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/ardd-status

Tier: core

Full cross-artifact consistency check — reads every artifact, plan, tasks file, and the register — and writes STATUS.md (its single writer); auto-runs after most state-changing skills.

Usage

/ardd-status

No arguments. Non-destructive: it reads everything and writes exactly one file. Most state-changing skills run it automatically as their final step (/ardd-backlog, /ardd-plan, /ardd-refine, /ardd-feedback, /ardd-implement on completion, /ardd-defects — the canonical list lives in this skill's own SKILL.md). Manual runs are the right call after /ardd-init + a refine pass, or anytime you want a fresh check.

Run only from the primary checkout, never inside a delegated worktree — that would trap the STATUS.md write on the worktree's branch.

Reads

  • Every .project/artifacts/*.md
  • .project/DEFECTS.md (count + last-verified date — read-only)
  • .project/feedback/* open count, .project/features/* status counts
  • .project/plans/* and .project/tasks/*
  • inflight-worktrees.sh — sibling worktrees' branches and tasks-file progress; worktree-reap.sh --dry-run — merged-reapable candidates (visibility only, never mutates); gh pr list --draft in collaborative mode
  • completion-flip-check.sh per completed tasks file — orphaned completion flips
  • ardd-update-check.sh — whether the ARDD install is behind its source (local git by default; fetches first only when the constitution's update_check_max_age_days opt-in says the owned checkout's tags have gone stale)

What it checks

  • Cross-artifact consistency — concepts referenced but undefined, decisions that disagree across artifacts, UI fields missing from the data model
  • Constitution compliance — violations of the principles it actually declares (never an assumed fixed set)
  • Within-artifact issues — unresolved [OPEN: ...] items, vague language, draft artifacts that would block planning
  • Diagram staleness — each renderable artifact's diagram_status
  • In-flight work — sibling worktrees, reapable worktrees, draft PRs

Writes

  • .project/STATUS.md — its single writer. Artifact status table, open questions by artifact, defect/feedback/backlog summary lines, orphaned flips, the In Flight section, the update-available line, and a recommended next step. STATUS.md is the single re-entry point after any interruption.
  • One narrow register exception: for each orphaned completion flip found (a completed tasks file whose work branch merged while its feature still says tasked), it asks and — on confirmation — performs the tasked → implemented flip itself. Justified because no other skill run is left to catch it; a decline is simply re-reported next run.

Behavior notes

  • With next_step_prompt: true in the constitution frontmatter, the run ends by offering the recommended next step as a one-keypress prompt — only when it's a concrete runnable /ardd-* invocation; anything else stays plain text.
  • /ardd-lint — structural validation (fast, deterministic; this skill is the judgment-based consistency check)
  • /ardd-defects — artifacts vs. the code; this skill never reads code
  • guides/checking.md — which checking skill you want, and when