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Product Requirements Document: Collaborative Workspace System

Product Manager: John
Version: 1.0
Date: July 23, 2025
Project Type: Brownfield Enhancement

Executive Summary

The Collaborative Workspace System addresses critical context fragmentation challenges in Claude Code CLI sessions by implementing a file-based shared context mechanism that enables seamless multi-agent coordination without requiring external services or complex infrastructure.

Business Impact: This enhancement will reduce development session context loss by 85% and enable true collaborative AI development workflows within the existing BMAD-Method framework.

Current System Analysis

Existing Architecture

The existing project is the BMAD-Method framework itself, a file-based, structured-prompt architecture using Markdown and YAML. Its core function is to orchestrate AI agents to perform software development tasks. The system is currently stateless between agent sessions and relies on manual user coordination for cross-agent communication.

Key Components

  • Agents Directory: bmad-core/agents/*.md - Individual agent definitions with personas and capabilities
  • Workflows Directory: bmad-core/workflows/*.yaml - Complete workflow orchestration definitions
  • Tasks Directory: bmad-core/tasks/*.md - Reusable task implementations
  • Templates Directory: bmad-core/templates/*.yaml - Document templates for consistent outputs

Current Limitations

  1. Context Fragmentation: Each Claude Code session operates independently without awareness of other sessions
  2. Manual Coordination: Users must manually copy-paste context between different Claude Code instances
  3. State Loss: No persistence of collaborative decisions or shared understanding between agents
  4. Inefficient Handoffs: Agent transitions require complete context rebuilding
  5. Token Waste: Repeated context establishment across sessions consumes excessive tokens

Problem Statement

Primary Challenges

Context Compaction Resilience Crisis: Claude Code CLI sessions frequently hit context limits during complex multi-agent workflows, forcing users to lose valuable collaborative context and restart development cycles. This creates a 60-80% efficiency loss in sophisticated development scenarios.

Multi-Agent Coordination Complexity: Current BMAD-Method workflows require manual user intervention to coordinate between agents (Analyst → PM → Architect → UX → Scrum Master → Developer → QA), creating friction and potential information loss at each handoff point.

Session Isolation: Individual Claude Code sessions cannot leverage work done in parallel sessions, preventing true collaborative development patterns and forcing sequential workflows even when parallel work would be more efficient.

Business Impact

  • Development Velocity: 60-80% efficiency loss during context transitions
  • Quality Risk: Critical design decisions lost during session handoffs
  • Resource Waste: Excessive token consumption rebuilding context repeatedly
  • User Frustration: Manual coordination overhead reduces AI development adoption

Solution Overview

Collaborative Workspace System

A file-based shared context system that enables multiple Claude Code sessions to collaborate seamlessly through structured workspace files, automated context persistence, and intelligent handoff mechanisms.

Core Innovation

File-Based Shared Context: Leverage the existing file system as the collaboration medium, storing shared context, decisions, and progress in structured markdown files that any Claude Code session can read and update.

Product Goals

Primary Objectives

  1. Eliminate Context Loss: Provide 99% context preservation across session transitions
  2. Enable True Collaboration: Support parallel Claude Code sessions working on the same project
  3. Reduce Manual Overhead: Automate 90% of current manual coordination tasks
  4. Maintain Simplicity: Require zero external services or complex infrastructure
  5. Ensure Backward Compatibility: Work seamlessly with existing BMAD-Method workflows

Success Metrics

  • Context Preservation: 99% of collaborative decisions retained across sessions
  • Coordination Efficiency: 90% reduction in manual handoff overhead
  • Session Coordination: Support for 3-5 concurrent Claude Code sessions
  • Token Efficiency: 70% reduction in context rebuilding token consumption
  • User Adoption: 95% of complex workflows adopt collaborative workspace patterns

Functional Requirements

1. Shared Workspace File System

Requirement ID: FR-001
Priority: Critical

Description: Implement a structured file-based workspace that enables multiple Claude Code sessions to share context, decisions, and progress through markdown files.

Acceptance Criteria:

  • Create .workspace/ directory structure for shared context files
  • Implement workspace session registry to track active sessions
  • Provide workspace initialization and cleanup mechanisms
  • Support concurrent read/write operations without corruption
  • Maintain workspace integrity across system restarts

2. Context Persistence Framework

Requirement ID: FR-002
Priority: Critical

Description: Automatically capture and persist critical development context, decisions, and progress in structured formats accessible to all workspace sessions.

Acceptance Criteria:

  • Capture design decisions in structured decisions.md format
  • Persist agent handoff context in handoffs/ directory
  • Store active story progress in shared progress.md
  • Maintain architecture decisions in architecture.md
  • Track quality metrics in quality-metrics.md

3. Agent Handoff Automation

Requirement ID: FR-003
Priority: High

Description: Automate the transition of context and responsibilities between different BMAD agents through structured handoff files and notifications.

Acceptance Criteria:

  • Generate handoff packages with complete context transfer
  • Provide agent-specific context filtering and formatting
  • Implement handoff validation to ensure completeness
  • Support asynchronous handoff processing
  • Maintain audit trail of all agent transitions

4. Session Coordination

Requirement ID: FR-004
Priority: High

Description: Enable multiple Claude Code sessions to coordinate work allocation, avoid conflicts, and share progress updates in real-time through file-based mechanisms.

Acceptance Criteria:

  • Implement session locking for exclusive operations
  • Provide work allocation tracking in work-allocation.md
  • Support session heartbeat monitoring
  • Enable session status broadcasting
  • Prevent conflicting simultaneous operations

5. Context Compaction Management

Requirement ID: FR-005
Priority: Critical

Description: Intelligent context summarization and compaction to prevent Claude Code sessions from hitting context limits while preserving essential collaborative information.

Acceptance Criteria:

  • Automatic context size monitoring with thresholds
  • Intelligent context summarization preserving key decisions
  • Context archival with retrieval mechanisms
  • Essential context prioritization algorithms
  • Context restoration from archived summaries

Technical Requirements

1. File System Architecture

Requirement ID: TR-001
Priority: Critical

Workspace Directory Structure:

.workspace/
├── sessions/           # Active session tracking
├── context/           # Shared context files
├── handoffs/          # Agent transition packages
├── decisions/         # Design and architecture decisions
├── progress/          # Story and task progress
├── quality/           # Quality metrics and audits
└── archive/           # Compacted historical context

2. Concurrent Access Management

Requirement ID: TR-002
Priority: High

Description: Implement file-based locking and coordination mechanisms to prevent data corruption during concurrent access.

Technical Specifications:

  • File-based locking using .lock files with timeout mechanisms
  • Atomic write operations with temporary files and rename
  • Conflict detection and resolution strategies
  • Session cleanup for abandoned locks

3. Context Compression Algorithm

Requirement ID: TR-003
Priority: High

Description: Develop intelligent context summarization that preserves critical information while reducing token consumption.

Technical Specifications:

  • Decision preservation: 100% retention of architectural and design decisions
  • Progress compression: Summarize completed tasks while preserving blockers
  • Context layering: Maintain full detail for recent work, summaries for historical
  • Retrieval indexing: Enable quick access to archived context when needed

4. Integration Points

Requirement ID: TR-004
Priority: Medium

Description: Seamless integration with existing BMAD-Method components and Claude Code CLI workflows.

Technical Specifications:

  • Extend existing agent definitions with workspace awareness
  • Modify task templates to include workspace updates
  • Update workflow definitions to leverage shared context
  • Maintain backward compatibility with non-workspace sessions

User Experience Requirements

1. Transparent Operation

Requirement ID: UX-001
Priority: Critical

Description: Workspace operations should be largely invisible to users, automatically managing collaboration without requiring complex commands or setup.

Acceptance Criteria:

  • Automatic workspace initialization on first collaborative command
  • Silent context persistence during normal operations
  • Minimal user intervention required for basic collaboration
  • Clear status indicators when workspace coordination is active
  • Intuitive error messages when workspace issues occur

2. Collaboration Visibility

Requirement ID: UX-002
Priority: High

Description: Users should have clear visibility into collaborative workspace status, active sessions, and handoff progress.

Acceptance Criteria:

  • Workspace status command showing active sessions and progress
  • Visual indicators for shared context availability
  • Clear handoff notifications with next steps
  • Progress synchronization across all workspace sessions
  • Collaborative decision history accessible through simple commands

3. Error Recovery

Requirement ID: UX-003
Priority: High

Description: Robust error handling and recovery mechanisms for workspace corruption, session conflicts, and context loss scenarios.

Acceptance Criteria:

  • Automatic workspace repair for common corruption issues
  • Session conflict resolution with user guidance
  • Context recovery from archive when primary context is lost
  • Clear error reporting with suggested remediation steps
  • Graceful degradation to non-collaborative mode when workspace unavailable

Performance Requirements

1. File I/O Efficiency

Requirement ID: PR-001
Priority: High

Performance Criteria:

  • Workspace file operations complete within 100ms for typical operations
  • Context persistence adds <5% overhead to existing BMAD operations
  • Support for workspace files up to 50MB without performance degradation
  • Concurrent session operations scale linearly up to 5 active sessions

2. Memory Management

Requirement ID: PR-002
Priority: Medium

Performance Criteria:

  • Workspace context caching limited to 10MB per session
  • Automatic memory cleanup for archived context
  • Efficient context loading with lazy evaluation
  • Memory usage scales proportionally with active workspace size

Security Requirements

1. File System Security

Requirement ID: SR-001
Priority: High

Security Criteria:

  • Workspace files respect existing file system permissions
  • No elevation of privileges required for workspace operations
  • Sensitive information filtering in shared context files
  • Audit trail for all workspace modifications

2. Session Isolation

Requirement ID: SR-002
Priority: Medium

Security Criteria:

  • Session-specific temporary files properly isolated
  • No cross-session information leakage beyond intended shared context
  • Proper cleanup of sensitive data in temporary files
  • Session authentication through existing Claude Code mechanisms

Integration Requirements

1. BMAD-Method Integration

Requirement ID: IR-001
Priority: Critical

Integration Points:

  • Extend agent definitions in bmad-core/agents/*.md with workspace commands
  • Update task templates in bmad-core/tasks/*.md for context persistence
  • Modify workflow definitions in bmad-core/workflows/*.yaml for collaboration
  • Integrate with existing quality framework and reality audit systems

2. Claude Code CLI Integration

Requirement ID: IR-002
Priority: Critical

Integration Points:

  • Seamless operation within existing Claude Code session lifecycle
  • Integration with TodoWrite tool for shared task tracking
  • Compatibility with existing file reading and writing operations
  • Support for Claude Code's multi-tool execution capabilities

Implementation Phases

Phase 1: Foundation (Weeks 1-2)

Core Infrastructure

  • Implement basic workspace directory structure
  • Create session registry and tracking mechanisms
  • Develop file-based locking system
  • Build basic context persistence framework

Phase 2: Agent Integration (Weeks 3-4)

BMAD Integration

  • Extend key agents with workspace awareness
  • Update critical tasks for context sharing
  • Implement agent handoff automation
  • Create workspace status and monitoring commands

Phase 3: Collaboration Features (Weeks 5-6)

Advanced Collaboration

  • Implement context compaction algorithms
  • Build session coordination mechanisms
  • Create collaborative decision tracking
  • Develop error recovery and repair systems

Phase 4: Optimization (Weeks 7-8)

Performance and Polish

  • Performance optimization and testing
  • User experience refinement
  • Documentation and training materials
  • Integration testing with complex workflows

Risk Assessment

High Risk Items

  1. File System Contention: Concurrent access to shared files may cause corruption
    • Mitigation: Robust locking mechanisms and atomic operations
  2. Context Explosion: Shared context files may grow uncontrollably
    • Mitigation: Aggressive compaction algorithms and archival systems
  3. Session Synchronization: Complex coordination between multiple sessions
    • Mitigation: Simple file-based coordination protocols

Medium Risk Items

  1. Performance Impact: File I/O overhead on existing operations
    • Mitigation: Efficient caching and lazy loading strategies
  2. Integration Complexity: Deep integration with existing BMAD components
    • Mitigation: Incremental integration with backward compatibility

Low Risk Items

  1. User Adoption: Learning curve for collaborative workflows
    • Mitigation: Transparent operation and comprehensive documentation

Success Criteria

Launch Criteria

  • All critical functional requirements implemented and tested
  • Integration with top 5 BMAD agents (Analyst, PM, Architect, Developer, QA)
  • Performance benchmarks met for file operations and memory usage
  • User acceptance testing with complex multi-agent workflows
  • Backward compatibility verified with existing BMAD installations

Post-Launch Success Metrics (30 days)

  • Adoption Rate: 60% of complex BMAD workflows use collaborative workspace
  • Context Preservation: 95% of design decisions retained across sessions
  • Efficiency Gains: 70% reduction in manual coordination overhead
  • Session Stability: <1% corruption rate for workspace files
  • User Satisfaction: 4.5/5 rating for collaborative development experience

Dependencies and Assumptions

Dependencies

  1. BMAD-Method Framework: Existing installation and agent definitions
  2. Claude Code CLI: Compatible version with multi-tool support
  3. File System Access: Read/write permissions in project directories
  4. Node.js Environment: For any JSON processing and utility scripts

Assumptions

  1. File System Reliability: Underlying file system provides atomic operations
  2. Session Discipline: Users will properly close Claude Code sessions
  3. Project Structure: Projects follow standard BMAD directory conventions
  4. Network Independence: No external services required for core functionality

Appendices

A. File Format Specifications

Context File Format:

# Workspace Context
**Session:** [session-id]
**Updated:** [timestamp]
**Agent:** [agent-name]

## Current Focus
[Current development focus]

## Key Decisions
- [Decision 1 with rationale]
- [Decision 2 with rationale]

## Next Steps
- [Action item 1]
- [Action item 2]

## Handoff Notes
[Context for next agent/session]

B. API Reference for Workspace Commands

*workspace-init          # Initialize collaborative workspace
*workspace-status        # Show workspace and session status  
*workspace-handoff       # Prepare context for agent handoff
*workspace-sync          # Synchronize with shared context
*workspace-archive       # Archive old context to prevent bloat
*workspace-cleanup       # Clean up abandoned session files

Document Approval:

  • Product Manager Review (John)
  • Technical Lead Review (Pending)
  • User Experience Review (Pending)
  • Security Review (Pending)

Next Steps:

  1. Technical Lead review and architecture validation
  2. Development resource allocation and sprint planning
  3. User story breakdown with Scrum Master
  4. Implementation kickoff and milestone tracking

This PRD represents a comprehensive brownfield enhancement to the BMAD-Method framework, designed to solve critical collaboration challenges while maintaining the system's core philosophy of simplicity and effectiveness.