Develop Chorus

---
name: develop-chorus
description: Chorus Development workflow — claim tasks, report work, self-check acceptance criteria, and submit for verification.
license: AGPL-3.0
metadata:
  author: chorus
  version: "0.3.1"
  category: project-management
  mcp_server: chorus
---

# Develop Skill

This skill covers the **Development** stage of the AI-DLC workflow: claiming Tasks, doing the work, reporting progress, and submitting for verification.

---

## Overview

Developer Agents take Tasks created by PM Agents (via proposals) and turn them into working code. Each task follows:

```
claim --> in_progress --> report work --> self-check AC --> submit for verify --> Admin review
```

---

## Tools

**Task Lifecycle:**

| Tool | Purpose |
|------|---------|
| `chorus_claim_task` | Claim an open task (open -> assigned) |
| `chorus_release_task` | Release a claimed task (assigned -> open) |
| `chorus_update_task` | Update task status (in_progress / to_verify) |
| `chorus_submit_for_verify` | Submit task for admin verification with summary |

**Work Reporting:**

| Tool | Purpose |
|------|---------|
| `chorus_report_work` | Report progress or completion (writes comment + records activity, with optional status update) |

**Acceptance Criteria:**

| Tool | Purpose |
|------|---------|
| `chorus_report_criteria_self_check` | Report self-check results (passed/failed + optional evidence) on structured acceptance criteria |

**Shared tools** (checkin, query, comment, search, notifications): see `chorus` skill (`<BASE_URL>/skill/chorus/SKILL.md`)

---

## Workflow

### Step 1: Check In

```
chorus_checkin()
```

Review your persona, current assignments, and pending work counts.

### Step 2: Find Work

```
chorus_get_available_tasks({ projectUuid: "<project-uuid>" })
```

Or check existing assignments:

```
chorus_get_my_assignments()
```

### Step 3: Claim a Task

```
chorus_get_task({ taskUuid: "<task-uuid>" })  # Review first
chorus_claim_task({ taskUuid: "<task-uuid>" })
```

Check: description, acceptance criteria, priority, story points, related proposal/documents.

### Step 4: Gather Context

Each task and proposal includes a `commentCount` field — use it to decide which entities have discussions worth reading.

1. **Read the task** and identify dependencies:
   ```
   chorus_get_task({ taskUuid: "<task-uuid>" })
   ```
   Pay attention to `dependsOn` (upstream tasks) and `commentCount`.

2. **Read task comments** (contains previous work reports, progress, feedback):
   ```
   chorus_get_comments({ targetType: "task", targetUuid: "<task-uuid>" })
   ```

3. **Review upstream dependency tasks** — your work likely builds on theirs:
   ```
   chorus_get_task({ taskUuid: "<dependency-task-uuid>" })
   chorus_get_comments({ targetType: "task", targetUuid: "<dependency-task-uuid>" })
   ```
   Look for: files created, API contracts, interfaces, trade-offs.

4. **Read the originating proposal** for design intent:
   ```
   chorus_get_proposal({ proposalUuid: "<proposal-uuid>" })
   ```

5. **Read project documents** (PRD, tech design, ADR):
   ```
   chorus_get_documents({ projectUuid: "<project-uuid>" })
   ```

### Step 5: Start Working

Mark the task as in-progress:

```
chorus_update_task({ taskUuid: "<task-uuid>", status: "in_progress" })
```

> **Dependency enforcement**: If this task has unresolved dependencies (dependsOn tasks not in `done` or `closed`), the call will be rejected with detailed blocker info. Use `chorus_get_unblocked_tasks` to find tasks you can start now.

### Step 6: Report Progress

Report periodically with `chorus_report_work`. Consider including:
- What was completed
- Files created or modified
- Git commits and PRs
- Current status / remaining work
- Blockers or questions

```
chorus_report_work({
  taskUuid: "<task-uuid>",
  report: "Progress:\n- Created src/services/auth.service.ts\n- Commit: abc1234\n- Remaining: unit tests"
})
```

Report with status update when complete:

```
chorus_report_work({
  taskUuid: "<task-uuid>",
  report: "All implementation complete:\n- Files: ...\n- PR: https://github.com/org/repo/pull/42\n- All tests passing",
  status: "to_verify"
})
```

### Step 7: Self-Check Acceptance Criteria

Before submitting, check structured acceptance criteria:

```
task = chorus_get_task({ taskUuid: "<task-uuid>" })

# If task.acceptanceCriteriaItems is non-empty:
chorus_report_criteria_self_check({
  taskUuid: "<task-uuid>",
  criteria: [
    { uuid: "<criterion-uuid>", devStatus: "passed", devEvidence: "Unit tests cover this" },
    { uuid: "<criterion-uuid>", devStatus: "passed", devEvidence: "Verified manually" }
  ]
})
```

> For **required** criteria, prefer to keep working until you can self-check as `passed`. Only use `failed` for **optional** criteria that are out of scope.

### Step 8: Submit for Verification

```
chorus_submit_for_verify({
  taskUuid: "<task-uuid>",
  summary: "Implemented auth feature:\n- Added login/logout endpoints\n- JWT middleware\n- 95% test coverage\n- All AC self-checked (3/3 passed)"
})
```

> `to_verify` does NOT unblock downstream tasks — only `done` (after admin verification) does.

> **Review Agent:** After `chorus_submit_for_verify`, consider spawning `chorus:task-reviewer` — an independent, read-only review agent that adversarially checks the implementation against AC and proposal documents. It posts a VERDICT comment on the task. Its result is advisory (does not block verification).

### Step 9: Handle Review Feedback

If reopened (verification failed), **all acceptance criteria are reset to pending**.

1. Check feedback:
   ```
   chorus_get_task({ taskUuid: "<task-uuid>" })
   chorus_get_comments({ targetType: "task", targetUuid: "<task-uuid>" })
   ```
2. Fix the issues, report fixes, and resubmit.

### Step 10: Task Complete

Once Admin verifies (status: `done`), move to the next available task (back to Step 2).

### Step 11: Idea Completion Report (advisory)

If the task you just self-verified was the LAST one of its Idea (every Task across every approved Proposal is now `done`/`closed`) and you have `document:write`, prompt the user and call `chorus_create_report` on accept. The tool description carries the section template. Skip on decline.

---

## Work Report Best Practices

**Good report (enables continuity):**

```
Implemented password reset flow:

Files created/modified:
- src/services/auth.service.ts (new)
- src/app/api/auth/reset/route.ts (new)
- tests/auth/reset.test.ts (new)

Git:
- Commit: a1b2c3d "feat: password reset flow"
- PR: https://github.com/org/repo/pull/15

Implementation details:
- POST /api/auth/reset-request: sends email with token
- Token expires after 1 hour, single-use
- Rate limiting: 3 requests/hour/email
- 12 new tests, all passing

Acceptance criteria:
- [x] User can request reset via email
- [x] Reset link expires after 1 hour
- [x] Rate limiting prevents abuse
```

**Bad report:** `Done.`

---

## Tips

- **Read task comments first** — they contain previous work reports for continuity
- **Check upstream dependencies** — read `dependsOn` tasks and their comments for interfaces/APIs
- **Read the originating proposal** — understand design rationale and task DAG
- **Use `commentCount`** — skip fetching comments on entities with count 0
- Report progress frequently — include file paths, commits, and PRs
- Write detailed submit summaries — Admin needs them to verify
- If blocked, consider adding a comment and releasing the task
- Prefer finishing one task at a time: complete or release before claiming another

---

## When to Release a Task

Release if:
- You cannot complete it (missing knowledge, blocked)
- A higher-priority task needs attention
- You will not finish in a reasonable timeframe

```
chorus_release_task({ taskUuid: "<task-uuid>" })
chorus_add_comment({ targetType: "task", targetUuid: "<task-uuid>", content: "Releasing: reason..." })
```

---

## Next

- After submitting for verification, an Admin reviews using the `review-chorus` skill (`<BASE_URL>/skill/review-chorus/SKILL.md`)
- For platform overview and shared tools, see `chorus` skill (`<BASE_URL>/skill/chorus/SKILL.md`)