Shiplog

The captain's log for your codebase. Every decision, discovery, and change logged as you ship code.

Use GitHub as a complete knowledge graph where every brainstorm, commit, review, and decision is traceable. This skill orchestrates existing skills and references; it defines when and how to invoke them and what documentation protocol to follow.

Core Principle

Nothing gets lost. Every brainstorm becomes an issue. Every issue drives a branch. Every branch produces a PR. Every PR is a timeline of the entire journey. Git becomes the uber-memory.

Golden-Path Walkthrough

A complete issue-to-merge example using a concrete fake issue #999. Follow this sequence and every artifact produced will pass the acceptance checklists in commands/shiplog/*.md.

Step 1 — Plan Capture (/shiplog plan)

A brainstorm produces: "Add rate-limit headers to the API so clients can back off intelligently." Load commands/shiplog/plan.md and create the issue:

gh issue create \
  --title "[shiplog/plan] Add rate-limit headers to API" \
  --label "shiplog/plan" \
  --body-file .tmp-plan.md

Issue body (excerpt):

<!-- shiplog:
kind: state
status: open
phase: 1
readiness: ready
task_count: 2
tasks_complete: 0
max_tier: tier-2
updated_at: 2026-04-18T10:00:00Z
-->
## Tasks
- [ ] **T1: Add X-RateLimit-* headers to response middleware** `[tier-2]`
  - **What:** Inject X-RateLimit-Limit, X-RateLimit-Remaining, X-RateLimit-Reset on every API response.
  - **Verification:** curl the endpoint; confirm all three headers are present.
- [ ] **T2: Document header semantics in API reference** `[tier-2]`
  - **What:** Add a "Rate Limiting" section to docs/api-reference.md.
  - **Verification:** Section exists and matches header values in integration test.

Authored-by: claude/sonnet-4.6 (claude-code)

Apply lifecycle label: gh issue edit 999 --add-label "shiplog/ready"

Step 2 — Branch Setup (/shiplog start)

Load commands/shiplog/start.md. Create the branch from the default branch tip (substitute your repo's default branch, e.g. main or master):

git fetch origin <default-branch>
git checkout -b issue/999-rate-limit-headers origin/<default-branch>

Swap label and update envelope:

gh issue edit 999 --remove-label "shiplog/ready" --add-label "shiplog/in-progress"
# Edit issue body: readiness: ready → readiness: in-progress

Post session-start comment:

[shiplog/session-start] #999: Starting work

**Branch:** `issue/999-rate-limit-headers`
**Starting tasks:** T1, T2
**Plan:** Add headers in middleware (T1) then document (T2).

Authored-by: claude/sonnet-4.6 (claude-code)

Step 3 — Commit Context (/shiplog commit)

After implementing T1, load commands/shiplog/commit.md and commit:

git add src/middleware/rate_limit.ts
git commit -F .tmp-commit-msg.md
# Commit message: feat(#999/T1): add X-RateLimit-* headers to response middleware
#
# Injects the three standard headers into every API response via middleware.
#
# Authored-by: claude/sonnet-4.6 (claude-code)

Post commit-note on the issue:

[shiplog/commit-note] #999: a1b2c3d feat(#999/T1): add X-RateLimit-* headers

**What:** Middleware now injects X-RateLimit-Limit, -Remaining, and -Reset.
**Why:** Clients need these to implement back-off without polling.
**Verification:** curl localhost:3000/api/health — all three headers present.

Authored-by: claude/sonnet-4.6 (claude-code)

Repeat for T2 commit (docs(#999/T2): document rate-limit headers in API reference).

Step 4 — PR Timeline (/shiplog pr)

Load commands/shiplog/pr.md. Push and create the PR:

git push -u origin issue/999-rate-limit-headers
gh pr create \
  --title "feat(#999): add rate-limit headers to API" \
  --label "shiplog/history" \
  --label "shiplog/issue-driven" \
  --body-file .tmp-pr-body.md

PR body includes: envelope (kind: history), summary, Closes #999, Journey Timeline with both commits, Verification checklist, Reviews placeholder, and sig block:

Authored-by: claude/sonnet-4.6 (claude-code)
Last-code-by: claude/sonnet-4.6 (claude-code)
*Captain's log — PR timeline by **shiplog***

Transition issue label:

gh issue edit 999 --remove-label "shiplog/in-progress" --add-label "shiplog/needs-review"

Step 5 — Cross-Model Review (/shiplog review)

A different model (e.g., openai/gpt-5.4 (codex)) loads commands/shiplog/review.md, reads the diff, and posts the signed review comment on the PR:

[shiplog/review-handoff] #999: Review of PR #<PR>

Middleware approach is correct. Headers match RFC 6585 semantics.

Reviewed-by: openai/gpt-5.4 (codex, effort: high)
Disposition: approve
Scope: full diff
Follow-ups: none

The reviewer then updates the PR body review snapshot in place:

Current state: approved
Last reviewed by: openai/gpt-5.4 (codex, effort: high)
Last reviewed at: 2026-04-18T15:00:00Z
Reviewed commit: a1b2c3d
Source artifact: <URL to review comment>
Needs re-review since: —

Step 6 — Merge

Cross-model gate is satisfied (Last-code-by: claude/sonnet-4.6 ≠ Reviewed-by: openai/gpt-5.4). Merge the PR. Remove all lifecycle labels from issue #999. GitHub closes #999 automatically via Closes #999.

When This Skill Activates

User-invocable: /shiplog, /shiplog models, /shiplog <phase>

/shiplog models: Re-runs the routing setup prompt. See references/model-routing.md.

Auto-activate when ANY of these occur:

• User says "let's plan", "let's brainstorm", or "let's design"
• User explicitly requests traceability or knowledge-graph tracking
• Creating a new issue or PR with intent to document decisions
• Mid-work discovery requiring a new issue or stacked PR
• User asks "where did we decide X?" or "what's the status of Y?"
• Resuming work on an existing issue or PR
• Applying review feedback, fixing review findings, or addressing request-changes dispositions
• User references an issue or PR by number
• Issue or PR body footer contains Managed by **shiplog** (recognition trigger — do not add this footer proactively)

Do NOT auto-activate for:

• Generic coding requests that do not need traceability
• Simple bug fixes or refactors that do not need durable workflow history
• Work where a more specific skill is the better fit

Verb Grid

Each /shiplog <phase> slash command maps to one sub-skill file. Load the file for that phase — it owns policy, templates, and acceptance checklist.

/shiplog models: Re-runs the model-routing setup prompt. See references/model-routing.md.

Canonical Kind → Tag → Label Map

kind: in envelope YAML is the source of truth. Title tags ([shiplog/<tag>]) and GitHub labels (shiplog/<label>) are derived views on kind:. When a new artifact kind is defined, it is added here once