norpiv (Lean RPIV Workflow Engine)

RPIV: a gated workflow for reliable AI coding agents.

RPIV is one implementation of the broader nothing Workflow Contract. The contract defines the generic shape for workflows such as RPIV and Research, focusing on 3 Real Modes (Chat, Research, RPIV) tracked by .workflow/active.json.

Standalone package usage still works: @raquezha/norpiv includes the RPIV skills, distill, and helper scripts needed for handoff. The local Research workflow lives separately under packages/workflows/noresearch. The platform-level contract lives in the source repo at https://github.com/raquezha/nothing/blob/main/docs/workflow.md.

🔁 The Lifecycle

The RPIV engine splits task execution into separate, focused phases:

Phase	Command	Purpose	Input / Output Files
0. Refine (optional)	/refine [source]:[id]	Repair tracker readiness before RPIV when outcome, acceptance criteria, ownership, dependencies, or decomposition are still unclear.	Proposes tracker edits/child work with ownership/dependency recommendations; no .workflow/ state
1. Ingest	/triage [source]:[id]	Initial task verification and workspace setup.	Creates .workflow/tasks/[source-id]/WORK.md & metadata.json
2. Scoping	/frame	Author a clear, structured task brief.	Populates WORK.md ➔ [BRIEF] section
3. Interrogate	/grill-with-docs	Stress-test brief against rules and docs.	Records decisions in WORK.md ➔ [GRILL]
4. Strategy	/plan	Draft thin, independently testable slices.	Writes checkbox items in WORK.md ➔ [PLAN]
5. Coding	/implement	Execute one approved plan slice (needs permission).	Modifies code; records updates in WORK.md ➔ [LOG]
6. Truth Test	/verify	Run tests, lint, and verify quality.	Appends results to [LOG]
7. Close	/sync	Bridge local progress with external trackers.	Posts summary updates to Jira, GitHub, or GitLab

Auxiliary hygiene:

Command	Purpose	Input / Output Files
/post-merge-prune	Delete stale local branches after a PR/MR is merged, prune remote refs, and clean completed task folders.	Post-merge branch cleanup plus safe task-folder cleanup

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notrace relationship

notrace is an optional retrospective layer around RPIV.

Rules:

• RPIV must work without notrace.
• notrace may attach to RPIV when task state exists.
• WORK.md remains the RPIV source of truth whether notrace is installed or not.
• .notrace/ owns notrace artifacts.
• .workflow/ owns RPIV task state.
• notrace artifacts and reviews may be referenced from WORK.md [LOG], but RPIV phases must not depend on those files being present.

🛡️ Critical Guardrails

• Measure Twice, Cut Once: Never implement code during scoping or planning. The agent will wait for an explicit EXECUTE statement before modifying files.
• One Source of Truth: All task state belongs in .workflow/tasks/[source-id]/WORK.md. Avoid creating separate PROBLEM.md or PLAN.md files.
• Safe Branching: Triage and planning happen on the main branch. Create the feature branch (feat/* or fix/*) only when starting /implement.
• Real In-Progress Starts at Implement: /refine, /triage, /frame, and /plan are preparation, not execution. Move the remote Jira/GitHub/GitLab work item to an in-progress state only when /implement actually begins.
• Refine Preserves Intent: /refine should preserve product-authored text, append acceptance criteria instead of rewriting it, and only assign or link child work when ownership/dependency signals are clear.
• Canonical Pointer: .workflow/active.json is the active RPIV pointer. Legacy active_task.json is compatibility-only during migration.
• Normalized Intake: /triage writes a small local projection into WORK.md; tracker snapshots live in metadata.json, not raw CLI dumps.

📦 Install as a skill bundle

From GitHub with npx skills add

Best for trying or handing off RPIV skills without installing the full nothing setup:

npx -y skills add raquezha/nothing --full-depth -g -a pi \
  -s refine triage frame grill-with-docs plan implement verify sync post-merge-prune update-docs distill \
  -y

From npm

npm install -g @raquezha/norpiv

Install the bundled skills for your agent runtime:

# Pi default: ~/.pi/agent/skills/{triage,frame,plan,...}
norpiv-install

# Other adapters
norpiv-install --target claude
norpiv-install --target codex
norpiv-install --target all

Targets:

• pi links skills into ~/.pi/agent/skills.
• claude links skills into ~/.claude/skills.
• codex installs the skill docs under ~/.codex/skills/norpiv and writes an AGENTS.md adapter because Codex-style environments do not universally auto-load SKILL.md bundles.

norpiv-install also installs the shared helper scripts under a sibling scripts/ directory so skill references like ../scripts/triage_helper.sh resolve after installation.

🧢 Hats

Hat	Purpose
pi --rpiv	Full RPIV workflow. Loads refine, triage, frame, grill-with-docs, plan, implement, verify, sync, post-merge-prune, and update-docs.
pi --notes	Conversation distiller. Saves useful thinking to Obsidian without RPIV ceremony.

📝 Pre-RPIV note capture

distill

Converts the current conversation into a durable Obsidian-ready markdown note.

Trigger: /distill, "distill this", "save the useful parts", "save this as a note"

Output: A single .md file written to $OBSIDIAN_VAULT/distilled/ or ~/notes/distilled/

Use when: The conversation produced useful thinking that should survive outside chat — an idea, a research thread, a decision, a concept — but is not yet ready for RPIV or a PRD.

Does not: Create PRDs, start RPIV, require a ticket, or ask the user to classify their idea.

---

Relationship to RPIV:

conversation → /distill → Obsidian note    (pre-commitment)
Obsidian note → /triage → RPIV             (only when ready to commit)

distill is the missing layer before RPIV. Use pi --notes to load it.

Research is a separate local workflow bundle in packages/workflows/noresearch and is loaded by the full nothing setup with pi --research.

🚀 Quick Start Example

1. Activate the RPIV Hat from the full nothing setup:

   pi --rpiv
   

   If installed via npx skills add or norpiv-install, invoke the skills directly in your agent instead.

2. Optional Tracker Refinement:

   /refine github:45
   

3. Triage an Issue:

   /triage github:45
   

4. Frame the Work:

   /frame
   

5. Verify Constraints:

   /grill-with-docs
   

6. Write the Plan Slices:

   /plan
   

7. Authorize Execution: Provide the agent explicit permission to implement:

   EXECUTE
   /implement
   

8. Verify & Close:

   /verify
   /sync
   /post-merge-prune
   

🧭 Shared helper scripts

The bundle includes helper scripts used by the workflow skills:

• scripts/triage_helper.sh
• scripts/validate_active_task.sh
• scripts/graphify-grill.sh
• scripts/graphify-grill.py

When skills are loaded directly from this package, relative references like ../scripts/... resolve against the package root. When skills are installed with norpiv-install, the same layout is recreated under the target runtime.

🔎 Optional Graphify grilling

Graphify is an optional grill-only evidence layer for RPIV. norpiv does not require it.

If bootstrap provisions ~/.graphify/venv, /grill-with-docs may run:

./scripts/graphify-grill.sh

Guardrails:

• input is a temporary git archive HEAD extraction, not the live repository root
• extraction is structural only by default
• Graphify warnings never block grilling; normal source reading remains the fallback
• INFERRED or AMBIGUOUS edges are leads that still require source verification