create-standard

Create Standard

Create a new technical standard directory in the [plugin]/constitution/standards directory following the three-tier structure (meta.md, scan.md, write.md, and rules/). $ARGUMENTS

Purpose & Scope

What this command does NOT do:

• Modify existing standards (use update-standard)
• Create skills (use create-skill)
• Override existing directories without confirmation
• Create non-standard documentation

When to REJECT:

• Empty or unclear standard name
• Standard directory already exists
• Invalid name format
• Updating existing standards
• Creating non-standard files

Workflow

ultrathink: you'd perform the following steps

Step 1: Planning

1. Analyze Requirements

   • Parse $ARGUMENTS to extract standard name and details
   • Determine appropriate category (code, frontend, backend, security, quality, project)
   • Identify related existing standards
   • Plan three-tier directory structure: meta.md, scan.md, write.md, and rules/

2. Identify Applicable Skills & Standards

   • Check create-standard skill for creation process
   • Review existing standards in target category for patterns
   • Note related standards to reference

3. Risk Assessment

   • Check for existing directory with the same name
   • Verify category directory exists
   • Ensure no duplicate standards

Step 2: Execution

1. Skill Compliance

   • Follow create-standard skill
   • Load templates from template:standard-meta, template:standard-scan, and template:standard-write
   • Apply standard naming conventions

2. Primary Implementation

   • Generate standard title from arguments
   • Determine category placement
   • Create standard directory and rules/ subdirectory using mkdir -p <name>/rules/
   • Populate <name>/meta.md from template:standard-meta with metadata, principles, and overview
   • Populate <name>/scan.md from template:standard-scan with scanning/review rules
   • Populate <name>/write.md from template:standard-write with writing/implementation guidance
   • Include practical code examples across all three files
   • Add decision matrices and quick references

3. Standards Enforcement

   • Use lowercase, hyphen-separated naming for the directory
   • Follow each template structure exactly for its corresponding file
   • Include both good and bad examples
   • Add related standards references

4. Edge Case Handling

   • Check if directory already exists before creating
   • Create category directory if needed
   • Handle complex multi-word names properly
   • Preserve any existing backups

Step 3: Verification

1. Template-Based Verification

   • Verify meta.md follows template:standard-meta structure
   • Verify scan.md follows template:standard-scan structure
   • Verify write.md follows template:standard-write structure
   • Check all required sections present in each file
   • Validate code examples are TypeScript
   • Verify rules/ subdirectory exists

2. Automated Testing

   • Verify markdown syntax is valid in all three files
   • Check all files saved to correct locations within the standard directory
   • Ensure proper formatting

3. Quality Assurance

   • Confirm examples include good and bad patterns
   • Validate related standards links
   • Check decision trees are complete
   • Ensure content is distributed correctly across the three tier files

4. Side Effect Validation

   • Directory and all three files saved to correct locations
   • No existing files or directories overwritten
   • Category directory created if needed

Step 4: Reporting

Output Format:

[✅/❌] Command: $ARGUMENTS

## Summary
- Standard created: [name]/
- Files: meta.md, scan.md, write.md, rules/
- Location: [plugin]/constitution/standards/[name]/
- Category: [category]

## Actions Taken
1. Created standard directory and rules/ subdirectory
2. Generated meta.md from template:standard-meta
3. Generated scan.md from template:standard-scan
4. Generated write.md from template:standard-write
5. Populated all files with relevant guidelines

## Content Structure
- Core Principles: [count]
- Main Topics: [list]
- Code Examples: [count]
- Anti-patterns: [count]

## Related Standards
- [Related standard 1]
- [Related standard 2]

## Next Steps
- Review generated standard files for completeness
- Add specific code examples if needed
- Add individual rule files to rules/ subdirectory
- Link from related documentation

Examples

Basic Standard Creation

/create-standard "error-handling"
# Generates: error-handling/meta.md, error-handling/scan.md, error-handling/write.md, error-handling/rules/
# Category: Automatically determined as 'code'

Frontend Standard with Detail

/create-standard "component-testing" --detail="React component testing patterns"
# Generates: component-testing/meta.md, component-testing/scan.md, component-testing/write.md, component-testing/rules/
# Includes: React-specific testing examples

Security Standard

/create-standard "api-authentication" --category=security
# Generates: api-authentication/meta.md, api-authentication/scan.md, api-authentication/write.md, api-authentication/rules/
# Category: Explicitly set to 'security'

Backend Standard with Context

/create-standard "database-migrations" --detail="PostgreSQL migration patterns" --category=backend
# Generates: database-migrations/meta.md, database-migrations/scan.md, database-migrations/write.md, database-migrations/rules/
# Includes: PostgreSQL-specific examples

Quality Standard

/create-standard "code-coverage" --category=quality
# Generates: code-coverage/meta.md, code-coverage/scan.md, code-coverage/write.md, code-coverage/rules/
# Includes: Coverage metrics and thresholds

Error Case Handling

/create-standard ""
# Error: Empty standard name
# Prompt: "What is the name of the standard you want to create?"
# Action: Wait for user input before proceeding

With Existing Directory

/create-standard "naming"
# Warning: naming/ directory already exists
# Prompt: "Standard 'naming' already exists. Create with different name?"
# Alternative: Use /update-standard to modify existing