Conductor: Context-Driven Development

Measure twice, code once.

Entry Points

Quick Reference

Core Principles

• Load core first - Load maestro-core for routing table and fallback policies
• Design before code - /conductor-design → /conductor-newtrack → implement
• TDD by default - RED → GREEN → REFACTOR (use --no-tdd to disable)
• Beads integration - Zero manual bd commands in happy path
• Parallel routing - ## Track Assignments in plan.md triggers orchestrator
• Validation gates - Automatic checks at each phase transition

Directory Structure

conductor/
├── product.md, tech-stack.md, workflow.md  # Project context
├── code_styleguides/                       # Language-specific style rules
├── CODEMAPS/                               # Architecture docs
├── handoffs/                               # Session context
├── spikes/                                 # Research spikes (pl output)
└── tracks/<track_id>/                      # Per-track work
    ├── design.md, spec.md, plan.md         # Planning artifacts
    └── metadata.json                       # State tracking (includes planning state)

See structure.md for full details.

Beads Integration

All execution routes through orchestrator with Agent Mail coordination:

• Workers claim beads via bd update --status in_progress
• Workers close beads via bd close --reason completed|skipped|blocked
• File reservations via file_reservation_paths
• Communication via send_message/fetch_inbox

See beads-integration.md for all 13 integration points.

/conductor-implement Auto-Routing

1. Read metadata.json - check orchestrated flag
2. Read plan.md - check for ## Track Assignments
3. Check beads.fileScopes - file-scope based grouping (see file-scope-extractor)
4. If parallel detected (≥2 non-overlapping groups) → Load orchestrator skill
5. Else → Sequential execution with TDD

File Scope Detection

/conductor-newtrack Phase 4.5 extracts file paths from tasks and groups them:

• Tasks touching same files → sequential (same track)
• Tasks touching different files → parallel (separate tracks)
• See parallel-grouping for algorithm

Anti-Patterns

• ❌ Skipping design phase for complex features
• ❌ Creating spec/plan without metadata.json
• ❌ Manual bd commands when workflow commands exist
• ❌ Ignoring validation gate failures

Related

• design - Double Diamond design sessions
• beads - Issue tracking
• orchestrator - Parallel execution
• maestro-core - Routing policies in AGENTS.md