swain-help

Mode detection

Onboarding mode

Welcome to swain. Here's how it works:

The big picture: Swain manages your project's documentation artifacts (specs, epics, ADRs, etc.) and tracks implementation work — so nothing falls through the cracks between sessions.

Three things to know:

1. /swain

   is your entry point. It routes to the right sub-skill automatically. You can also call skills directly (

   /swain-design

   ,

   /swain-do

   , etc.).
2. Design before you build. When you want to implement something, start with

   /swain

   to create a spec. Swain enforces a "plan before code" workflow — it creates tracked tasks before implementation begins.
3. Health checks are automatic.

   /swain-doctor

   runs at session start to ensure routing rules are in place and

   .tickets/

   is healthy. You don't need to think about it.

Common starting points:

• "I want to plan a new feature" → creates an Epic or Spec
• "Write a spec for X" → creates an Agent Spec
• "What should I work on next?" → checks your task backlog
• "File a bug" → creates a Spec with

  type: bug

• "Let's release" → version bump + changelog

Need more? Ask me anything about swain, or say

/swain help reference

for a full cheat sheet.

Question mode

skills/swain-help/references/quick-ref.md

skills/swain-help/references/quick-ref.md

skills/swain-help/references/workflows.md

skills/swain-design/references/<type>-definition.md

skills/swain-do/references/tk-cheatsheet.md

skills/swain-design/references/troubleshooting.md

• Be concise. Answer the question, don't dump the entire reference.
• Use examples when they clarify — "You'd say

  /swain create a spec for auth token rotation

  ".
• Hand off when appropriate. If the user's question is really a request to do something (e.g., "how do I create a spec?" followed by "ok do it"), invoke the relevant skill directly via the Skill tool. Explain what you're doing: "I'll hand this off to swain-design."
• Admit gaps. If something isn't covered, say so rather than inventing swain features.

Reference mode

skills/swain-help/references/quick-ref.md

skills/swain-help/references/workflows.md