Platonic Coding
Intelligent orchestrator for the complete specification-driven development lifecycle. Auto-detects project state and executes the appropriate workflow phases—initialization, specification management, implementation, or review. Integrates with platonic-brainstorming as an optional accelerator in Phases 1 and 2 for structured design exploration and refinement.
When to Use This Skill
Use this skill when you need to:
- Bootstrap a new project with Platonic Coding infrastructure
- Adopt Platonic Coding for an existing codebase (recover specs from code)
- Manage RFC specifications (validate, refine, generate indices)
- Implement features from RFC specs with guides and tests
- Review code for spec compliance
- Run the full workflow from design → RFC → code → review
Keywords: platonic coding, specs, RFC, implementation, review, workflow, spec-driven, initialization
Intelligent Auto-Detection
Auto-detects project state when invoked without specific instructions. See references/REFERENCE.md for the full decision tree.
Quick Reference:
- No
.platonic.yml→ INIT mode (scaffold new or recover existing) - RFCs but no guides → Phase 2 (implementation)
- Guides + code → Phase 3 (review) or resume Phase 2
Override with canonical operations: init-scaffold, init-scan, specs-refine, impl-full, review, workflow --phase <N>.
Core Workflow Phases
| Phase | Focus | Output | Brainstorming |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | RFC Specification | Draft → RFC → specs-refine |
✅ Optional |
| 2 | Implementation | Guide → Code + Tests | ✅ Optional |
| 3 | Review | Compliance report | ❌ |
Phases run sequentially (full workflow) or independently (explicit invocation). See references/WORKFLOW/workflow-overview.md for details.
Operation Modes
INIT Mode
Bootstrap Platonic Coding infrastructure. Operations: init-scaffold, init-scan, init-plan-modular-specs, init-recover-*.
Examples: init-scaffold for project "Acme", init-scan then recover specs.
SPECS Mode
Manage RFC specifications. Operations: specs-refine (comprehensive), specs-generate-*, specs-validate-*, specs-check-*.
Examples: specs-refine, specs-generate-index.
IMPL Mode
Translate RFCs to guides and code. Operations: impl-full (default), impl-create-guide, impl-code, impl-validate-guide, impl-update-guide.
Confirmation Gates: Pauses after impl guide and coding plan. Override with "no confirmations".
Examples: impl-full for RFC-042, impl-code from IG-001.
REVIEW Mode
Validate code against specs. Generates report-only by default (no code changes). 6-step process: understand specs → checklist → map → review → discrepancies → report.
Examples: review src/auth/ against RFC-001, review for gap analysis.
WORKFLOW Mode
Orchestrate full 3-phase flow. See references/WORKFLOW/workflow-overview.md.
Examples: workflow --phase 1, workflow with platonic-brainstorming.
For detailed guides, see references/REFERENCE.md.
Default Paths & Templates
| Artifact | Path | Naming |
|---|---|---|
| Drafts | docs/drafts/ |
YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>-design.md |
| RFCs | docs/specs/ |
RFC-NNN-<name>.md |
| Guides | docs/impl/ |
IG-NNN-<name>.md |
Templates in assets/ use {{PLACEHOLDER}} syntax.
Best Practices
- Trust auto-detection; override with explicit operations when needed
- Review generated artifacts (all Draft status)
- Run
specs-refineregularly - Use confirmation gates—don't skip unless confident
- Review mode is report-only by default
Dependencies
- Read/write to project directories
- Access to
.platonic.yml - Understanding of target language/framework