Christian Nennemann
21becd8b58
The archetypes and shadows are distinctive enough — no need for a fancy name on top of the standard PDCA cycle terminology.
139 lines
4.3 KiB
Markdown
139 lines
4.3 KiB
Markdown
---
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name: workflow-design
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description: Use when designing custom orchestration workflows — choosing which archetypes run in each PDCA phase, setting exit conditions, and configuring PDCA cycles.
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---
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# Workflow Design — PDCA Cycles
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ArcheFlow's PDCA cycles spiral upward through iterations — each cycle incorporates feedback from the previous one, producing progressively better results. Each cycle incorporates feedback from the previous one.
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```
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╱ Act ──────────── Done ✓
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╱ ↑
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╱ Check (review)
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╱ ↑
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╱ Do (implement)
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╱ ↑
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╱ Plan (design) ← Cycle 2 (with feedback from Cycle 1)
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╱ ↑
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╱ Act ─┘ (issues found → feed back)
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│ ↑
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│ Check (review)
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│ ↑
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│ Do (implement)
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│ ↑
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│ Plan (design) ← Cycle 1 (initial)
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```
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## Built-in Workflows
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### `fast` — Single Turn
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```
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Plan: Creator designs
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Do: Maker implements (worktree)
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Check: Guardian reviews
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Act: Approve or reject (1 cycle max)
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```
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**Use for:** Bug fixes, small changes, low-risk tasks.
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### `standard` — Two Cycles
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```
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Plan: Explorer researches → Creator designs
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Do: Maker implements (worktree)
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Check: Guardian + Skeptic + Sage review (parallel)
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Act: Approve or cycle (2 cycles max)
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```
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**Use for:** Features, refactors, moderate-risk changes.
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### `thorough` — Three Cycles
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```
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Plan: Explorer researches → Creator designs
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Do: Maker implements (worktree)
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Check: Guardian + Skeptic + Sage + Trickster (parallel)
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Act: Approve or cycle (3 cycles max)
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```
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**Use for:** Security-critical, public APIs, infrastructure changes.
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## Designing Custom Workflows
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### Step 1: Identify the Concern
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What's the primary risk?
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| Primary Risk | Emphasize |
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|-------------|-----------|
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| Security | Guardian + Trickster in Check |
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| Correctness | Skeptic + Sage in Check |
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| Performance | Custom `perf-tester` archetype |
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| Compliance | Custom `compliance-auditor` archetype |
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| Data integrity | Custom `db-specialist` archetype |
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| User experience | Custom `ux-reviewer` archetype |
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### Step 2: Assign Phases
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Rules:
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- **Plan** always includes Creator (someone must propose)
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- **Do** always includes Maker (someone must build)
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- **Check** needs at least one reviewer
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- Max 3 archetypes per phase (diminishing returns beyond that)
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- Explorer goes in Plan only (research before design)
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- Maker goes in Do only (build from plan, not from scratch)
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### Step 3: Set Exit Conditions
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| Condition | When Cycle Ends | Best For |
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|-----------|----------------|----------|
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| `all_approved` | Every Check reviewer says APPROVED | Consensus-driven (default) |
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| `no_critical` | No CRITICAL findings in Check output | Speed with safety net |
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| `convergence` | No new issues vs. previous cycle | Diminishing returns detection |
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| `always` | Runs all maxCycles unconditionally | Research, exploration |
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### Step 4: Set Max Cycles
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- **1 cycle:** Fast, low-risk (fast workflow)
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- **2 cycles:** Balanced — one shot + one fix (standard workflow)
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- **3 cycles:** Thorough — usually converges by cycle 3
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- **4+ cycles:** Rarely useful. If 3 cycles don't converge, the task needs human input.
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## Example Custom Workflows
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### Security-First
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```
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Plan: Explorer (threat modeling) → Creator
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Do: Maker
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Check: Guardian + Trickster (parallel)
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Exit: all_approved, max 3 cycles
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```
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### Research-Heavy
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```
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Plan: Explorer (deep research) → Creator
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Do: Maker
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Check: Skeptic + Sage (parallel)
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Exit: all_approved, max 2 cycles
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```
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### Domain-Specific (with custom archetypes)
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```
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Plan: Explorer → Creator
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Do: Maker
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Check: Guardian + db-specialist + compliance-auditor (parallel)
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Exit: all_approved, max 2 cycles
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```
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### Minimal Validation
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```
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Plan: Creator (no research)
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Do: Maker
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Check: Guardian
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Exit: no_critical, max 1 cycle
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```
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## Anti-Patterns
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- **Kitchen sink:** Putting all 7 archetypes in Check. Most can't add value simultaneously.
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- **Runaway cycles:** maxCycles > 4 burns tokens without convergence.
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- **Reviewerless Do:** Skipping Check phase "to save time." You'll pay in bugs.
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- **Maker in Plan:** Maker should implement from a proposal, not design on the fly.
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- **Solo orchestration:** One archetype in every phase. That's just a single agent with extra steps.
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