to ~/.gstack/projects/$SLUG/.

/debug: Systematic root-cause debugging. Iron Law: no fixes without root
cause investigation. Pattern analysis, hypothesis testing with 3-strike
escalation, structured DEBUG REPORT output.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* test: structural tests for new skills + escalation protocol assertions

Add brainstorm + debug to skillsWithUpdateCheck and skillsWithPreamble arrays.
Add structural tests: brainstorm (Phase 1-6, Design Doc, Supersedes, Smart-skip),
debug (Iron Law, Root Cause, Pattern Analysis, Hypothesis, DEBUG REPORT, 3-strike).
Add escalation protocol tests (DONE_WITH_CONCERNS, BLOCKED, NEEDS_CONTEXT) for
all preamble skills.

Also: 2 new TODOs (design docs → Supabase sync, /plan-design-review skill),
update CLAUDE.md project structure with new skill directories.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* chore: bump version and changelog (v0.6.0)

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* chore: rename /brainstorm → /office-hours across references

Update CHANGELOG, CLAUDE.md, TODOS, design-consultation, plan-ceo-review,
and gen-skill-docs to reference the new office-hours skill name.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* feat: YC Office Hours — dual-mode product diagnostic + builder brainstorm

Rewrite /office-hours with two modes:

Startup mode: six forcing questions (Demand Reality, Status Quo, Desperate
Specificity, Narrowest Wedge, Observation & Surprise, Future-Fit) that push
founders toward radical honesty about demand, users, and product decisions.
Includes smart routing by product stage, intrapreneurship adaptation, and
YC apply CTA for strong-signal founders.

Builder mode: generative brainstorming for side projects, hackathons,
learning, and open source. Enthusiastic collaborator tone, design thinking
questions, no business interrogation.

Mode is determined by an explicit question in Phase 1 — no guessing.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* test: add 14 assertions for YC Office Hours content coverage

Validates dual-mode structure (Startup/Builder), all six forcing questions,
builder brainstorming content, intrapreneurship adaptation, YC apply CTA,
and operating principles for both modes. 192 tests total, all passing.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* docs: update project documentation for v0.6.1

- README.md: added /office-hours and /debug to skills table, updated
  skill count from 13 to 15, added both to install instructions
- docs/skills.md: added /office-hours and /debug deep dive sections
- CLAUDE.md: updated office-hours description to reflect dual-mode
- CONTRIBUTING.md: updated skill count from 13 to 15
- CHANGELOG.md: added YC Office Hours and /debug entries to 0.6.0

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* feat: founder discovery engine in /office-hours (v0.7.0)

Turn /office-hours into a YC founder discovery engine. Every session now
ends with three beats: signal reflection (specific callbacks to what the
user said), "One more thing." transition, and a personal plea from Garry
Tan with three tiers based on founder signal strength. Top tier uses
AskUserQuestion to ask directly and opens ycombinator.com/apply?ref=gstack.

Adds Phase 4.5 (Founder Signal Synthesis), "What I noticed about how you
think" section to both design doc templates, anti-slop GOOD/BAD examples,
and emotional targets per tier.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* test: add validation assertions for founder discovery engine

8 new assertions covering: YC apply CTA with ref=gstack tracking,
"What I noticed" design doc section, golden age framing, Garry Tan
personal plea, founder signal synthesis phase, three-tier decision
rubric, anti-slop GOOD/BAD examples, "One more thing" transition beat.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* docs: update project documentation for v0.7.0

VERSION: 0.6.4.1 → 0.7.0
CHANGELOG: new entry — Office Hours Gets Personal
README: updated /office-hours and /plan-design-review descriptions
docs/skills.md: updated /office-hours table + deep dive section
TODOS.md: added /yc-prep skill TODO (P2)

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* fix: remove duplicate Install section, fix stale skills lists, deduplicate CHANGELOG entries

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

---------

Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
Garry Tan
2026-03-18 11:19:04 -05:00
committed by GitHub
parent bc86a665b7
commit 6000af4589
32 changed files with 2408 additions and 29 deletions
+12 -8
View File
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ In the last 60 days I have written **over 600,000 lines of production code** —
Same person. Different era. The difference is the tooling.
**gstack is how I do it.** It is my open source software factory. It turns Claude Code into a virtual engineering team you actually manage — a CEO who rethinks the product, an eng manager who locks the architecture, a designer who catches AI slop, a paranoid reviewer who finds production bugs, a QA lead who opens a real browser and clicks through your app, and a release engineer who ships the PR. Thirteen specialists, all as slash commands, all Markdown, **all free, MIT license, available right now.**
**gstack is how I do it.** It is my open source software factory. It turns Claude Code into a virtual engineering team you actually manage — a CEO who rethinks the product, an eng manager who locks the architecture, a designer who catches AI slop, a paranoid reviewer who finds production bugs, a QA lead who opens a real browser and clicks through your app, and a release engineer who ships the PR. Fifteen specialists, all as slash commands, all Markdown, **all free, MIT license, available right now.**
I am learning how to get to the edge of what agentic systems can do as of March 2026, and this is my live experiment. I am sharing it because I want the whole world on this journey with me.
@@ -47,11 +47,11 @@ Expect first useful run in under 5 minutes on any repo with tests already set up
Open Claude Code and paste this. Claude does the rest.
> Install gstack: run **`git clone https://github.com/garrytan/gstack.git ~/.claude/skills/gstack && cd ~/.claude/skills/gstack && ./setup`** then add a "gstack" section to CLAUDE.md that says to use the /browse skill from gstack for all web browsing, never use mcp\_\_claude-in-chrome\_\_\* tools, and lists the available skills: /plan-ceo-review, /plan-eng-review, /plan-design-review, /design-consultation, /review, /ship, /browse, /qa, /qa-only, /qa-design-review, /setup-browser-cookies, /retro, /document-release. Then ask the user if they also want to add gstack to the current project so teammates get it.
> Install gstack: run **`git clone https://github.com/garrytan/gstack.git ~/.claude/skills/gstack && cd ~/.claude/skills/gstack && ./setup`** then add a "gstack" section to CLAUDE.md that says to use the /browse skill from gstack for all web browsing, never use mcp\_\_claude-in-chrome\_\_\* tools, and lists the available skills: /office-hours, /plan-ceo-review, /plan-eng-review, /plan-design-review, /design-consultation, /review, /ship, /browse, /qa, /qa-only, /design-review, /setup-browser-cookies, /retro, /debug, /document-release. Then ask the user if they also want to add gstack to the current project so teammates get it.
### Step 2: Add to your repo so teammates get it (optional)
> Add gstack to this project: run **`cp -Rf ~/.claude/skills/gstack .claude/skills/gstack && rm -rf .claude/skills/gstack/.git && cd .claude/skills/gstack && ./setup`** then add a "gstack" section to this project's CLAUDE.md that says to use the /browse skill from gstack for all web browsing, never use mcp\_\_claude-in-chrome\_\_\* tools, lists the available skills: /plan-ceo-review, /plan-eng-review, /plan-design-review, /design-consultation, /review, /ship, /browse, /qa, /qa-only, /qa-design-review, /setup-browser-cookies, /retro, /document-release, and tells Claude that if gstack skills aren't working, run `cd .claude/skills/gstack && ./setup` to build the binary and register skills.
> Add gstack to this project: run **`cp -Rf ~/.claude/skills/gstack .claude/skills/gstack && rm -rf .claude/skills/gstack/.git && cd .claude/skills/gstack && ./setup`** then add a "gstack" section to this project's CLAUDE.md that says to use the /browse skill from gstack for all web browsing, never use mcp\_\_claude-in-chrome\_\_\* tools, lists the available skills: /office-hours, /plan-ceo-review, /plan-eng-review, /plan-design-review, /design-consultation, /review, /ship, /browse, /qa, /qa-only, /design-review, /setup-browser-cookies, /retro, /debug, /document-release, and tells Claude that if gstack skills aren't working, run `cd .claude/skills/gstack && ./setup` to build the binary and register skills.
Real files get committed to your repo (not a submodule), so `git clone` just works. Everything lives inside `.claude/`. Nothing touches your PATH or runs in the background.
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ One feature. Seven commands. The agent reframed the product, ran an 80-item desi
|-------|----------------|--------------|
| `/plan-ceo-review` | **CEO / Founder** | Rethink the problem. Find the 10-star product hiding inside the request. Four modes: Expansion, Selective Expansion, Hold Scope, Reduction. |
| `/plan-eng-review` | **Eng Manager** | Lock in architecture, data flow, diagrams, edge cases, and tests. Forces hidden assumptions into the open. |
| `/plan-design-review` | **Senior Designer** | 80-item design audit with letter grades. AI Slop detection. Infers your design system. Report only — never touches code. |
| `/plan-design-review` | **Senior Designer** | Rates each design dimension 0-10, explains what a 10 looks like, then edits the plan to get there. AI Slop detection. Interactive — one AskUserQuestion per design choice. |
| `/design-consultation` | **Design Partner** | Build a complete design system from scratch. Knows the landscape, proposes creative risks, generates realistic product mockups. Design at the heart of all other phases. |
| `/review` | **Staff Engineer** | Find the bugs that pass CI but blow up in production. Auto-fixes the obvious ones. Flags completeness gaps. |
| `/ship` | **Release Engineer** | Sync main, run tests, audit coverage, push, open PR. Bootstraps test frameworks if you don't have one. One command. |
@@ -123,6 +123,8 @@ One feature. Seven commands. The agent reframed the product, ran an 80-item desi
| `/design-review` | **Designer Who Codes** | Same audit as /plan-design-review, then fixes what it finds. Atomic commits, before/after screenshots. |
| `/setup-browser-cookies` | **Session Manager** | Import cookies from your real browser (Chrome, Arc, Brave, Edge) into the headless session. Test authenticated pages. |
| `/retro` | **Eng Manager** | Team-aware weekly retro. Per-person breakdowns, shipping streaks, test health trends, growth opportunities. |
| `/office-hours` | **YC Office Hours** | Two modes. Startup: six forcing questions on demand, users, and product. Builder: brainstorming for side projects, hackathons, and learning. Writes a design doc with personal observations about how you think. |
| `/debug` | **Debugger** | Systematic root-cause debugging. Iron Law: no fixes without investigation. Traces data flow, tests hypotheses, stops after 3 failed fixes. |
| `/document-release` | **Technical Writer** | Update all project docs to match what you just shipped. Catches stale READMEs automatically. |
**[Deep dives with examples and philosophy for every skill →](docs/skills.md)**
@@ -147,6 +149,8 @@ gstack is powerful with one session. It is transformative with ten.
One person, ten parallel agents, each with the right cognitive mode. That is a different way of building software.
---
## Come ride the wave
This is **free, MIT licensed, open source, available now.** No premium tier. No waitlist. No strings.
@@ -157,7 +161,7 @@ Same tools, different outcome — because gstack gives you structured roles and
The models are getting better fast. The people who figure out how to work with them now — really work with them, not just dabble — are going to have a massive advantage. This is that window. Let's go.
Thirteen specialists. All slash commands. All Markdown. All free. **[github.com/garrytan/gstack](https://github.com/garrytan/gstack)** — MIT License
Fifteen specialists. All slash commands. All Markdown. All free. **[github.com/garrytan/gstack](https://github.com/garrytan/gstack)** — MIT License
> **We're hiring.** Want to ship 10K+ LOC/day and help harden gstack?
> Come work at YC — [ycombinator.com/software](https://ycombinator.com/software)
@@ -186,9 +190,9 @@ Thirteen specialists. All slash commands. All Markdown. All free. **[github.com/
```
## gstack
Use /browse from gstack for all web browsing. Never use mcp__claude-in-chrome__* tools.
Available skills: /plan-ceo-review, /plan-eng-review, /plan-design-review,
/design-consultation, /review, /ship, /browse, /qa, /qa-only, /qa-design-review,
/setup-browser-cookies, /retro, /document-release.
Available skills: /office-hours, /plan-ceo-review, /plan-eng-review, /plan-design-review,
/design-consultation, /review, /ship, /browse, /qa, /qa-only, /design-review,
/setup-browser-cookies, /retro, /debug, /document-release.
```
## License