product-line

Pack Availability Guard

Before telling the user to run a skill from another project-local pack, check .agents/project.json.enabled_packs. If the target pack is not enabled, recommend /pack install <pack> instead of the target skill. Global skills are always valid. Skills from this same pack are valid because the current skill is already running from that pack.

Product Line — Product Path Portfolio Management

Manage the portfolio of product paths tracked in research/.progress.yaml. This skill provides five modes for working with the product-path manifest: reviewing the portfolio, promoting deferred paths to active, pruning abandoned paths, forking new paths from mid-pipeline discoveries, and checking revisit triggers.

Product paths are research divergences — different ICPs, expansion candidates, pivots, competitive gaps — not git branches. Each path tracks its pipeline stage, evidence maturity, and revisit conditions.

Prerequisites

research/.progress.yaml must exist for all modes except fork (which can create it). If missing, tell the user: "No product-path manifest found. Run /idea-scope-brief or /icp first — they create the manifest when multiple product directions emerge."

Manifest Schema

The canonical manifest lives at research/.progress.yaml:

active_paths:           # list of path IDs currently being researched
  - "path-id-1"
max_concurrent: 1       # max simultaneous active paths (default 1)
product_paths:
  - id: "path-id-1"
    label: "Human-readable name"
    source_skill: "icp"
    scope_path: "research/icp-smb.md"
    status: active       # active | deferred | revisit_candidate | promoted | abandoned
    reason: "Why this path exists"
    evidence_refs:
      - "research/icp.md"
    revisit_trigger: "Condition that should re-evaluate this path"
    next_skill: "/competitive-analysis"
    last_touched: "2026-05-27"
    pipeline_stage: "icp"  # last completed skill in the chain

Backward Compatibility

When reading the manifest, handle the legacy singular active_path field:

• If active_path (string) exists and active_paths (list) does not, treat it as active_paths: [<active_path value>].
• When writing, always use the plural active_paths form. Remove the singular active_path field on write to complete migration.

Modes

1. review — Portfolio Dashboard

Invocation: /product-line review

Scan the manifest and present a dashboard comparing all paths:

Path	Status	Pipeline Stage	Last Touched	Evidence Maturity	Revisit Trigger

Evidence maturity is derived from which research files exist under the path's scope_path or are listed in evidence_refs:

• Early — only concept brief or initial ICP
• Developing — ICP + competitive analysis or positioning
• Mature — journey map + metrics + GTM or monetization
• Complete — full pipeline through experiment or PMF assessment

Pipeline stage shows the last completed skill. Map common stages to a visual progress indicator:

idea-scope-brief → icp → competitive-analysis → positioning → journey-map → metrics → gtm → monetization → experiment

Group paths by status. For deferred and revisit_candidate paths, highlight the revisit trigger prominently.

When deferred paths accumulate (3+ deferred with no recent promotion), recommend: "Consider running /product-line triggers to check whether any deferred paths should be promoted."

Present using the AskUserQuestion tool with options:

• "Promote a deferred path" → ask which path
• "Prune a path" → ask which path
• "Fork a new path" → proceed to fork mode
• "Check triggers" → proceed to triggers mode
• "Done reviewing"

2. promote <path-id> — Activate a Deferred Path

Invocation: /product-line promote <path-id>

1. Validate the path exists and has status deferred, revisit_candidate, or abandoned.
2. Check max_concurrent against current active_paths count.
   • If at capacity, present the user with options: deactivate an existing active path first, or increase max_concurrent.
3. Scan existing research files to determine the path's current pipeline stage:
   • Check for research/{scope}/concept-brief*.md, research/{scope}/icp.md, research/{scope}/competitive-analysis.md, etc.
   • Set pipeline_stage to the furthest completed skill found.
4. Update the manifest:
   • Set status: promoted then status: active
   • Add the path ID to active_paths
   • Set last_touched to today
   • Set pipeline_stage from the scan
5. Present the promotion result and recommend the next skill based on where the path left off in the pipeline.

3. prune <path-id> — Abandon a Path

Invocation: /product-line prune <path-id>

1. Validate the path exists and is not already abandoned.
2. Ask the user for a rationale using AskUserQuestion:
   • "Why is this path being abandoned?"
   • Options: "Evidence disproved it", "Market shifted", "Resource constraints", "Superseded by another path", or free text
3. Update the manifest:
   • Set status: abandoned
   • Remove from active_paths if present
   • Append the rationale to reason
   • Set last_touched to today
4. Present confirmation with the documented rationale.

4. fork <label> [--from <skill>] — Create a New Path

Invocation: /product-line fork "Enterprise vertical" --from competitive-analysis

Create a new product path from a mid-pipeline discovery.

1. Generate a path ID from the label (lowercase, hyphenated slug).
2. Ask the user using AskUserQuestion:
   • "What evidence supports this new path?" (free text)
   • "What's the revisit trigger if we defer it?" (free text)
   • "Should this be active or deferred?" (options: Active, Deferred)
3. Determine scope_path — suggest research/{slug}/ for a new research subdirectory.
4. Create the manifest entry:
   • id: generated slug
   • label: from argument
   • source_skill: from --from flag or the current skill context
   • scope_path: determined above
   • status: user's choice (active or deferred)
   • reason: user's evidence summary
   • evidence_refs: any files the user references
   • revisit_trigger: user's trigger (required for deferred)
   • next_skill: inferred from source_skill position in the pipeline
   • last_touched: today
   • pipeline_stage: the --from skill or null if new
5. If status is active, check max_concurrent capacity (same logic as promote).
6. Create the research/.progress.yaml file if it doesn't exist, or append to product_paths if it does.
7. Create the research/{slug}/ directory if the path is active.

5. triggers — Check Revisit Conditions

Invocation: /product-line triggers

Scan all paths with status: deferred or status: revisit_candidate and evaluate their revisit_trigger conditions.

For each path:

1. Read the revisit_trigger text.
2. Check whether the trigger condition can be evaluated from current project state:
   • File-based triggers ("when competitive-analysis is complete") → check if the referenced file exists
   • Evidence-based triggers ("when SMB segment shows >10% growth") → check research files for relevant data
   • Time-based triggers ("revisit after Q3 2026") → compare against current date
   • External triggers ("when competitor launches X") → flag as requiring manual check
3. Classify each trigger: fired (condition met), pending (not yet), or manual (can't evaluate automatically).

Present results as a table:

Path	Trigger	Status	Recommendation

For fired triggers, recommend /product-line promote <path-id>. For manual triggers, ask the user whether the condition has been met.

Output

This skill modifies research/.progress.yaml only. It does not create research documents — those are created by the skills in the pipeline when the user runs them for a promoted path.

Task Classification

When this skill produces follow-up work, file it by execution semantics:

• Immediately actionable implementation or documentation work goes in tasks/todo.md.
• Human-only external actions tied to automated steps go in tasks/manual-todo.md with _(blocks: Step N.X)_ or _(after: Step N.X)_; repo edits, SDK wiring, generated assets, local commands, tests, audits, and authenticated CLI/API work stay in tasks/todo.md.
• One-time condition-gated records, baselines, or future measurements go in tasks/record-todo.md with source, condition, non-blocking reason, evidence, and promotion rule.
• Cadence-based reviews, playtests, adoption checks, investor updates, retros, or docs-health checks go in tasks/recurring-todo.md with cadence, owner/agent, next due, evidence path, and escalation conditions.
• Do not put non-blocking records or recurring obligations in tasks/todo.md unless they have been explicitly promoted into current execution work.

Constraints

• Manifest-only mutations. This skill reads and writes research/.progress.yaml. It does not create, modify, or delete research documents.
• No automatic pipeline execution. After promoting a path, recommend the next skill but do not run it.
• Backward compatible reads. Always handle both active_path (singular legacy) and active_paths (plural current) when reading.
• Forward-only writes. Always write active_paths (plural). Remove active_path if present.
• Prune rationale is required. Never abandon a path without documented evidence and rationale.
• Respect max_concurrent. Do not exceed the configured limit without user approval.
• Use product-path terminology. Never use "branch" to mean a product path. Use "product path", "product line", "deferred path", "promoted path", etc.

Alignment Page

When this skill produces durable deliverables (research, specs, plans, reports, prototypes, or any document output), build a full-depth HTML alignment page following ALIGNMENT-PAGE.md in this skill's directory. Output: alignment/product-line-{topic}.html.

Default Shipping Contract

Follow the shared shipping contract convention in CLAUDE.md.