name: mission-orchestrator description: "Lifecycle orchestrator that auto-detects project state and routes to the correct development phase." version: 1.9.3 alwaysApply: false category: workflow-orchestration tags:
- mission
- orchestrator
- lifecycle
- full-cycle
- automation dependencies:
- attune:project-brainstorming
- attune:project-specification
- attune:project-planning
- attune:project-execution
- attune:war-room-checkpoint
- attune:war-room
- leyline:risk-classification
- leyline:damage-control
- leyline:additive-bias-defense
- imbue:justify
- imbue:vow-enforcement
- abstract:friction-detector
tools: []
provides:
workflow:
- mission-lifecycle
- state-detection
- phase-routing
- session-recovery
- reflexion-buffer
- trust-tier
- adaptive-constraints usage_patterns:
- full-cycle-development
- mission-resume
- phase-routing complexity: advanced model_hint: deep estimated_tokens: 600 progressive_loading: true modules:
- modules/mission-types.md
- modules/state-detection.md
- modules/phase-routing.md
- modules/mission-state.md
- modules/plan-review.md
- modules/plan-versioner.md
- modules/feedback-collector.md
- modules/context-injector.md
- modules/iteration-governor.md
- modules/reflexion-buffer.md
- modules/trust-tier.md
- modules/adaptive-constraints.md references:
- references/mission-charter.md
- references/progress-report.md role: entrypoint
Table of Contents
- Overview
- When to Use
- Mission Lifecycle
- Interactive Plan Review
- Mission Types
- Phase-to-Skill Mapping
- Session Recovery
- Module Reference
- Related Skills
- Related Commands
- Exit Criteria
Mission Orchestrator
Overview
Wraps the entire attune development lifecycle (brainstorm → specify → plan → execute) into a single mission with automatic state detection, type selection, and phase routing. Follows the "persistent presence lens" pattern from spec-kit:speckit-orchestrator — delegates entirely to existing skills via Skill() calls, never re-implements phase logic.
When To Use
- Starting a new project from scratch (full lifecycle)
- Resuming an interrupted project workflow
- Running a focused tactical implementation from existing specs
- Quick-fixing from an existing implementation plan
When NOT To Use
- Running a single phase directly (use
/attune:brainstorm,/attune:specify, etc.) - Non-project work (code review, debugging, research)
- When you need fine-grained control over phase transitions
Mission Lifecycle
1. State Detection
Scan for existing artifacts (project-brief.md, specification.md, etc.)
|
2. Mission Type Selection
Auto-detect type based on artifacts, or accept user override
|
3. Phase Routing Loop
For each phase in the mission type:
a. Pre-phase validation (check prerequisites)
b. Invoke Skill(attune:{phase-skill})
c. Post-phase artifact check (verify output exists)
d. Post-phase backlog triage (create GitHub issues
for out-of-scope items after brainstorm/specify)
e. Update mission state
f. User checkpoint (skippable with --auto)
g. Error handling via leyline:damage-control
|
4. Completion
All phases complete, final state saved
Mission Types
| Type | Phases | Auto-detected When |
|---|---|---|
full | brainstorm → specify → plan → execute | No artifacts exist |
standard | specify → plan → execute | docs/project-brief.md exists |
tactical | plan → execute | docs/specification.md exists |
quickfix | execute | docs/implementation-plan.md exists |
See modules/mission-types.md for full type definitions and custom type support.
Phase-to-Skill Mapping
| Phase | Skill Invoked | Artifact Produced |
|---|---|---|
| brainstorm | Skill(attune:project-brainstorming) | docs/project-brief.md |
| specify | Skill(attune:project-specification) | docs/specification.md |
| plan | Skill(attune:project-planning) | docs/implementation-plan.md |
| execute | Skill(attune:project-execution) | Implemented code + tests |
The orchestrator never re-implements phase logic. Each phase is a complete Skill() invocation that handles its own workflow.
Session Recovery
Missions persist state to .attune/mission-state.json. On resume:
- Load mission state file
- Validate referenced artifacts still exist on disk
- Identify last completed phase
- Continue from next phase in sequence
See modules/mission-state.md for the state schema and recovery protocol.
Interactive Plan Review
The plan-to-execute transition uses an interactive review loop instead of a simple checkpoint. Plans are reviewed section by section, revised based on feedback, and must pass a mandatory war-room gate before execution.
Key capabilities:
- Section-by-section terminal review (architecture first, then phases)
- Approve/revise/reject verdicts with rationale
- Plan version tracking with diff summaries
- Context improvement from structured feedback
- Additive bias scanning before user review
- Maximum 3 revision rounds before forced decision
- Mandatory war-room approval with Prosecution Counsel
See modules/plan-review.md for the full protocol.
Review Modules
- plan-review.md: Main orchestrator for the review loop
- plan-versioner.md: Version tracking and diff generation
- feedback-collector.md: Verdict capture and JSON output
- context-injector.md: Revision prompt construction
- iteration-governor.md: Round tracking and escalation
User Directive Overrides
The orchestrator parses the user's command-args and
free-text at mission start for natural-language trust
signals. Phrases like "ignore scope guard", "ultrathink",
"don't keep asking", and "be autonomous" are recognized
as directive overrides that adjust the constraint
profile without requiring an explicit
--constraints= flag.
Directive overrides win over mission-type defaults but never bypass the Safety Floor (pre-commit hooks, proof-of-work evidence, destructive-operation confirmation, external-facing actions). When a directive is detected, the orchestrator acknowledges it once at mission start and stops asking for the corresponding checkpoints. Repeated approval-seeking after a directive override is itself a workflow bug.
See modules/adaptive-constraints.md "User Directive
Override" section for the parsing table.
Mission Charter
Define mission boundaries using the structured template from
references/mission-charter.md. A Mission Charter specifies:
- Outcome: What success looks like
- Success metric: Measurable completion criteria
- Deadline: Time boundary (session, date, or duration)
- Constraints: Token/time budgets, forbidden actions
- Scope: In-scope and out-of-scope areas
- Stop criteria: Conditions that halt the mission
See references/mission-charter.md for the full template and
examples.
Progress Reports
Track progress with structured checkpoints using
references/progress-report.md. Generate reports at:
- Phase boundaries (between brainstorm→specify→plan→execute)
- Blocker identification
- Risk escalation
- Budget thresholds (50%, 75%, 90%)
See references/progress-report.md for the template and
checkpoint rhythm guidance.
Module Reference
Core modules (always loaded)
- mission-types.md: Type definitions, auto-detection logic, custom types
- state-detection.md: Artifact existence checks, quality validation, staleness
- phase-routing.md: Phase execution protocol, transition hooks, error handling
- mission-state.md: State schema, persistence, recovery protocol
Plan-review modules (load when plan phase runs)
- plan-review.md: Interactive section-by-section review with bias scanning
- plan-versioner.md: Version tracking and diff summaries
- feedback-collector.md: Verdict capture and feedback files
- context-injector.md: Revision prompt construction from feedback
- iteration-governor.md: Round tracking, cap enforcement, escalation
Conditional modules (load only when triggered)
- reflexion-buffer.md: Cross-session learning buffer; load when iteration count > 1 or after a failed revision round.
- trust-tier.md: Constraint-profile classifier; load when a user directive override is detected at mission start.
- adaptive-constraints.md: Constraint adaptation rules;
load alongside
trust-tier.mdwhen directive overrides are active.
Module Loading by Mission Type
This skill declares progressive_loading: true. To keep the
orchestrator's resident token cost minimal, load only the
subset of modules each mission type actually needs. The
orchestrator itself loads only the four core modules at
mission start; the rest are loaded on-demand when their
phase runs.
| Mission type | Core | Plan-review | Reflexion | Trust + adaptive |
|---|---|---|---|---|
quickfix (execute only) | yes | -- | -- | if directive |
tactical (plan -> execute) | yes | yes | if revising | if directive |
standard (specify -> plan -> execute) | yes | yes | if revising | if directive |
full (brainstorm -> specify -> plan -> execute) | yes | yes | yes | if directive |
Token cost (approximate, computed from wc -w on hub +
loaded modules and converted at ~1.3 tokens per word):
| Mission type | Loaded modules | Approx tokens |
|---|---|---|
quickfix | hub + core (4) | ~4,100 |
tactical | hub + core + plan-review (9) | ~6,900 |
standard | same as tactical (9) | ~6,900 |
full | hub + core + plan-review + reflexion (10) | ~7,900 |
The previous load-all pattern brought in roughly 10,100
tokens for every mission, including quickfix runs that
only need the execute phase. With per-type loading, quickfix
is ~60% lighter and the standard / tactical / full paths
save 22-32%.
When a directive override fires, the trust-tier + adaptive-constraints pair adds ~2,200 tokens on top of the mission-type baseline.
Reference Modules
- mission-charter.md: Structured mission definition template (load only when defining a charter)
- progress-report.md: Checkpoint status report template (load only when emitting a progress report)
Related Skills
Skill(attune:project-brainstorming)- Brainstorm phaseSkill(attune:project-specification)- Specify phaseSkill(attune:project-planning)- Plan phaseSkill(attune:project-execution)- Execute phaseSkill(attune:war-room-checkpoint)- Risk assessment for RED/CRITICAL tasksSkill(leyline:risk-classification)- Task risk classificationSkill(leyline:damage-control)- Error recovery during phases
Related Commands
/attune:mission- Invoke this skill/attune:mission --resume- Resume from saved state/attune:mission --type tactical- Override mission type
Exit Criteria
- All phases in mission type completed successfully
- Artifacts exist for each completed phase
- Mission state saved to
.attune/mission-state.json - Risk summary generated (tier counts across all tasks)
- No unresolved errors or blockers