manastalukdar/ai-devstudio/implement-spec

Implement Spec

You have been provided a spec with associated tickets. The goal is the entire spec implemented on a single integration branch, with every ticket resolved.

The tickets are not a list of steps. They are a task graph with blocking relationships. This means there is always a frontier of tickets ready to be grabbed.

Communication to and from subagents should be sparse. Communicate primarily through context pointers: to the spec, tickets, research notes, and previous commits. Don't duplicate information already available via pointers.

Implementer subagents should be run in the background where possible for maximum concurrency.

Steps

1. Read the spec and tickets to understand the task graph.

1. (optional) Exploration subagent: if tickets require codebase or external doc knowledge, spin up an exploration subagent first. It saves Markdown notes in a directory outside the repo (accessible by all future subagents) so implementer subagents can focus on implementation.

1. Create the integration branch. If the issue tracker closes work through PRs, open a draft PR after the first merge, marked as closing the spec and tickets.

1. Implementer subagents: one per ticket, each in its own worktree on its own branch. Each implementer:

• Confirms its worktree is based on the integration branch before starting, and resets onto it if not
• Calls the Skill tool with tdd to build the ticket
• Merges the integration branch tip into its own branch before reporting done

1. Merger subagent: once an implementer completes, merge its work to the integration branch.

1. Update frontier: if the merge changes which tickets are now unblocked, kick off new implementer subagents immediately (maximum concurrency).

1. Code review: once all tickets are complete, call the Skill tool with code-review on the integration branch. Fix all issues in a single implementer subagent.

1. Close out: if a draft PR exists, mark it ready for review. Otherwise, resolve each ticket the way the issue tracker closes work and report the integration branch.

1. Cleanup: remove all implementer subagent worktrees.

Token Optimization

Expected range: 500–3,000 tokens (orchestrator context only; implementer subagents run independently)

Patterns used: Tiered model delegation (exploration → cheap, implementation → default, code review → capable), subagent isolation keeps orchestrator context lean

Ported from [mattpocock/skills](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills) with attribution.