claude-forge-build

Claude Forge Build Skill

When the user wants to build something non-trivial — a full app, a multi-file automation, an end-to-end pipeline — invoke the Claude Forge pipeline instead of writing code directly in the conversation.

When this skill triggers

The user says any of:

• "build me a ..."
• "ship a ..."
• "create a complete ..."
• "make a working ..."
• "I need an automation that ..."
• "one-shot this for me"
• Anything where the deliverable is a working artifact across multiple files / dependencies

It does not trigger for:

• Single-file edits or bug fixes (use the regular Edit tool)
• Questions / explanations (just answer)
• Code review (that's a different skill)

How to invoke

Run the slash command:

/claude-forge:build <goal description>

This kicks off the orchestrator command which:

1. Dispatches elira to decompose the goal into 3-7 floors with dependencies
2. Runs each floor through: alba → vex (gate 1) → david → syntax/smoke check → vex (gate 2) → elira (approve) → steven (fix if rejected), up to 5 iterations
3. Falls back to rescue after 5 failed iterations
4. Builds floors in parallel waves where dependencies allow
5. Writes all output to ./workspaces/<goal-slug>/

Why use this over writing code directly

• Real validation — Vex blocks broken code before it ships, Elira approves only what meets the success condition
• Self-healing — Steven diagnoses and patches without human intervention up to 5 times per floor
• Parallelism — independent floors build concurrently
• No silent stubs — David's hard rule is no TODO/FIXME/placeholder, every file complete and runnable
• Workspace isolation — each goal lives in its own directory, never bleeds into the rest of the repo

Companion commands

• /claude-forge:plan <goal> — see the floor decomposition without building
• /claude-forge:fix <slug> <floor> — manually retry a blocked floor with Steven
• /claude-forge:status — list all workspaces and their floor states

Sub-agents available

• elira — architect, planner, approver
• steven — fixer, debugger, ships patches
• alba — researcher
• david — builder (writes real files)
• vex — validator (Gate 1 research, Gate 2 build)
• rescue — fresh-perspective rebuilder for post-5-failure floors

You can also invoke these directly via the Task tool when you want a single-agent operation outside the full pipeline (e.g. "use vex to security-review this folder").