Project Lifecycle¶

How a project moves from idea to production using the development workflow.

The big picture¶

graph LR
    PRD[PRD.md] --> BS["/vt-c-1-bootstrap"]
    BS --> CO["/vt-c-2-plan<br/>conceptual-orchestrator"]
    CO --> BUILD["/vt-c-3-build"]
    BUILD --> IO["/vt-c-4-review<br/>implementation-orchestrator"]
    IO --> DO["/vt-c-5-finalize<br/>finalization-orchestrator"]
    DO --> PROD[Production]
    PROD -->|bugs| BO["/vt-c-investigate-bug<br/>bugfix-orchestrator"]
    PROD -->|incidents| IN["/incident-response<br/>incident-orchestrator"]
    BO --> IO
    IN --> IO

Phase 0: Inception¶

You start with one thing: a Product Requirements Document (PRD).

The PRD should contain:

Problem statement — what are you solving?
Target users — who is this for?
Key features — what should it do?
Success metrics — how do you know it's working?

Phase 1: Bootstrap¶

Run /vt-c-1-bootstrap to scaffold the project structure:

my-project/
├── .github/workflows/
├── docs/
│   ├── solutions/
│   ├── journal/
│   ├── adr/
│   └── runbooks/
├── src/
├── tests/
├── CLAUDE.md
├── PRD.md
└── README.md

Phase 2: Design¶

The conceptual orchestrator (/vt-c-2-plan) coordinates research agents to produce:

specs/[N]-feature/spec.md — technical specification
specs/[N]-feature/plan.md — implementation plan
Architecture Decision Records

Phase 3: Build¶

Write code following the plan. During development:

defense-in-depth activates for input validation
test-driven-development guides testing
session-journal captures decisions
Use /vt-c-journal to record key moments

Phase 4: Review¶

The implementation orchestrator (/vt-c-4-review) runs 6 parallel reviewers and produces a quality gate report with findings grouped by severity.

Phase 5: Finalize¶

The finalization orchestrator (/vt-c-5-finalize) verifies everything is safe to merge: dependency audit, security scan, migration safety, compliance.

Phase 6: Operate¶

In production, use:

/vt-c-investigate-bug for bug reports
/incident-response for critical incidents

Every fix adds to institutional knowledge through the learning loop.

Folders that grow automatically¶

Folder	Populated by	Contains
`docs/solutions/`	bugfix-orchestrator, `/vt-c-compound`	Solved problems
`docs/vt-c-journal/`	`/vt-c-journal`	Session learnings
`docs/adr/`	`/vt-c-consolidate`	Architecture Decision Records
`docs/runbooks/`	incident-orchestrator	Incident response guides
`.specify/`, `specs/`	`/vt-c-specify-and-validate`	Specifications

The learning loop¶

The toolkit gets smarter over time:

Fix a bug → Document solution → Pattern recognized →
→ Added to critical-patterns.md →
→ Consulted before investigating similar bugs →
→ Faster resolution next time

All orchestrators have Step 0: Load Institutional Knowledge — they consult past solutions before starting any work.