## The Tale of the Frame Expert
Once upon a time, BMad Method had a specialized agent called Frame Expert.
This agent was the master of all visual artifacts - flowcharts, diagrams,
wireframes, data flows. Whenever anyone needed a diagram, they called upon
Frame Expert. The agent lived in its own isolated domain with four dedicated
workflows and a library of shared templates.
## The Awakening
But something felt wrong. Teams using BMad Method were meant to mirror real
agile teams - Product Managers, Architects, UX Designers, Tech Writers,
Developers. Each agent represented an authentic role you'd find in any
software team.
Except Frame Expert.
No real agile team has a "Frame Expert" or "Diagram Specialist" who creates
all visual artifacts. In real teams, Architects diagram system architecture.
PMs flowchart processes. UX Designers wireframe interfaces. Tech Writers
create documentation diagrams. The visuals emerge from the domain experts
who need them, not from a centralized diagram factory.
Frame Expert was an abstraction that made technical sense but violated the
very soul of BMad Method - authentic agile role modeling.
## The Transformation
And so Frame Expert was dissolved, its knowledge distributed to those who
truly needed it:
**The Architect** inherited system architecture diagrams and data flows -
the blueprints of technical systems they design.
**The Product Manager** received process flowcharts - the visual maps of
features and workflows they orchestrate.
**The UX Designer** claimed wireframes - the interface sketches that bring
their vision to life.
**The Tech Writer** gained all diagram types - the visual aids that clarify
their documentation.
Each agent now creates diagrams in their domain, using their expertise,
serving their purpose.
## The Shared Knowledge
But the wisdom of diagram creation itself - the Excalidraw templates, the
component libraries, the validation patterns - this knowledge was too
valuable to scatter. It was elevated to core resources, where both BMM
agents AND the new CIS presentation-master agent could draw upon it.
Shared infrastructure for common needs. Distributed execution for domain
expertise.
## The Ripple Effects
With diagrams now properly distributed, other misalignments became visible:
Epic creation was happening in Phase 2 (Planning), before Architecture
existed. But epics need architectural context - API contracts, data models,
technical decisions. So epic creation migrated to Phase 3 (Solutioning),
after Architecture provides that foundation.
Workflow paths were updated. Documentation gained visual flowcharts showing
the complete journey. Agent naming standards were clarified - filenames are
stable roles, persona names are user dreams.
## What Changed
**Removed:**
- frame-expert.agent.yaml (the centralized specialist)
- All frame-expert workflows and shared resources
- Phase 2 epic creation workflow (wrong timing)
- game-design workflow path (consolidated to method track)
- v6-open-items.md (planning doc, now complete)
**Distributed Diagram Capabilities:**
- Architect: create-excalidraw-diagram, create-excalidraw-dataflow
- PM: create-excalidraw-flowchart
- Tech Writer: create-excalidraw-{diagram,dataflow,flowchart}, generate-mermaid
- UX Designer: create-excalidraw-wireframe
**Created:**
- src/core/resources/ (shared diagram context for all modules)
- src/modules/cis/agents/presentation-master.agent.yaml (visual comms specialist)
- src/modules/bmm/workflows/3-solutioning/create-epics-and-stories/ (epic creation's new home)
- src/modules/bmm/workflows/diagrams/ (distributed diagram implementations)
- src/modules/bmm/docs/images/ (workflow visualization assets)
**Enhanced:**
- All agent definitions with domain-appropriate diagram workflows
- Documentation with embedded workflow diagrams and visual guides
- Agent compilation docs with critical naming convention rules
- All 4 workflow paths (enterprise/method × brownfield/greenfield)
**Fixed:**
- Epic creation now in Phase 3 after Architecture
- Story context path variables in BMGD module
- PRD workflow descriptions (epics moved to Phase 3)
## For Users
The Frame Expert commands are gone. In their place:
- Need architecture diagrams? Ask `/architect`
- Need process flows? Ask `/pm`
- Need wireframes? Ask `/ux-designer`
- Need documentation visuals? Ask `/tech-writer`
Each expert creates diagrams in their domain, with their context, using
their judgment.
This is how real teams work.
* feat: add frame-expert agent definition
- Add frame-expert.agent.yaml with persona and workflow menu
- Agent specializes in Excalidraw visual representations
- Supports flowcharts, diagrams, dataflows, and wireframes
Closes#890
* feat: add frame-expert workflows and shared resources
- Add 4 workflows: create-flowchart, create-diagram, create-dataflow, create-wireframe
- Include shared Excalidraw helpers, library, templates, and validation
- Each workflow has instructions, checklist, and workflow.yaml
Related to #890
* feat: register frame-expert workflows in manifest
- Add create-flowchart workflow entry
- Add create-diagram workflow entry
- Add create-dataflow workflow entry
- Add create-wireframe workflow entry
Related to #890
* feat: integrate frame-expert into team configurations
- Add frame-expert to default-party.csv with full agent details
- Add frame-expert to team-fullstack.yaml agent list
- Frame-expert now available in fullstack team workflows
Related to #890
- Installation path is now fully configurable, allowing users to specify custom installation directories during setup
- Default installation location changed to .bmad (hidden directory) for cleaner project root organization
Web Bundle Improvements:
- All web bundles (single agent and team) now include party mode support for multi-agent collaboration!
- Advanced elicitation capabilities integrated into standalone agents
- All bundles enhanced with party mode agent manifests
- Added default-party.csv files to bmm, bmgd, and cis module teams
- The default party file is what will be used with single agent bundles. teams can customize for different party configurations before web bundling through a setting in the team yaml file
- New web bundle outputs for all agents (analyst, architect, dev, pm, sm, tea, tech-writer, ux-designer, game-*, creative-squad)
Phase 4 Workflow Updates (In Progress):
- Initiated shift to separate phase 4 implementation artifacts from documentation
- Phase 4 implementation artifacts (stories, code review, sprint plan, context files) will move to dedicated location outside docs folder
- Installer questions and configuration added for artifact path selection
- Updated workflow.yaml files for code-review, sprint-planning, story-context, epic-tech-context, and retrospective workflows to support this, but still might require some udpates
Additional Changes:
- New agent and action command header models for standardization
- Enhanced web-bundle-activation-steps fragment
- Updated web-bundler.js to support new structure
- VS Code settings updated for new .bmad directory
- Party mode instructions and workflow enhanced for better orchestration
IDE Installer Updates:
- Show version number of installer in cli
- improved Installer UX
- Gemini TOML Improved to have clear loading instructions with @ commands
- All tools agent launcher mds improved to use a central file template critical indication isntead of hardcoding in 2 different locations.
- Deduplicate module lists in manifest generator using Set to prevent duplicate entries in installed manifests
- Update GitHub Copilot tool names to match official VS Code documentation (November 2025)
- Clean up legacy bmad/, bmd/, and web-bundles directories
- Add adv-elicit-methods.csv dependency to all workflows using adv-elicit.xml
- architecture workflow
- prd workflow
- tech-spec workflow
- Include BMM web bundles (8 agents + team-fullstack)
- Update v6 open items list
This fixes runtime failures when advanced elicitation is invoked in bundled
workflows by ensuring the 39 elicitation methods CSV is properly included.
Note: Web bundler still has optimizations and known issues to address in
upcoming commits.
This commit extracts game development functionality from BMM into a standalone
BMGD (BMad Game Development) module and implements workflow vendoring to enable
module independence.
BMGD Module Creation:
- Moved agents: game-designer, game-dev, game-architect from BMM to BMGD
- Moved team config: team-gamedev
- Created new Game Dev Scrum Master agent using workflow vendoring pattern
- Reorganized workflows into industry-standard game dev phases:
* Phase 1 (Preproduction): brainstorm-game, game-brief
* Phase 2 (Design): gdd, narrative
* Phase 3 (Technical): game-architecture
* Phase 4 (Production): vendored from BMM workflows
- Updated all module metadata and config_source references
Workflow Vendoring Feature:
- Enables modules to copy workflows from other modules during installation
- Build-time process that updates config_source in vendored workflows
- New agent YAML attribute: workflow-install (build-time metadata)
- Final compiled agents use workflow-install value for workflow attribute
- Implementation in module manager: vendorCrossModuleWorkflows()
- Allows standalone module installation without forced dependencies
Technical Changes:
- tools/cli/lib/yaml-xml-builder.js: Use workflow-install for workflow attribute
- tools/cli/installers/lib/modules/manager.js: Add vendoring functions
- tools/schema/agent.js: Add workflow-install to menu item schema
- Updated 3 documentation files with workflow vendoring details
BMM Workflow Updates:
- workflow-status/init: Added game detection checkpoint
- workflow-status/paths/game-design.yaml: Redirect to BMGD module
- prd/instructions.md: Route game projects to BMGD
- research/instructions-market.md: Reference BMGD for game development
Documentation:
- Created comprehensive BMGD module README
- Added workflow vendoring documentation
- Updated BMB agent creation and module creation guides
This commit represents a major documentation quality improvement, fixing critical inaccuracies and adding forward-looking guidance on the evolving role of PMs/UX in AI-driven development.
## Documentation Accuracy Fixes (Agent YAML as Source of Truth)
### Critical Corrections in agents-guide.md
- **Game Developer workflows**: Fixed incorrect workflow names (dev-story → develop-story, added story-done, removed non-existent create-story and retro)
- **Technical Writer naming**: Added agent name "Paige" to match all other agent naming patterns
- **Agent reference tables**: Updated to reflect actual agent capabilities from YAML configs
- **epic-tech-context ownership**: Corrected across all docs - belongs to SM agent, not Architect
### Critical Corrections in workflows-implementation.md
- **Line 16 + 75**: Fixed epic-tech-context agent from "Architect" → "SM" (matches sm.agent.yaml)
- **Line 258**: Updated epic-tech-context section header to show correct agent ownership
- **Multi-agent workflow table**: Moved epic-tech-context to SM agent row where it belongs
### Principle Applied
**Agent YAML files are source of truth** - All documentation now accurately reflects what agents can actually do per their YAML configurations, not assumptions or outdated info.
## Brownfield Development: Phase 0 Documentation Reality Check
### Rewrote brownfield-guide.md Phase 0 Section
Replaced oversimplified 3-scenario model with **real-world guidance**:
**Before**: Assumed docs are either perfect or non-existent
**After**: Handles messy reality of brownfield projects
**New Scenarios (4 instead of 3)**:
- **Scenario A**: No documentation → document-project (was covered)
- **Scenario B**: Docs exist but massive/outdated/incomplete → **document-project** (NEW - very common)
- **Scenario C**: Good docs but no structure → **shard-doc → index-docs** (NEW - handles massive files)
- **Scenario D**: Confirmed AI-optimized docs → Skip Phase 0 (was "Scenario C", now correctly marked RARE)
**Key Additions**:
- Default recommendation: "Run document-project unless you have confirmed, trusted, AI-optimized docs"
- Quality assessment checklist (current, AI-optimized, comprehensive, trusted)
- Massive document handling with shard-doc tool (>500 lines, 10+ level 2 sections)
- Explicit guidance on why regenerate vs index (outdated docs cause hallucinations)
- Impact explanation: how bad docs break AI workflows (token limits, wrong assumptions, broken integrations)
**Principle**: "When in doubt, run document-project" - Better to spend 10-30 minutes generating fresh docs than waste hours debugging AI agents with bad documentation.
## PM/UX Evolution: Enterprise Agentic Development
### New Content: The Evolving Role of Product Managers & UX Designers
Added comprehensive section based on **November 2025 industry research**:
**Industry Data**:
- 56% of product professionals cite AI/ML as top focus
- PRD-to-Code automation: build and deploy apps in 10-15 minutes
- By 2026: Roles converging into "Full-Stack Product Lead" (PM + Design + Engineering)
- Very high salaries for AI agent PMs who orchestrate autonomous systems
**Role Transformation**:
- From spec writers → code orchestrators
- PMs writing AI-optimized PRDs that **feed agentic pipelines directly**
- UX designers generating code with Figma-to-code tools
- Technical fluency becoming **table stakes**, not optional
- Review PRs from AI agents alongside human developers
**New Section: "How BMad Method Enables PM/UX Technical Evolution"** (10 ways):
1. **AI-Executable PRD Generation** - PRDs become work packages for cloud agents
2. **Automated Epic/Story Breakdown** - No more story refinement sessions
3. **Human-in-the-Loop Architecture** - PMs learn while validating technical decisions
4. **Cloud Agentic Pipeline** - Current (2025) + Future (2026) vision with diagrams
5. **UX Design Integration** - Designs validated through working prototypes
6. **PM Technical Skills Development** - Learn by doing through conversational workflows
7. **Organizational Leverage** - 1 PM → 20-50 AI agents (5-10× multiplier)
8. **Quality Consistency** - What gets built matches what was specified
9. **Rapid Prototyping** - Hours to validate ideas vs months
10. **Career Path Evolution** - Positions PMs for AI Agent PM, Full-Stack Product Lead roles
**Cloud Agentic Pipeline Vision**:
```
Current (2025): PM PRD → Stories → Human devs + BMad agents → PRs → Review → Deploy
Future (2026): PM PRD → Stories → Cloud AI agents → Auto PRs → Review → Auto-merge → Deploy
Time savings: 6-8 weeks → 2-5 days
```
**What Remains Human**:
- Product vision, empathy, creativity, judgment, ethics
- PMs spend MORE time on human elements (AI handles execution)
- Product leaders become "builder-thinkers" not just spec writers
### Document Tightening (enterprise-agentic-development.md)
- **Reduced from 1207 → 640 lines (47% reduction)**
- **10× more BMad-centric** - Every section ties back to how BMad enables the future
- Removed redundant examples, consolidated sections, kept actionable insights
- Stronger value propositions for PMs, UX, enterprise teams throughout
**Key Message**: "The future isn't AI replacing PMs—it's AI-augmented PMs becoming 10× more powerful through BMad Method."
## Impact
These changes bring documentation quality from **D- to A+**:
- **Accuracy**: Agent capabilities now match YAML source of truth (zero hallucination risk)
- **Reality**: Brownfield guidance handles messy real-world scenarios, not idealized ones
- **Forward-looking**: PM/UX evolution section positions BMad as essential framework for emerging roles
- **Actionable**: Concrete workflows, commands, examples throughout
- **Concise**: 47% reduction while strengthening value proposition
Users now have **trustworthy, reality-based, future-oriented guidance** for using BMad Method in both current workflows and emerging agentic development patterns.
## 📚 Complete Documentation Restructure
**BMM Documentation Hub Created:**
- New centralized documentation system at `src/modules/bmm/docs/`
- 18 comprehensive guides organized by topic (7000+ lines total)
- Clear learning paths for greenfield, brownfield, and quick spec flows
- Professional technical writing standards throughout
**New Documentation:**
- `README.md` - Complete documentation hub with navigation
- `quick-start.md` - 15-minute getting started guide
- `agents-guide.md` - Comprehensive 12-agent reference (45 min read)
- `party-mode.md` - Multi-agent collaboration guide (20 min read)
- `scale-adaptive-system.md` - Deep dive on Levels 0-4 (42 min read)
- `brownfield-guide.md` - Existing codebase development (53 min read)
- `quick-spec-flow.md` - Rapid Level 0-1 development (26 min read)
- `workflows-analysis.md` - Phase 1 workflows (12 min read)
- `workflows-planning.md` - Phase 2 workflows (19 min read)
- `workflows-solutioning.md` - Phase 3 workflows (13 min read)
- `workflows-implementation.md` - Phase 4 workflows (33 min read)
- `workflows-testing.md` - Testing & QA workflows (29 min read)
- `workflow-architecture-reference.md` - Architecture workflow deep-dive
- `workflow-document-project-reference.md` - Document-project workflow reference
- `enterprise-agentic-development.md` - Team collaboration patterns
- `faq.md` - Comprehensive Q&A covering all topics
- `glossary.md` - Complete terminology reference
- `troubleshooting.md` - Common issues and solutions
**Documentation Improvements:**
- Removed all version/date footers (git handles versioning)
- Agent customization docs now include full rebuild process
- Cross-referenced links between all guides
- Reading time estimates for all major docs
- Consistent professional formatting and structure
**Consolidated & Streamlined:**
- Module README (`src/modules/bmm/README.md`) streamlined to lean signpost
- Root README polished with better hierarchy and clear CTAs
- Moved docs from root `docs/` to module-specific locations
- Better separation of user docs vs. developer reference
## 🤖 New Agent: Paige (Documentation Guide)
**Role:** Technical documentation specialist and information architect
**Expertise:**
- Professional technical writing standards
- Documentation structure and organization
- Information architecture and navigation
- User-focused content design
- Style guide enforcement
**Status:** Work in progress - Paige will evolve as documentation needs grow
**Integration:**
- Listed in agents-guide.md, glossary.md, FAQ
- Available for all phases (documentation is continuous)
- Can be customized like all BMM agents
## 🔧 Additional Changes
- Updated agent manifest with Paige
- Updated workflow manifest with new documentation workflows
- Fixed workflow-to-agent mappings across all guides
- Improved root README with clearer Quick Start section
- Better module structure explanations
- Enhanced community links with Discord channel names
**Total Impact:**
- 18 new/restructured documentation files
- 7000+ lines of professional technical documentation
- Complete navigation system with cross-references
- Clear learning paths for all user types
- Foundation for knowledge base (coming in beta)
Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
This major enhancement revolutionizes the tech-spec workflow from a basic template-filling exercise into a context-aware, intelligent planning system for rapid development of bug fixes and small features.
## Tech-Spec Workflow Transformation (11 files)
### Core Workflow Intelligence (instructions.md)
- Add standalone mode with interactive level/field-type detection
- Implement brownfield convention detection and user confirmation
- Integrate WebSearch for current framework versions and starter templates
- Add comprehensive context discovery (stack, patterns, dependencies)
- Implement auto-validation with quality scoring (always runs)
- Add UX/UI considerations capture for user-facing changes
- Add test framework detection and pattern analysis
- Transform from batch generation to living document approach
### Comprehensive Tech-Spec Template (tech-spec-template.md)
- Expand from 8 to 23 sections for complete context
- Add Context section (available docs, project stack, existing structure)
- Add Development Context (conventions, test framework, existing code)
- Add UX/UI Considerations section
- Add Developer Resources (file paths, key locations, testing)
- Add Integration Points and Configuration Changes
- All sections populated via template-output tags during workflow
### Enhanced Story Generation
- Level 0 (instructions-level0-story.md): Extract from comprehensive tech-spec
- Level 1 (instructions-level1-stories.md): Add story sequence validation, AC quality checks
- User Story Template: Add Dev Agent Record sections for implementation tracking
- Epic Template: Complete rewrite with proper structure and variables
### Validation & Quality (checklist.md)
- Add context gathering completeness checks
- Add definitiveness validation (no "use X or Y" statements)
- Add brownfield integration quality scoring
- Add stack alignment verification
- Add implementation readiness assessment
- Auto-generates validation report with scores
### Configuration (workflow.yaml)
- Add runtime variables: project_level, project_type, development_context, change_type, field_type
- Enable standalone operation without workflow-status.yaml
- Support both workflow-init integration and quick-start mode
## Phase 4 Integration (3 files)
### Story Context Workflow
- Add tech_spec to input_file_patterns (recognizes as authoritative source)
- Update instructions to prioritize tech-spec for Level 0-1 projects
- Tech-spec provides brownfield analysis, framework details, existing patterns
### Create Story Workflow
- Add tech_spec to input_file_patterns
- Enable story generation from tech-spec (alternative to PRD)
- Supports both Quick Spec Flow and traditional BMM flow
## Documentation (2 new files)
### Quick Spec Flow Guide (docs/quick-spec-flow.md)
- Comprehensive 595-line guide for Level 0-1 rapid development
- Complete user journey examples (bug fix, small feature)
- Context discovery explanation (stack, brownfield, conventions)
- Auto-validation details and benefits
- Integration with Phase 4 workflows
- Comparison: Quick Spec vs Full BMM
- Real-world examples and best practices
### Scale Adaptive System (docs/scale-adaptive-system.md)
- Complete 950-line technical guide to BMad Method's 5-level system
- Key terminology: Analysis, Tech-Spec, Epic-Tech-Spec, Architecture
- Level 0-4 workflows, planning docs, and progression
- Brownfield emphasis: document-project required first
- Tech-spec (upfront, Level 0-1) vs epic-tech-spec (during implementation, Level 2-4)
- Architecture document replaces tech-spec at Level 2+ (scales with complexity)
- Retrospectives after each epic in multi-epic projects
- Workflow path configuration reference
### README Updates
- Add Quick Spec Flow announcement with benefits
- Link to Scale Adaptive System documentation
- Clarify when to use Quick Spec Flow vs Full BMM
## Key Features
### Context-Aware Intelligence
- Auto-detects project stack from package.json, requirements.txt, etc.
- Analyzes brownfield codebases using document-project output
- Detects code conventions and confirms with user before proceeding
- Uses WebSearch for up-to-date framework info and starter templates
### Brownfield Respect
- Detects existing patterns (code style, test framework, naming conventions)
- Asks user for confirmation before applying conventions
- Adapts to existing code vs forcing changes
- References document-project analysis for comprehensive context
### Auto-Validation
- Always runs (not optional)
- Validates context gathering, definitiveness, brownfield integration
- Scores tech-spec quality and implementation readiness
- Validates story sequence for Level 1 (no forward dependencies)
### Living Document Approach
- Write to tech-spec continuously during discovery
- Progressive refinement vs batch generation
- Template variables populated via template-output tags in real-time
## Breaking Changes
None - all changes are additive and backward compatible.
## Impact
This transformation enables:
- Bug fixes and small features implemented in minutes vs hours
- Automatic stack detection and brownfield analysis
- Respect for existing conventions and patterns
- Current best practices via WebSearch integration
- Comprehensive context that can replace story-context for simple efforts
- Seamless integration with Phase 4 implementation workflows
Quick Spec Flow now provides a **true fast path from idea to implementation** for Level 0-1 projects while maintaining quality through auto-validation and comprehensive context gathering.
- Added docs/ide-info/opencode.md
- Added tool/cli/installers/lib/ide/opencode.js
- Modified tools/installers/lib/ide/core/detector.js to include
detection for opencode command dir
- Modified tools/cli/platform-codes.yaml to include opencode config
- Modified tools/cli/installers/lib/ide/workflow-command-template.md to
include frontmatter with description as opencode requires this for
commands and adding it to the template by default does not seem to
impact other IDEs
- Modified src/modules/bmm/workflows/workflow-status/workflow.yaml
description so that it properly escapes quotes when interpolated in the
teplate
Dicky Moore
Brian Madison
Dicky Moore
mrsaifullah52
Murat K Ozcan
Cameron Pitt