138 lines
6.7 KiB
Markdown
138 lines
6.7 KiB
Markdown
---
|
|
name: wgm
|
|
description: "Turns a rough request into working software via a governed build loop: align first, plan, then iterate one task at a time with deterministic backpressure and holdout-scenario judging."
|
|
category: meta
|
|
risk: safe
|
|
source: community
|
|
source_repo: agent-frontier/wgm
|
|
source_type: official
|
|
date_added: "2026-07-05"
|
|
author: agent-frontier
|
|
tags: [build-loop, spec-driven, ralph-loop, self-improving, agentic-development, methodology]
|
|
tools: [claude, cursor, gemini, copilot, codex]
|
|
license: "MIT"
|
|
license_source: "https://github.com/agent-frontier/wgm/blob/main/LICENSE"
|
|
---
|
|
|
|
# wgm
|
|
|
|
## Overview
|
|
|
|
wgm ("well, gosh... make") is a portable build **methodology**, not a domain skill — a single
|
|
`SKILL.md` protocol that any agentskills.io-compatible host loads to turn a rough request into
|
|
working software. It marries three ideas: a relentless alignment interview before any code is
|
|
written, a Ralph-style loop (one task per iteration, a persistent plan as shared state, steered by
|
|
deterministic backpressure), and holdout-scenario LLM judging (scenarios the build never sees, so a
|
|
high satisfaction score can't be gamed). It also runs its own internal docs-audit and
|
|
self-improvement loop, cross-pollinating durable lessons from sibling agent-coding projects back
|
|
into its own protocol.
|
|
|
|
## When to Use This Skill
|
|
|
|
- Use when building or implementing a feature, app, or prototype from rough or ambiguous intent.
|
|
- Use when a task benefits from a governed plan plus iterative, test-validated execution rather
|
|
than one-shot generation.
|
|
- Use when you want a build to converge against acceptance criteria an LLM judge scores blind
|
|
(0-100), instead of trusting a single self-reported "looks good."
|
|
- Not for trivial one-file edits, pure debugging, research-only questions, or tasks that already
|
|
have complete, unambiguous step-by-step instructions — wgm explicitly stays out of the way there.
|
|
|
|
## How It Works
|
|
|
|
### Step 1: Triage
|
|
Classify the work onto a scale-adaptive track (Quick / Standard / Full) so ceremony matches risk —
|
|
a one-file fix skips holdout scenarios and the docs-audit swarm; a greenfield app gets the full rig.
|
|
The deterministic backpressure gate itself is never skipped, only the ceremony around it.
|
|
|
|
### Step 2: Grill (align)
|
|
Interview the user one question at a time, always with a recommended answer, until the goal,
|
|
success criteria, and constraints are known — capping interrogation after ~5 questions to avoid
|
|
theater. Explore the codebase to self-answer before asking anything a human doesn't need to weigh
|
|
in on.
|
|
|
|
### Step 3: Plan
|
|
Produce a project constitution, one spec per coherent slice (each with a magic moment and a demo
|
|
path), holdout acceptance scenarios the build must never read, and `IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md` — the
|
|
persistent shared state across every later iteration. Cross-check every artifact against every other
|
|
one before moving on.
|
|
|
|
### Step 4: Preflight
|
|
Score the plan's readiness 0-100 across goal clarity, observable success criteria, scenario
|
|
coverage, and backpressure mapping. Below the threshold, return to Grill/Plan and fix the weakest
|
|
dimension — do not start building on a shaky plan.
|
|
|
|
### Step 5: Loop (build)
|
|
Run `Analyze -> Implement -> Validate -> Review -> Record`, one task per iteration: pick the single
|
|
most important pending task, make the smallest change that completes it, run its deterministic
|
|
validation command (green or it isn't done), judge holdout-scenario satisfaction, review the diff
|
|
for scope creep, then record status and any durable lesson before advancing exactly one task.
|
|
|
|
### Step 6: Ship / Handoff
|
|
Summarize what shipped and how to validate it, run a mandatory four-persona docs-audit pass
|
|
(junior/senior/principal/PM perspectives, consolidated into one paper-trail report), and harvest any
|
|
durable, cross-project lesson back into the shared skill's own ledger.
|
|
|
|
## Examples
|
|
|
|
### Example 1: Full lifecycle from a rough request
|
|
|
|
```
|
|
User: "Build a CLI todo app with add/list/complete commands, from scratch."
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
wgm states its Track (Standard), grills for the ~3-5 unknowns that actually matter, writes specs +
|
|
`IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md`, scores Preflight readiness, then loops one task at a time — each task's
|
|
own test/lint/build command must exit 0 before it's marked done — and finally ships with a
|
|
docs-audit pass.
|
|
|
|
### Example 2: Scoped planning only
|
|
|
|
```
|
|
User: "/wgm plan: add OAuth login to this existing Express API"
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
wgm writes the specs and plan, then hard-stops at the Plan-exit gate without starting the build loop
|
|
— useful when a human wants to review the plan before any code is touched.
|
|
|
|
## Best Practices
|
|
|
|
- Do let the plan be the shared state — a fresh agent should be able to resume a build from
|
|
`IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md` alone.
|
|
- Do keep holdout scenarios genuinely hidden from the generating agent; that's what prevents a
|
|
judged score from being gamed.
|
|
- Do map every acceptance criterion to a runnable, deterministic check before calling anything done.
|
|
- Don't skip the alignment interview on ambiguous, multi-week, or security/UX-critical work just to
|
|
move faster — misalignment discovered after building is far more expensive.
|
|
- Don't treat a high satisfaction score as sufficient on its own — a failing deterministic check
|
|
always overrides it.
|
|
|
|
## Limitations
|
|
|
|
- wgm is a protocol, not a runtime: it has no daemon, scheduler, or bundled dashboard — it expects
|
|
an existing agentskills.io-compatible host to load and execute it.
|
|
- This skill does not replace environment-specific validation, testing, or expert review.
|
|
- Full holdout-scenario judging and the docs-audit swarm add ceremony that a genuinely trivial task
|
|
does not need — wgm's own Triage track exists specifically to right-size this, and the skill
|
|
explicitly says not to use it for one-file edits or pure debugging.
|
|
|
|
## Common Pitfalls
|
|
|
|
- **Problem:** Treating wgm's "build" mode the same as a full-lifecycle request.
|
|
**Solution:** `/wgm build` resumes an *existing* `IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md`; a bare request like
|
|
"build the auth module" (more text after "build") is a full-lifecycle request, not `build` mode.
|
|
- **Problem:** Letting the agent peek at holdout scenarios while implementing.
|
|
**Solution:** Scenarios are read only during Validate/Review, never during Implement — that's the
|
|
entire point of a holdout set.
|
|
|
|
## Related Skills
|
|
|
|
- `@grill-me` - the narrower alignment-interview primitive wgm's Grill phase is adapted from.
|
|
- `@skill-creator` - useful for authoring/evaluating the skill itself; wgm ships its own eval
|
|
fixture (`evals/evals.json`) using the same eval-driven-iteration discipline.
|
|
|
|
## Additional Resources
|
|
|
|
- [Repository](https://github.com/agent-frontier/wgm)
|
|
- [Full protocol (`SKILL.md`)](https://github.com/agent-frontier/wgm/blob/main/SKILL.md)
|
|
- [Reference library](https://github.com/agent-frontier/wgm/tree/main/references)
|