Sdd Propose

# sdd-propose

> Creates a change proposal with clear intent, defined scope, and technical approach.

**Triggers**: `/sdd-propose <change-name>`, create proposal, define change, sdd proposal

---

## Purpose

The proposal defines the **WHAT and WHY** before entering into technical details. It is the scope contract of the change. Without an approved proposal, there are no specs or design.

For substantial proposals (cross-team scope, multiple stakeholders, or
user-facing product changes), optionally pair the proposal with a PRD using
[`docs/templates/prd-template.md`](../../docs/templates/prd-template.md). The
PRD captures problem statement, target users, user stories, NFRs, and
acceptance criteria — feeding directly into the `sdd-spec` phase. Skip the
PRD for internal refactors or single-stakeholder changes.

---

## Process

### Skill Resolution

When the orchestrator launches this sub-agent, it resolves the skill path using:

```
1. .claude/skills/sdd-propose/SKILL.md     (project-local — highest priority)
2. ~/.claude/skills/sdd-propose/SKILL.md   (global catalog — fallback)
```

Project-local skills override the global catalog. See `docs/SKILL-RESOLUTION.md` for the full algorithm.

---

### Step 0a — Load project context

Follow `skills/_shared/sdd-phase-common.md` **Section F** (Project Context Load). Non-blocking.

### Step 0b — Domain context preload

This step is **non-blocking**: any failure (missing directory, unreadable file, no match) MUST produce at most an INFO-level note in the output. This step MUST NOT produce `status: blocked` or `status: failed` on its own.

1. **List candidate files**: list all `.md` files in `ai-context/features/`. Exclude `_template.md` and any file whose name begins with an underscore (`_`). If the directory does not exist or is empty after exclusions, skip this step silently and proceed to Step 1.

2. **Apply the filename-stem matching heuristic**:
   - Split the `<change-name>` on hyphens (`-`) to obtain stems.
   - Discard any single-character stems.
   - For each candidate file, compute its domain slug (filename without `.md`).
   - A match occurs when: the domain slug appears anywhere in `<change-name>` **OR** any change-name stem appears anywhere in the domain slug (case-insensitive comparison).

3. **Load matching files**: for each file that matches, read its full contents and treat them as enrichment context for proposal authoring. If multiple files match, load all of them. If a file cannot be read (e.g. permissions issue), log an INFO note and continue — do not block.

4. **If no file matches**: skip silently. Proceed to Step 1 without error or warning.

5. **When files are loaded**: note the loaded paths in the Step 6 output summary and include them in the `artifacts` list (marked as read, not written).

**Algorithm reference**:

```
stems = change_name.split("-").filter(s => s.length > 1)
for each feature_file in ai-context/features/ (excluding _ prefix files):
  domain = feature_file.stem  (filename without .md)
  if domain in change_name OR any stem in domain -> match
```

**Examples**:

- change `add-payments-gateway` -> stems `[add, payments, gateway]` -> matches `features/payments.md`
- change `auth-token-refresh` -> stems `[auth, token, refresh]` -> matches `features/auth.md`
- change `improve-project-audit` -> stems `[improve, project, audit]` -> no match -> skip silently

### Step 0c — Spec context preload

Follow `skills/_shared/sdd-phase-common.md` **Section G** (Spec Context Preload). Non-blocking.

---

### Step 1 — Read prior context

I load the exploration artifact from engram:
- `mem_search(query: "sdd/{change-name}/explore")` → `mem_get_observation(id)` for full content.
- If not found: