protocol

Aura Protocol Reference

Complete reference documentation for the Aura 12-phase workflow system.

Documents

Core

File	Purpose
PROCESS.md	Step-by-step workflow execution (single source of truth)
AGENTS.md	Agent roles, phase ownership, and handoff procedures
CONSTRAINTS.md	Coding standards, naming conventions, and checklists
CLAUDE.md	Reusable agent directive for projects using Aura
SKILLS.md	Complete skill reference by role and phase
TRACKER.md	Canonical supported pasture task recipes, identity, and namespace semantics
README.md	Protocol overview and quick-start
schema.xml	Historical prototype XML schema (not projected; deprecated examples). Operative authority is the Pasture-generated protocol (Go pasture); do not edit.

Templates & Examples

File	Purpose
HANDOFF_TEMPLATE.md	Standardized handoff document template
HANDOFF_EXAMPLE-web-command-impl.md	Handoff example: web command implementation
HANDOFF_EXAMPLE-ingest-pipeline-impl.md	Handoff example: ingest pipeline implementation
UAT_TEMPLATE.md	User acceptance testing template
UAT_EXAMPLE.md	UAT example with demonstrative scenarios
RESEARCH_EXAMPLE-nix-openclaw-req-ure-proposal.md	Historical (non-operational): research example, Nix/OpenClaw request through proposal

Migration & Design

File	Purpose
MIGRATION_v1_to_v2.md	Historical (non-operational): migration procedure from v1 to v2 label format
user-request-revamp-v2.md	Historical (non-operational): design doc for v2 user request phase revamp

Quick Reference

12 Phases

1. REQUEST — Capture user request verbatim, classify, research, explore
2. ELICIT + URD — Requirements elicitation survey, create URD
3. PROPOSAL-N — Architect creates technical proposal
4. REVIEW — 3 axis-specific reviewers (A/B/C), binary ACCEPT/REVISE
5. Plan UAT — User acceptance test on the plan
6. RATIFY — Ratify accepted proposal, mark old as superseded
7. HANDOFF — Architect hands off to supervisor
8. IMPL_PLAN — Supervisor decomposes into vertical slices
9. SLICE-N — Workers implement slices in parallel
10. Code Review — 3 reviewers, severity tree (BLOCKER/IMPORTANT/MINOR)
11. Impl UAT — User acceptance test on the implementation
12. LANDING — Atomic commit, push, hand off

Label Format

aura:p{phase}-{domain}:s{step}-{type}

Follow-up Lifecycle

Trigger: Phase 10 code review completes with ANY IMPORTANT or MINOR findings (not gated on BLOCKER resolution).

Owner: Supervisor creates follow-up epic (label aura:epic-followup).

Flow:

Code Review (Phase 10) finds IMPORTANT/MINOR findings
  → Supervisor creates FOLLOWUP epic
    → FOLLOWUP_URE (supervisor, aggregated findings as requirements)
      → FOLLOWUP_URD (supervisor, single source of truth for follow-up)
        → h6 handoff: Supervisor → Architect
          → FOLLOWUP_PROPOSAL (architect proposes fix plan)
            → Review (same 3-axis review)
              → h1 handoff: Architect → Supervisor
                → FOLLOWUP_IMPL_PLAN (supervisor decomposes)
                  → FOLLOWUP_SLICE-N (workers implement)
                    → Code Review (severity tree, same process)

Original IMPORTANT/MINOR leaf tasks are adopted as children of FOLLOWUP_SLICE-N (dual-parent). No followup-of-followup — findings from follow-up code review stay on the existing follow-up epic.

Agent Roles

Role	Phases	Key Responsibility
Epoch	1-12	Master orchestrator
Architect	1-7	Specs, proposals, review coordination
Reviewer	4, 10	End-user alignment review
Supervisor	7-12	Task decomposition, worker allocation
Worker	9	Vertical slice implementation