software-lifecycle
How to work in a Software Lifecycle project (the software-lifecycle starter pack): proposals → decisions → specs → postmortems, plus guides. Read when the project has these folders, or when asked how this project is organized. Carries the doc lifecycle, status flows, and per-folder agent behaviors so that guidance does not live inside template bodies or folder descriptions. The five workflows — frame a proposal, write a spec, record a decision, write a postmortem, review a design — each ship as their own sibling skill in this pack. Complements the platform open-knowledge skill; does not replace it.
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Install
Works with every agent the skills CLI supports.
npx skills add https://github.com/inkeep/open-knowledge-skills --skill software-lifecycle- 01
Install
Run the command in your project. The CLI asks which agents to install for.
- 02
Describe the task
Ask your agent for something this skill covers. It loads software-lifecycle automatically when relevant.
- 03
Review the result
The agent follows the SKILL.md steps, scripts and references bundled with the skill.
SKILL.md
The instructions your agent reads when the skill is triggered.
Software Lifecycle pack — how to work here
This project holds the doc lifecycle for an engineering team or OSS project. The flow is proposals → decisions → specs → postmortems, with guides as the how-to bucket. This skill holds the workflow so templates and folder descriptions stay clean.
This skill is pack guidance. The platform
/open-knowledgeskill (read/write/preview/linking/grounding rules) still governs every markdown operation — this layers the lifecycle conventions on top.
The flow
proposals/ in-flight RFC-shape design proposals
↓ accepted
decisions/ frozen ADRs (the record of what was decided)
↓ derived
specs/ implementation specs for accepted proposals
↓ when things break
postmortems/ blameless incident write-ups
guides/ how-to / onboarding / runbooks (referenced throughout)
Per-folder rules + agent behaviors
proposals/ — One file per proposal (0001-feature-name.md). Status flows draft → fcp → accepted/rejected. An accepted proposal graduates to a record in decisions/. Shape: Motivation / Design / Drawbacks / Alternatives / Unresolved questions. Agent: when a proposal sits at status: draft more than 14 days, surface it for the author to advance, park, or close.
decisions/ — Architecture Decision Records (MADR / Nygard shape). Frozen once accepted. One file per decision (NNNN-title.md); status proposed/accepted/deprecated/superseded. A new decision that supersedes an older one links back via Supersedes:. Agent: on a new decision, scan existing records touching the same subsystem and surface Supersedes: candidates before commit.
specs/ — Implementation specs derived from accepted proposals. Prefer the github/spec-kit shape: one folder per spec (specs/NNN-name/) with spec.md + plan.md + tasks.md (the pack ships all three templates). References the parent proposal. Agent: when a spec moves to status: shipped, suggest a postmortem template if the owner reports an incident in the spec's subsystem.
postmortems/ — Blameless incident write-ups, one file per incident (YYYY-MM-DD-name.md): Summary / Timeline / Root cause / What went well / Action items (Google SRE shape). Agent: surface a Related: block linking prior postmortems that share subsystems.
guides/ — How-to guides, onboarding docs, and service-bound runbooks (Diátaxis how-to). Ships guide, onboarding-guide, and runbook templates. Carries last_verified so stale guides surface in periodic reviews. Agent: when a postmortem is published, scan its action items for guide-shaped follow-ups and stub a guide pre-filled with the symptom and timeline excerpt.
The five workflows
Authoring in this project is procedural, not conventional. Each workflow ships as its own skill so it loads only when the work calls for it — reach for the one that matches the task rather than writing into a folder from scratch.
| Workflow | Sibling skill | When |
|---|---|---|
| Frame a proposal | /frame-a-proposal | A change needs designing and arguing before anyone builds it. |
| Write a spec | /write-a-spec | An accepted proposal needs scoping into an implementable spec. |
| Record a decision | /record-a-decision | A decision was actually made and needs its context and consequences preserved. |
| Write a postmortem | /write-a-postmortem | An incident happened and the team needs a blameless write-up. |
| Review a design | /review-a-design | An existing proposal, spec, or decision needs pressure-testing for soundness. |
Templates
Create docs with write({ document: { path, template: "<name>" } }). Templates carry only structure (headings + frontmatter scaffold); what each section is for is described above, not repeated in the document body.
FAQ
What does the software-lifecycle skill do?
How to work in a Software Lifecycle project (the software-lifecycle starter pack): proposals → decisions → specs → postmortems, plus guides. Read when the project has these folders, or when asked how this project is organized. Carries the doc lifecycle, status flows, and per-folder agent behaviors so that guidance does not live inside template bodies or folder descriptions. The five workflows — frame a proposal, write a spec, record a decision, write a postmortem, review a design — each ship as their own sibling skill in this pack. Complements the platform open-knowledge skill; does not replace it.
How do I install software-lifecycle?
Run npx skills add https://github.com/inkeep/open-knowledge-skills --skill software-lifecycle in your project. The skills CLI detects the agents you use and copies the skill into the right folder. For Claude Code you can also place the skill folder at ~/.claude/skills/software-lifecycle/ (personal) or .claude/skills/software-lifecycle/ (project).
Which AI agents can use software-lifecycle?
Any agent that supports the open Agent Skills format (a folder with a SKILL.md file), including Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, Windsurf, Cline, OpenCode and more.
Is software-lifecycle safe to install?
No partner security audit is available yet. Skills can run commands and scripts, so read the SKILL.md and any bundled files before installing.
Who maintains software-lifecycle?
It is published by inkeep in inkeep/open-knowledge-skills. It has 227 recorded installs.
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