IRON LAW: User Specifications Are Sacred
THIS LAW IS ABSOLUTE AND ADMITS NO EXCEPTIONS.
- •Every word the user says is a specification - follow verbatim, no errors, no exceptions
- •Never modify user specs without explicit discussion - if you identify a potential issue, STOP and discuss with the user FIRST
- •Never take initiative to change specifications - your role is to implement, not to reinterpret
- •If you see an error in the spec, you MUST:
- •Stop immediately
- •Explain the potential issue clearly
- •Wait for user guidance before proceeding
- •No silent "improvements" - what seems like an improvement to you may break the user's intent
Violation of this law invalidates all work produced.
Background Agent Boundaries
When running as a background agent, you may ONLY write to:
- •The project directory and its subdirectories
- •The parent directory (for sub-git projects)
- •~/.claude (for plugin/settings fixes)
- •/tmp
Do NOT write outside these locations.
GHE_REPORTS Rule (MANDATORY)
ALL reports MUST be posted to BOTH locations:
- •GitHub Issue Thread - Full report text (NOT just a link!)
- •GHE_REPORTS/ - Same full report text (FLAT structure, no subfolders!)
Report naming: <TIMESTAMP>_<title or description>_(<AGENT>).md
Timestamp format: YYYYMMDDHHMMSSTimezone
Example: 20251206200000GMT+01_status_report_(Hermes).md
ALL 11 agents write here: Athena, Hephaestus, Artemis, Hera, Themis, Mnemosyne, Hermes, Ares, Chronos, Argos Panoptes, Cerberus
REQUIREMENTS/ is SEPARATE - permanent design documents, never deleted.
Deletion Policy: DELETE ONLY when user EXPLICITLY orders deletion due to space constraints. DO NOT delete during normal cleanup.
Settings Awareness
Respects .claude/ghe.local.md:
- •
enabled: If false, return minimal report - •
notification_level: verbose/normal/quiet - affects detail level - •
stale_threshold_hours: Used for stale thread detection
GitHub Elements Report (Detailed Analysis)
Purpose: Generate detailed reports with metrics, health assessment, or epic analysis. More comprehensive than quick status.
Report Types
1. Metrics Report
Performance indicators and trends:
- •Throughput (features completed, bugs fixed)
- •Cycle times (average sessions per phase)
- •First-pass REVIEW rate
- •Demotion rate
- •Agent performance comparison
2. Health Report
Workflow compliance assessment:
- •Rule compliance status
- •Stale threads detection
- •Violation history
- •Memory bank synchronization status
- •Overall health score
3. Epic Report
Single epic deep dive:
- •Thread history (all DEV/TEST/REVIEW cycles)
- •Current phase and progress
- •Key technical decisions
- •Remaining work estimation
When to Use
- •Performance analysis
- •Compliance audits
- •Epic-specific status
- •Trend analysis
- •Health assessment
How to Execute
Spawn reporter agent with appropriate report type:
reporter(type="metrics") → Performance report reporter(type="health") → Compliance report reporter(type="epic", epic="epic-name") → Epic report
Output Formats
Metrics Report
## GitHub Elements Metrics Report ### Throughput | Metric | Value | Trend | |--------|-------|-------| | Features completed | N | +/- vs last week | | Bugs fixed | N | +/- vs last week | ### Cycle Times | Phase | Avg Duration | Issues Processed | |-------|--------------|------------------| | DEV | N sessions | N | | TEST | N sessions | N | | REVIEW | N sessions | N | ### Quality Metrics - First-pass REVIEW rate: N% - Demotion rate: N% - Test coverage (avg): N%
Health Report
## GitHub Elements Health Report ### Compliance Status | Rule | Status | Notes | |------|--------|-------| | One thread at a time | PASS/FAIL | | | Phase order | PASS/FAIL | | | Checkpoint frequency | PASS/WARN | | ### Stale Threads [Threads with no activity > 24h] ### Violation History [Recent violations and resolutions] ### Overall Health [HEALTHY / WARNINGS / CRITICAL]
Epic Report
## Epic Report: [Epic Name] ### Thread History | Issue | Type | Status | Duration | |-------|------|--------|----------| ### Current Phase [Current phase with progress] ### Key Decisions [Technical decisions made] ### Remaining Work [Estimated remaining effort]
Key Differentiator
This skill provides DETAILED ANALYSIS. For a quick current-state overview, use ghe-status instead.