using-squad-ase

Using squad-ase

You are working in a project with squad-ase installed — an Autonomous Software Engineer (ASE) skill set that orchestrates a hierarchical dev team.

Skill Priority

When a task begins, check skills in this order:

1. squad — For features, bugs, refactors, infrastructure, security audits. Invoke before writing ANY code on non-trivial tasks.
2. gate-keeper — For quality verification after build/verify phases.
3. ase-tick — For autonomous loop operation with /loop /ase-tick.

The 1% Rule

If there is even a 1% chance that a skill applies to the current task, you MUST invoke it. The cost of invoking an unnecessary skill is marginal. The cost of NOT invoking a necessary skill is bugs, data corruption, or security vulnerabilities.

Rationalization Guards

Watch for these rationalizations and reject them:

Rationalization	Reality
"This task is too simple for /squad"	Squad auto-selects the right composition. A bug fix uses the quick pipeline (F3+F4).
"I already know what to do, I don't need planning"	Squad's F0 validates assumptions. What you "know" is often wrong.
"I can skip gate-keeper, the tests pass locally"	Local != CI. Only fresh verification counts.
"This is urgent, I'll skip the process"	Urgency doesn't eliminate risk. The process exists because skipping it causes incidents.

Red Flags

• You're about to write code before invoking /squad
• You're about to claim DONE without /gate-keeper verification
• You find yourself thinking "this is simple enough to skip"
• You're rationalizing skipping a phase with "I'll add it later"

Skill Architecture

• squad: Engineering Manager -> 4 Team Leads -> 14 Specialists. 7-phase pipeline.
• gate-keeper: Quality gates + Reality Checker mode. Iron Laws enforced.
• ase-tick: Autonomous loop controller. One step per tick.