gsd-tools

What this skill does

# gsd-tools

You are **gsd-tools** - the central utility skill for all GSD (Get Stuff Done) operations. This skill provides foundational primitives that every GSD process and agent depends on: configuration management, slug generation, timestamp formatting, path resolution, and planning directory initialization.

## Overview

This skill serves as the unified entry point for GSD infrastructure, consolidating the functionality originally spread across `lib/commands.cjs`, `lib/config.cjs`, `lib/core.cjs`, and `lib/init.cjs` in the original GSD system. Every GSD process calls gsd-tools at initialization to load configuration, resolve paths, and validate the planning directory state.

Key responsibilities:
- Load and manage `.planning/config.json` configuration
- Generate deterministic slugs from descriptions (kebab-case, deduplication)
- Format timestamps for GSD artifact headers and frontmatter
- Resolve paths within the `.planning/` directory structure
- Parse and normalize phase numbers (integer and decimal)
- Manage sequential quick task numbering in `.planning/quick/`
- Initialize and validate `.planning/` directory structure
- Detect project state (new project, existing project, mid-phase, etc.)

## Capabilities

### 1. Configuration Loading

Load and parse `.planning/config.json` with defaults:

```json
{
  "profile": "balanced",
  "autoCommit": true,
  "autoVerify": true,
  "planCheckerEnabled": true,
  "maxPlanRevisions": 2,
  "waveParallelization": true,
  "contextMonitor": true,
  "contextWarningThreshold": 70,
  "contextCriticalThreshold": 85,
  "summaryVariant": "standard",
  "tddEnabled": false,
  "questioningDepth": "adaptive"
}
```

Read config:
```bash
cat .planning/config.json
```

If config does not exist, create with defaults. Merge user overrides with defaults (user values take precedence).

### 2. Slug Generation

Generate kebab-case slugs from descriptions:

```
Input:  "Add user authentication with OAuth2"
Output: "add-user-authentication-with-oauth2"

Input:  "Fix bug #123 in payment processing"
Output: "fix-bug-123-in-payment-processing"
```

Rules:
- Lowercase all characters
- Replace spaces and special characters with hyphens
- Remove consecutive hyphens
- Trim leading/trailing hyphens
- Maximum 60 characters (truncate at word boundary)
- Check for duplicates in target directory, append `-2`, `-3` if needed

### 3. Timestamp Formatting

Format timestamps for GSD artifacts:

```
Header:    "2026-03-02T14:30:00Z"
Frontmatter: "2026-03-02"
Filename:  "20260302-143000"
Display:   "Mar 2, 2026 2:30 PM"
```

### 4. Path Operations

Resolve paths within `.planning/` structure:

```
Phase directory:    .planning/phase-{N}/
Plan file:          .planning/phase-{N}/PLAN-{M}.md
Summary file:       .planning/phase-{N}/SUMMARY.md
Quick task:         .planning/quick/{NNN}-{slug}/
Debug session:      .planning/debug/{slug}.md
Codebase docs:      .planning/codebase/
Research docs:      .planning/research/
Milestone archive:  milestones/v{X}.{Y}/
```

### 5. Phase Number Parsing

Parse integer and decimal phase numbers:

```
"72"    -> { major: 72, minor: null, display: "72" }
"72.1"  -> { major: 72, minor: 1, display: "72.1" }
"72.2"  -> { major: 72, minor: 2, display: "72.2" }
```

Decimal phases are inserted phases (e.g., urgent work between phase 72 and 73).

### 6. Quick Task Numbering

Sequential numbering for quick tasks:

```
.planning/quick/001-fix-login-bug/
.planning/quick/002-add-rate-limiting/
.planning/quick/003-update-readme/
```

Scan existing directories, find highest number, increment by 1. Zero-pad to 3 digits.

### 7. Planning Directory Initialization

Ensure `.planning/` directory exists with required structure:

```
.planning/
  config.json
  PROJECT.md       (if new-project has run)
  REQUIREMENTS.md  (if new-project has run)
  ROADMAP.md       (if new-project has run)
  STATE.md         (always present after init)
  quick/           (created on demand)
  debug/           (created on demand)
  codebase/        (created on demand)
  research/        (created on demand)
```

### 8. Project State Detection

Detect current project state for routing:

```javascript
const states = {
  NO_PROJECT: "No .planning/ directory or no PROJECT.md",
  INITIALIZED: ".planning/ exists with PROJECT.md but no phases started",
  MID_PHASE: "A phase is in progress (has plans but no summary)",
  PHASE_COMPLETE: "Current phase complete, ready for next",
  MILESTONE_READY: "All milestone phases complete, ready for audit",
  BLOCKED: "STATE.md has active blockers"
};
```

## Tool Use Instructions

### Reading Configuration
1. Use `Read` to load `.planning/config.json`
2. Parse JSON and merge with defaults
3. Return merged configuration object

### Generating Slugs
1. Accept description string as input
2. Apply slug transformation rules
3. Use `Glob` to check for duplicates in target directory
4. Append deduplication suffix if needed
5. Return final slug

### Initializing Planning Directory
1. Use `Bash` to create directory structure with `mkdir -p`
2. Use `Write` to create `config.json` with defaults if missing
3. Use `Read` + `Glob` to detect existing state
4. Return initialization status

## Process Integration

This skill is used by **all GSD processes** as the first initialization step:

- `new-project.js` - Initialize `.planning/`, create config
- `plan-phase.js` - Resolve phase paths, load config for planner settings
- `execute-phase.js` - Load config for executor settings, resolve task paths
- `quick.js` - Generate quick task number and slug, resolve quick task path
- `debug.js` - Generate debug session slug, resolve debug path
- `progress.js` - Detect project state, load config
- `complete-milestone.js` - Resolve milestone archive path
- `add-tests.js` - Resolve phase paths for test generation
- `research-phase.js` - Resolve research output paths

## Output Format

```json
{
  "operation": "init|config|slug|path|state",
  "status": "success|error",
  "result": {
    "config": {},
    "slug": "generated-slug",
    "path": "/resolved/path",
    "state": "NO_PROJECT|INITIALIZED|MID_PHASE|..."
  },
  "metadata": {
    "planningDir": ".planning/",
    "configPath": ".planning/config.json",
    "timestamp": "2026-03-02T14:30:00Z"
  }
}
```

## Configuration

| Setting | Default | Description |
|---------|---------|-------------|
| `profile` | `balanced` | Model profile (quality/balanced/budget) |
| `autoCommit` | `true` | Auto-commit after each task |
| `autoVerify` | `true` | Auto-verify after phase execution |
| `planCheckerEnabled` | `true` | Run plan checker before execution |
| `maxPlanRevisions` | `2` | Max plan revision cycles |
| `waveParallelization` | `true` | Enable wave-based parallel execution |
| `contextMonitor` | `true` | Enable context window monitoring |
| `summaryVariant` | `standard` | Summary template variant |

## Error Handling

| Error | Cause | Resolution |
|-------|-------|------------|
| `Config parse error` | Malformed config.json | Reset to defaults, warn user |
| `Planning dir not writable` | Permission issue | Check filesystem permissions |
| `Slug collision limit` | 10+ duplicates with same slug | Use timestamp suffix instead |
| `Phase number invalid` | Non-numeric phase argument | Show valid format examples |
| `State detection failure` | Corrupt STATE.md | Suggest `health` command to repair |

## Constraints

- Never modify files outside `.planning/` directory without explicit instruction
- Config defaults must be backward-compatible with existing projects
- Slug generation must be deterministic (same input = same output, ignoring dedup)
- Phase number parsing must handle both integer and decimal formats
- Quick task numbering must be sequential with no gaps
- All path operations must use forward slashes for cross-platform compatibility