* fix(skills): strengthen activation guardrails for all workflow skills
Add explicit "Activation is complete" boundary markers that require
confirming activation_steps_prepend and activation_steps_append were
fully executed before beginning the main workflow.
Previously, the guardrail was either missing (bmad-product-brief,
bmad-prd, bmad-investigate) or too weak ("Begin the workflow below").
LLM agents would short-circuit complex activation sequences (INCLUDE →
READ → RUN → CHECK → FILTER → CD) by guessing variables instead of
executing steps in order, causing append steps and on_complete hooks
to be silently skipped.
The new guardrail explicitly names both prepend and append steps,
requiring confirmation before proceeding. This prevents agents from
starting the main workflow in parallel with activation.
23 skills updated: bmad-product-brief, bmad-prd, bmad-prfaq,
bmad-investigate, bmad-create-story, bmad-dev-story,
bmad-quick-dev, bmad-code-review, bmad-correct-course,
bmad-sprint-planning, bmad-sprint-status, bmad-retrospective,
bmad-qa-generate-e2e-tests, bmad-checkpoint-preview,
bmad-check-implementation-readiness, bmad-create-architecture,
bmad-create-epics-and-stories, bmad-generate-project-context,
bmad-create-ux-design, bmad-document-project, bmad-market-research,
bmad-technical-research, bmad-domain-research.
* fix(skills): extend activation gate to agent + new skills, refine placement
- bmad-product-brief / bmad-prd: pull activation_steps_append out of
the numbered list so the sentinel reads as a paragraph break, not
as the next list item.
- bmad-investigate: move the sentinel above Step 7 (routing) — Step 7
is workflow routing, not activation; the gate must fire first.
- bmad-agent-{analyst,tech-writer,pm,ux-designer,architect,dev}: add
the same gate between Step 7 (append) and Step 8 (menu dispatch).
Persona skills had the same short-circuit risk but no sentinel.
- bmad-ux, bmad-spec: new skills introduced on main after this branch
forked; apply the same gate so the pattern stays consistent.
- removals.txt: register bmad-create-ux-design as renamed to bmad-ux.
---------
Co-authored-by: Brian Madison <bmadcode@gmail.com>
* refactor(bmad-ux): replace bmad-create-ux-design with lean spine-based bmad-ux
* refactor(bmad-ux): adopt DESIGN.md spec, split into two-file spine, align prd/brief
DESIGN.md (visual identity per the Google Labs spec) and EXPERIENCE.md
(behavior, flow, IA) replace the single design.md spine. EXPERIENCE.md
cross-references DESIGN.md tokens via the spec's {path.to.token} syntax.
Example suite restructure
- 3 DESIGN.md examples: editorial (Stitch source / Linen & Logic), calm
native mobile (Quill), shadcn-on-Tailwind web SaaS (Drift)
- 2 paired EXPERIENCE.md examples (Quill, Drift); Linen & Logic unpaired
to model the Stitch handoff scenario
- Replaces the prior 2-example combined spine set
Discovery additions (outcome-driven, one line each)
- Source scan: glob {planning_artifacts}/ for candidates, parent never reads
- Form-factor: resolve before IA closes; journeys often derive it
- Surface closure: every stated need has a surface, every surface a journey
- Named-protagonist journeys (Mary, not "the user")
- Design handoff working mode (extensible producer registry, default: Stitch)
PRD and brief alignment with same insights
- bmad-prd: dropped standalone Primary Persona section from template;
renamed "Personas + Journeys" entry to "Journey-led"; named-protagonist
rule on UJs; form-factor probe; validation checklist updated
- bmad-product-brief: form-factor surfaced in Discovery topics
Quality scan fixes
- Added ## Overview heading; renamed ## Activation to ## On Activation
- Replaced ../ paths in example assets with {planning_artifacts}/
- Sources section compressed (abstract delta-only rule)
- Working mode aligned to "Fast path" / "Coaching path" BMad-wide convention
New
- references/design-md-spec.md: working summary of the spec for the LLM
- customize.toml: design_md_examples, experience_md_examples,
design_handoffs registries
- .prettierignore: ignore .analysis/ quality-scan artifacts repo-wide
* refactor(bmad-ux): activation parity with prd/brief, opt-in reviewer gate, no headline grade
- Restructure On Activation as numbered six-step list mirroring bmad-prd
and bmad-product-brief, restoring the explicit key-resolution list that
earlier crammed-paragraph form had dropped (planning_artifacts and
friends were silently unresolved at Create).
- Make Reviewer Gate opt-in and lens-selectable. At Finalize, ask before
spending tokens on parallel reviewer subagents; at Validate intent,
skip that question but still confirm lens picks. Stops the auto-run
WCAG audit on hobby-stakes work.
- Drop the overall validation grade. Per-category verdicts and severity
counts already say what is true; a single headline grade conflated
design rigor with release readiness and led "POOR" pills landing on
reports whose own bodies described the work as strong. Removed from
references/validate.md (ladder rule + markdown twin), HTML template
(grade pill div + CSS vars + classes).
- Trim creative-tools.md: drop the Custom entries section. Runtime
prompt files should only carry what the LLM needs to act in this
moment; how-to-extend-via-TOML is setup-time human documentation
already covered by customize.toml comments.
* fix(bmad-ux): align validation report template with 8-category rubric
Template placeholders referenced 'Decision-readiness' and 'seven dimensions'
from the prior rubric. Replace with TEMPLATE_CATEGORY_NAME and inline the
eight canonical categories from references/validate.md so the synthesis pass
names them verbatim.
* fix(validate-skills): remove stale WF-01/WF-02 rules
WF-01/WF-02 were originally scoped to workflow.md files (now mostly gone)
but had been generalized to flag name/description in any non-SKILL.md
markdown. That over-captured legitimate spec files — e.g. DESIGN.md
examples in bmad-ux/assets/ that carry name/description per the Google
Labs DESIGN.md spec.
Step files are already covered by STEP-06. Rule count: 14 → 12.
* fix(bmad-ux): address PR review followups
- validation-report-template.html: severity badge class is badge-sev-*,
not sev-* (the comment misled the synthesis pass).
- Sweep dangling bmad-create-ux-design references: module-help.csv,
bmad-agent-ux-designer/customize.toml, bmad-prd/SKILL.md handoff list,
workflow-map.md (en + 4 translations), getting-started.md (en + 4
translations). Workflow-map output column updated to DESIGN.md +
EXPERIENCE.md.
- references/validate.md: Markdown capitalized as a proper noun.
Jérôme Revillard
Brian