gstack/CONTRIBUTING.md

Contributing to gstack

Thanks for wanting to make gstack better. Whether you're fixing a typo in a skill prompt or building an entirely new workflow, this guide will get you up and running fast.

Quick start

gstack skills are Markdown files that Claude Code discovers from a skills/ directory. Normally they live at ~/.claude/skills/gstack/ (your global install). But when you're developing gstack itself, you want Claude Code to use the skills in your working tree — so edits take effect instantly without copying or deploying anything.

That's what dev mode does. It symlinks your repo into the local .claude/skills/ directory so Claude Code reads skills straight from your checkout.

git clone <repo> && cd gstack
bun install                    # install dependencies
bin/dev-setup                  # activate dev mode

Now edit any SKILL.md, invoke it in Claude Code (e.g. /review), and see your changes live. When you're done developing:

bin/dev-teardown               # deactivate — back to your global install

How dev mode works

bin/dev-setup creates a .claude/skills/ directory inside the repo (gitignored) and fills it with symlinks pointing back to your working tree. Claude Code sees the local skills/ first, so your edits win over the global install.

gstack/                          <- your working tree
├── .claude/skills/              <- created by dev-setup (gitignored)
│   ├── gstack -> ../../         <- symlink back to repo root
│   ├── review -> gstack/review
│   ├── ship -> gstack/ship
│   └── ...                      <- one symlink per skill
├── review/
│   └── SKILL.md                 <- edit this, test with /review
├── ship/
│   └── SKILL.md
├── browse/
│   ├── src/                     <- TypeScript source
│   └── dist/                    <- compiled binary (gitignored)
└── ...

Day-to-day workflow

# 1. Enter dev mode
bin/dev-setup

# 2. Edit a skill
vim review/SKILL.md

# 3. Test it in Claude Code — changes are live
#    > /review

# 4. Editing browse source? Rebuild the binary
bun run build

# 5. Done for the day? Tear down
bin/dev-teardown

Testing & evals

Setup

# 1. Copy .env.example and add your API key
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env → set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...

# 2. Install deps (if you haven't already)
bun install

Bun auto-loads .env — no extra config. Conductor workspaces inherit .env from the main worktree automatically (see "Conductor workspaces" below).

Test tiers

Tier	Command	Cost	What it tests
1 — Static	bun test	Free	Command validation, snapshot flags, SKILL.md correctness, TODOS-format.md refs, observability unit tests
2 — E2E	bun run test:e2e	~$3.85	Full skill execution via claude -p subprocess
3 — LLM eval	bun run test:evals	~$0.15 standalone	LLM-as-judge scoring of generated SKILL.md docs
2+3	bun run test:evals	~$4 combined	E2E + LLM-as-judge (runs both)

bun test                     # Tier 1 only (runs on every commit, <5s)
bun run test:e2e             # Tier 2: E2E only (needs EVALS=1, can't run inside Claude Code)
bun run test:evals           # Tier 2 + 3 combined (~$4/run)

Tier 1: Static validation (free)

Runs automatically with bun test. No API keys needed.

• Skill parser tests (test/skill-parser.test.ts) — Extracts every $B command from SKILL.md bash code blocks and validates against the command registry in browse/src/commands.ts. Catches typos, removed commands, and invalid snapshot flags.
• Skill validation tests (test/skill-validation.test.ts) — Validates that SKILL.md files reference only real commands and flags, and that command descriptions meet quality thresholds.
• Generator tests (test/gen-skill-docs.test.ts) — Tests the template system: verifies placeholders resolve correctly, output includes value hints for flags (e.g. -d <N> not just -d), enriched descriptions for key commands (e.g. is lists valid states, press lists key examples).

Tier 2: E2E via claude -p (~$3.85/run)

Spawns claude -p as a subprocess with --output-format stream-json --verbose, streams NDJSON for real-time progress, and scans for browse errors. This is the closest thing to "does this skill actually work end-to-end?"

# Must run from a plain terminal — can't nest inside Claude Code or Conductor
EVALS=1 bun test test/skill-e2e.test.ts

• Gated by EVALS=1 env var (prevents accidental expensive runs)
• Auto-skips if running inside Claude Code (claude -p can't nest)
• API connectivity pre-check — fails fast on ConnectionRefused before burning budget
• Real-time progress to stderr: [Ns] turn T tool #C: Name(...)
• Saves full NDJSON transcripts and failure JSON for debugging
• Tests live in test/skill-e2e.test.ts, runner logic in test/helpers/session-runner.ts

E2E observability

When E2E tests run, they produce machine-readable artifacts in ~/.gstack-dev/:

Artifact	Path	Purpose
Heartbeat	e2e-live.json	Current test status (updated per tool call)
Partial results	evals/_partial-e2e.json	Completed tests (survives kills)
Progress log	e2e-runs/{runId}/progress.log	Append-only text log
NDJSON transcripts	e2e-runs/{runId}/{test}.ndjson	Raw claude -p output per test
Failure JSON	e2e-runs/{runId}/{test}-failure.json	Diagnostic data on failure

Live dashboard: Run bun run eval:watch in a second terminal to see a live dashboard showing completed tests, the currently running test, and cost. Use --tail to also show the last 10 lines of progress.log.

Eval history tools:

bun run eval:list            # list all eval runs (turns, duration, cost per run)
bun run eval:compare         # compare two runs — shows per-test deltas + Takeaway commentary
bun run eval:summary         # aggregate stats + per-test efficiency averages across runs

Eval comparison commentary: eval:compare generates natural-language Takeaway sections interpreting what changed between runs — flagging regressions, noting improvements, calling out efficiency gains (fewer turns, faster, cheaper), and producing an overall summary. This is driven by generateCommentary() in eval-store.ts.

Artifacts are never cleaned up — they accumulate in ~/.gstack-dev/ for post-mortem debugging and trend analysis.

Tier 3: LLM-as-judge (~$0.15/run)

Uses Claude Sonnet to score generated SKILL.md docs on three dimensions:

• Clarity — Can an AI agent understand the instructions without ambiguity?
• Completeness — Are all commands, flags, and usage patterns documented?
• Actionability — Can the agent execute tasks using only the information in the doc?

Each dimension is scored 1-5. Threshold: every dimension must score ≥ 4. There's also a regression test that compares generated docs against the hand-maintained baseline from origin/main — generated must score equal or higher.

# Needs ANTHROPIC_API_KEY in .env — included in bun run test:evals

• Uses claude-sonnet-4-6 for scoring stability
• Tests live in test/skill-llm-eval.test.ts
• Calls the Anthropic API directly (not claude -p), so it works from anywhere including inside Claude Code

CI

A GitHub Action (.github/workflows/skill-docs.yml) runs bun run gen:skill-docs --dry-run on every push and PR. If the generated SKILL.md files differ from what's committed, CI fails. This catches stale docs before they merge.

Tests run against the browse binary directly — they don't require dev mode.

Editing SKILL.md files

SKILL.md files are generated from .tmpl templates. Don't edit the .md directly — your changes will be overwritten on the next build.

# 1. Edit the template
vim SKILL.md.tmpl              # or browse/SKILL.md.tmpl

# 2. Regenerate
bun run gen:skill-docs

# 3. Check health
bun run skill:check

# Or use watch mode — auto-regenerates on save
bun run dev:skill

To add a browse command, add it to browse/src/commands.ts. To add a snapshot flag, add it to SNAPSHOT_FLAGS in browse/src/snapshot.ts. Then rebuild.

Conductor workspaces

If you're using Conductor to run multiple Claude Code sessions in parallel, conductor.json wires up workspace lifecycle automatically:

Hook	Script	What it does
setup	bin/dev-setup	Copies .env from main worktree, installs deps, symlinks skills
archive	bin/dev-teardown	Removes skill symlinks, cleans up .claude/ directory

When Conductor creates a new workspace, bin/dev-setup runs automatically. It detects the main worktree (via git worktree list), copies your .env so API keys carry over, and sets up dev mode — no manual steps needed.

First-time setup: Put your ANTHROPIC_API_KEY in .env in the main repo (see .env.example). Every Conductor workspace inherits it automatically.

Things to know

• SKILL.md files are generated. Edit the .tmpl template, not the .md. Run bun run gen:skill-docs to regenerate.
• TODOS.md is the unified backlog. Organized by skill/component with P0-P4 priorities. /ship auto-detects completed items. All planning/review/retro skills read it for context.
• Browse source changes need a rebuild. If you touch browse/src/*.ts, run bun run build.
• Dev mode shadows your global install. Project-local skills take priority over ~/.claude/skills/gstack. bin/dev-teardown restores the global one.
• Conductor workspaces are independent. Each workspace is its own git worktree. bin/dev-setup runs automatically via conductor.json.
• .env propagates across worktrees. Set it once in the main repo, all Conductor workspaces get it.
• .claude/skills/ is gitignored. The symlinks never get committed.

Testing a branch in another repo

When you're developing gstack in one workspace and want to test your branch in a different project (e.g. testing browse changes against your real app), there are two cases depending on how gstack is installed in that project.

Global install only (no .claude/skills/gstack/ in the project)

Point your global install at the branch:

cd ~/.claude/skills/gstack
git fetch origin
git checkout origin/<branch>        # e.g. origin/v0.3.2
bun install                         # in case deps changed
bun run build                       # rebuild the binary

Now open Claude Code in the other project — it picks up skills from ~/.claude/skills/ automatically. To go back to main when you're done:

cd ~/.claude/skills/gstack
git checkout main && git pull
bun run build

Vendored project copy (.claude/skills/gstack/ checked into the project)

Some projects vendor gstack by copying it into the repo (no .git inside the copy). Project-local skills take priority over global, so you need to update the vendored copy too. This is a three-step process:

1. Update your global install to the branch (so you have the source):

   cd ~/.claude/skills/gstack
   git fetch origin
   git checkout origin/<branch>      # e.g. origin/v0.3.2
   bun install && bun run build
   

2. Replace the vendored copy in the other project:

   cd /path/to/other-project
   
   # Remove old skill symlinks and vendored copy
   for s in browse plan-ceo-review plan-eng-review review ship retro qa setup-browser-cookies; do
     rm -f .claude/skills/$s
   done
   rm -rf .claude/skills/gstack
   
   # Copy from global install (strips .git so it stays vendored)
   cp -Rf ~/.claude/skills/gstack .claude/skills/gstack
   rm -rf .claude/skills/gstack/.git
   
   # Rebuild binary and re-create skill symlinks
   cd .claude/skills/gstack && ./setup
   

3. Test your changes — open Claude Code in that project and use the skills.

To revert to main later, repeat steps 1-2 with git checkout main && git pull instead of git checkout origin/<branch>.

Shipping your changes

When you're happy with your skill edits:

/ship

This runs tests, reviews the diff, triages Greptile comments (with 2-tier escalation), manages TODOS.md, bumps the version, and opens a PR. See ship/SKILL.md for the full workflow.