Overview
/silver:feature is the Silver Bullet orchestrator for new feature development. It operates on composable flows architecture — rather than following a fixed pipeline, /silver classifies context, selects from the canonical AF-* catalog, and proposes a composition chain tailored to the request.
It never implements features directly — it orchestrates only. Implementation runs through Silver Bullet's lifecycle skills for context, plan, execution, review, verification, and ship. Optional helper plugins are called only at explicit extension boundaries selected by the active workflow.
Invoked automatically by /silver when intent classification detects feature-development signals, or invoked directly as /silver:feature. See Composable Flows for the full canonical AF-* catalog.
Composable Flow Chain
Composition Proposal
When you invoke /silver:feature, the orchestrator classifies your context and proposes a catalog-backed workflow. The default catalog entity is WF-SILVER-FEATURE, which composes canonical atomic flows and the reusable WF-POST-EXEC-GATES tail:
AF-BOOTSTRAP,AF-ORIENT,AF-CLARIFY,AF-DECIDE, andAF-SPECIFYrun only when their prerequisites or context signals require them.AF-QUALITY-GATE(pre-plan),AF-PLAN,AF-DESIGN-CONTRACT(if UI), andAF-EXECUTEcreate the implementation path.WF-POST-EXEC-GATESthen runs UI quality when needed, review request, review, triage, verify, secure, validate, pre-ship quality gate, branch finish, completion audit, and ship.
If the phase involves UI work, AF-DESIGN-CONTRACT and AF-UI-QUALITY are kept in the composition. If execution fails, AF-DEBUG can be inserted dynamically with a catalog-backed reason.
Post-execute order: WF-POST-EXEC-GATES runs AF-REVIEW-REQUEST → AF-REVIEW → AF-REVIEW-TRIAGE → AF-VERIFY → AF-SECURE → AF-VALIDATE → AF-QUALITY-GATE (pre-ship) → AF-BRANCH-FINISH → AF-COMPLETION-AUDIT → AF-SHIP.
Per-Phase Loop
For each phase, the orchestrator runs: AF-PLAN → AF-EXECUTE → WF-POST-EXEC-GATES (with AF-UI-QUALITY when applicable). This cycle repeats per phase until verification and review exit conditions are met.
Supervision Loop
After each path completes, the supervision loop runs:
- Verify exit condition met (path contract satisfied)
- Evaluate whether the composition should change (dynamic insertions — e.g., insert
AF-DEBUGwhen execution fails) - Stall check — detect if the same path has been attempted 3+ times without progress
- Advance to next path in chain
When to Use
Use /silver:feature when you want to add, build, implement, enhance, or extend any feature. Entry trigger signals:
- "add X" / "build X" / "implement X"
- "new feature" / "enhance X" / "extend X"
- Any description of new capability that touches business logic
If the request also touches UI, /silver:ui takes precedence — it is more specific. If something is broken, /silver:bugfix always takes precedence over this workflow.
Complexity triage
Before any workflow steps begin, /silver:feature classifies the request to prevent over-engineering trivial changes and under-engineering complex ones.
| Classification | Signals | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Trivial | ≤3 files, typo, config, rename | STOP — route to /silver:fast instead (bypass workflow) |
| Fuzzy | Vague intent, unclear scope, empty arguments | Proceed to AF-CLARIFY (/silver:clarify) first, then re-classify |
| Simple | Clear scope, ≤1 phase, well-defined output | Skip clarification, go directly to AF-ORIENT |
| Complex | Multi-phase, cross-cutting, significant architecture impact | Full workflow including AF-CLARIFY (/silver:clarify) |
Flow execution
Composer skills declare a composition chain — not inline numbered steps. The orchestrator runs atomic flows in catalog composition order; hooks record skill invocations and block delivery until required flow steps complete.
Standard composition chain
Pre-execution (conditional)
- Pre-flight — load
silver-bullet.md §10preferences - Complexity triage — trivial → route to
/silver:fast; fuzzy →AF-CLARIFYfirst AF-BOOTSTRAP—/silver:initwhen.planning/is missingAF-ORIENT—/silver:scan//silver:contextfor brownfield orientationAF-SPECIFY—/silver:specwhen no.planning/SPEC.md(enforced by workflow-chain-guard)AF-QUALITY-GATEpre-plan —/silver:quality-gatesbefore planningAF-PLAN—/silver:context,/silver:plan, optional/silver:validateAF-DESIGN-CONTRACT—/silver:ui-contractwhen UI scope detected
AF-EXECUTE
tdd gate for behavior-changing code, then /silver:execute. Per-phase loop: AF-PLAN → AF-EXECUTE → WF-POST-EXEC-GATES for each ROADMAP phase.
Post-Execution Chain (canonical order)
After AF-EXECUTE: WF-POST-EXEC-GATES runs review, verification, security, validation, pre-ship quality, branch finish, completion audit, and ship.
AF-DEBUG inserts dynamically on execution, test, or CI failure. AF-DOCUMENT runs when docs/doc-scheme.md requires doc gates before ship.
Per-flow skill steps and exit conditions: docs/composable-flows-contracts.md.
Non-Skippable Gates
/silver:secure(AF-SECURE)/silver:quality-gatespre-ship (AF-QUALITY-GATE)/silver:verify(AF-VERIFY)
Step-skip protocol
When you request skipping any workflow step, Silver Bullet follows this protocol:
- Explains why the step exists (one sentence)
- Offers: A. Accept skip B. Lightweight alternative C. Show me what you have
- If you choose A permanently: records the decision in
silver-bullet.md §10bandtemplates/silver-bullet.md.base §10b, then commits both files
Example Invocation
Silver Bullet classifies this as Simple (clear scope, ≤1 phase), skips the extra clarification path, proceeds through orientation, quality gates, SB context/plan/execute, TDD where applicable, review, verify, and ship.
Preferences
§10 routing preferences are loaded at pre-flight and silently applied throughout the workflow. Stored preferences include routing overrides, step skips, tool choices, research/review tool opt-in/out, and session mode (interactive vs autonomous).