Ralph Tui Create Beads

# Ralph TUI - Create Beads

Converts PRDs to beads (epic + child tasks) for ralph-tui autonomous execution.

> **Note:** This skill is bundled with ralph-tui's Beads tracker plugin. Future tracker plugins (Linear, GitHub Issues, etc.) will bundle their own task creation skills.

---

## The Job

Take a PRD (markdown file or text) and create beads in `.beads/beads.jsonl`:
1. **Extract Quality Gates** from the PRD's "Quality Gates" section
2. Create an **epic** bead for the feature
3. Create **child beads** for each user story (with quality gates appended)
4. Set up **dependencies** between beads (schema → backend → UI)
5. Output ready for `ralph-tui run --tracker beads`

---

## Step 1: Extract Quality Gates

Look for the "Quality Gates" section in the PRD:

```markdown
## Quality Gates

These commands must pass for every user story:
- `pnpm typecheck` - Type checking
- `pnpm lint` - Linting

For UI stories, also include:
- Verify in browser using dev-browser skill
```

Extract:
- **Universal gates:** Commands that apply to ALL stories (e.g., `pnpm typecheck`)
- **UI gates:** Commands that apply only to UI stories (e.g., browser verification)

**If no Quality Gates section exists:** Ask the user what commands should pass, or use a sensible default like `npm run typecheck`.

---

## Output Format

Beads use `bd create` command with **HEREDOC syntax** to safely handle special characters:

```bash
# Create epic (link back to source PRD)
bd create --type=epic \
  --title="[Feature Name]" \
  --description="$(cat <<'EOF'
[Feature description from PRD]
EOF
)" \
  --external-ref="prd:./tasks/feature-name-prd.md"

# Create child bead (with quality gates in acceptance criteria)
bd create \
  --parent=EPIC_ID \
  --title="[Story Title]" \
  --description="$(cat <<'EOF'
[Story description with acceptance criteria INCLUDING quality gates]
EOF
)" \
  --priority=[1-4]
```

> **CRITICAL:** Always use `<<'EOF'` (single-quoted) for the HEREDOC delimiter. This prevents shell interpretation of backticks, `$variables`, and `()` in descriptions.

---

## Story Size: The #1 Rule

**Each story must be completable in ONE ralph-tui iteration (~one agent context window).**

ralph-tui spawns a fresh agent instance per iteration with no memory of previous work. If a story is too big, the agent runs out of context before finishing.

### Right-sized stories:
- Add a database column + migration
- Add a UI component to an existing page
- Update a server action with new logic
- Add a filter dropdown to a list

### Too big (split these):
- "Build the entire dashboard" → Split into: schema, queries, UI components, filters
- "Add authentication" → Split into: schema, middleware, login UI, session handling
- "Refactor the API" → Split into one story per endpoint or pattern

**Rule of thumb:** If you can't describe the change in 2-3 sentences, it's too big.

---

## Story Ordering: Dependencies First

Stories execute in dependency order. Earlier stories must not depend on later ones.

**Correct order:**
1. Schema/database changes (migrations)
2. Server actions / backend logic
3. UI components that use the backend
4. Dashboard/summary views that aggregate data

**Wrong order:**
1. ❌ UI component (depends on schema that doesn't exist yet)
2. ❌ Schema change

---

## Dependencies with `bd dep add`

Use the `bd dep add` command to specify which beads must complete first:

```bash
# Create the beads first
bd create --parent=epic-123 --title="US-001: Add schema" ...
bd create --parent=epic-123 --title="US-002: Create API" ...
bd create --parent=epic-123 --title="US-003: Build UI" ...

# Then add dependencies (issue depends-on blocker)
bd dep add ralph-tui-002 ral