org/skills/sdlc/SKILL.md

name, description

name	description
sdlc	Software development lifecycle rules for Privileged Escalation. Covers GitHub issue approval gates, authentication, branch strategy, PR review policy, pipeline stages, agent roster, handoff protocol, status semantics, CI/CD, security review, and work distribution.

Software Development Lifecycle

GitHub Authentication

Invoke the github-app-token skill before any GitHub operation. It generates a short-lived installation token and sets GH_TOKEN. Never run gh auth login directly — it hangs headless agents.

Token expires after ~1 hour. Re-invoke the skill to regenerate if needed.

GitHub Issues — Board Approval Required

If a task originated from GitHub (originKind: "github" in the issue data), do not begin any work. Immediately create a request_board_approval:

POST /api/companies/{companyId}/approvals
{
  "type": "request_board_approval",
  "requestedByAgentId": "{your-agent-id}",
  "issueIds": ["{issue-id}"],
  "payload": {
    "title": "Board approval required: GitHub issue",
    "summary": "Summarize what the GitHub issue requests.",
    "recommendedAction": "Approve to begin work.",
    "risks": ["Work begins without board review if approved."]
  }
}

Set the issue to blocked until PAPERCLIP_APPROVAL_STATUS confirms approval. Only proceed once approved.

Branch Strategy

All plugin repositories use a single long-lived branch:

Branch	Environment	Who merges
main	Production	CEO (Countess von Containerheim) after triple approval

Engineers always target main via feature branches — never push directly.

Feature branches follow the convention: <agent-name>/<short-description> (e.g., gandalf/add-sealed-secrets-list).

Pull Requests

All changes must happen via pull request. Always include cc @cpfarhood at the bottom of the PR body for visibility — not as a reviewer.

gh pr create --title "..." --body "... cc @cpfarhood"

PR Review & Merge Policy

Do not approve a PR with failing tests, type errors, or no coverage for new code.

Requires 3 approving GitHub reviews before the CEO merges:

1. UAT (Pixel Patty) — E2E browser testing against privilegedescalation-dev
2. QA (Regression Regina) — code-level review: test coverage, regressions, edge cases
3. CTO (Null Pointer Nancy) — architecture alignment, code quality, security

Review order is mandatory: CI → UAT → QA → CTO → CEO merge. Each stage gates the next. No agent merges their own PRs.

Pipeline

CI:    Engineer opens PR → CI runs (lint, types, unit tests)
UAT:   Pixel Patty validates E2E in privilegedescalation-dev
QA:    Regression Regina reviews code quality and test coverage
CTO:   Null Pointer Nancy reviews architecture and security
Merge: Countess von Containerheim merges after all approvals

Stage 1 — Engineer Opens PR

1. Engineer (Gandalf the Greybeard) creates a feature branch and opens a PR targeting main.
2. CI runs automatically: lint, type checks, unit tests.
3. CI must pass before any reviewer spends tokens. If CI fails, the engineer fixes it.

Stage 2 — UAT Review

4. Pixel Patty picks up PRs with passing CI.
5. Patty runs E2E browser testing against the deployed build in privilegedescalation-dev.
6. Pass → hands off to QA. Fail → goes directly to engineer.

Stage 3 — QA Review

7. Regression Regina picks up PRs that have passed both CI and UAT.
8. Regina reviews: test coverage, regressions, edge cases, code quality.
9. Pass → hands off to CTO. Fail → goes directly to engineer.

Stage 4 — CTO Review

10. Null Pointer Nancy picks up PRs that have passed CI, UAT, and QA.
11. Nancy reviews: architecture alignment, code quality, security.
12. Approve → PR is ready for merge. Request changes → goes directly to engineer.

Stage 5 — CEO Merge

13. Countess von Containerheim merges the PR after all three approvals (UAT + QA + CTO) and CI passing.
14. Reject → returns to CTO → engineer.

Hierarchy Rules

• CTO rejections go directly to engineer (not through QA or UAT).
• UAT failures go directly to engineer (not through QA or UAT).
• QA failures go directly to engineer (not through QA or UAT).
• CEO rejections go to CTO, who cascades to engineer.
• The CTO is the single routing point for all failures and rejections to and from the CEO.

Agent Roster

Role	Agent	Paperclip UUID
CEO	Countess von Containerheim	498f4d36-8e5b-4114-8514-d0698a091bd5
CTO	Null Pointer Nancy	ed1eec37-f868-41b6-bc72-a3493bbce090
Staff Engineer	Gandalf the Greybeard	fc07dd00-c4c2-4fa0-9a18-dd6fbb1d1eb4
QA Engineer	Regression Regina	fd5dbec8-ddbb-4b57-9703-624e0ed90053
UAT Engineer	Pixel Patty	01ec02f7-70c2-4fa1-ac3f-2545f1237ac3
VP Engineering Ops	Hugh Hackman	2c97cff6-0f0b-4cff-967f-ca244eb2ef9b
CMO	Kubectl Karen	95314e13-bea7-459d-a637-92381dede759

Handoff Protocol — Mandatory

Every handoff to another agent requires ALL THREE steps:

Step 1 — Explicit Assignment

PATCH the issue with assigneeAgentId: "<target-agent-uuid>". @mentioning is NOT a handoff — the agent won't wake without explicit assignment.

Step 2 — Status = todo

Every handoff sets status: "todo". Never in_review — it doesn't appear in inbox-lite and the target agent won't wake.

Step 3 — Release Checkout

POST /api/issues/{issueId}/release
Headers: Authorization: Bearer $PAPERCLIP_API_KEY, X-Paperclip-Run-Id: $PAPERCLIP_RUN_ID

Without this release, the receiving agent cannot checkout the issue.

Status Semantics

Status	Meaning
backlog	Not ready; parked or unscheduled
todo	Ready and actionable; not checked out
in_progress	Actively owned; enter by checkout only
in_review	Self-held only; awaiting external feedback
blocked	Cannot proceed; state blocker and who must act
done	Complete, no follow-up remains
cancelled	Intentionally abandoned

Never use in_review for handoffs. It does not trigger inbox-lite and the receiving agent will not wake.

Status Transition Rules

Handoff	Correct Status
Engineer → UAT (Patty)	todo
UAT (Patty) → QA (Regina)	todo
QA (Regina) → CTO (Nancy)	todo
CTO (Nancy) → CEO (Countess)	todo
Any failure → Engineer	todo
CEO rejection → CTO (Nancy)	todo
CTO (Nancy) → Engineer (fix)	todo

CI/CD

• CI runs on self-hosted ARC runners: runs-on: runners-privilegedescalation
• Only Hugh Hackman has write access to .github/workflows/ files
• All CI/CD workflow changes must be delegated to Hugh
• Runners scale to zero when idle and start automatically when a workflow triggers

Security Review

Security review is handled as part of the CTO review stage. Null Pointer Nancy evaluates security concerns during her architecture and code quality review. There is no separate dedicated security review agent.

Work Distribution

• All engineering and devops work is broken down and distributed by the CTO (Nancy).
• Engineers do not self-assign — the CTO triages, scopes, and assigns all implementation tasks.
• Hugh Hackman owns CI/CD, infrastructure, and pipeline work.
• Gandalf the Greybeard owns plugin implementation.
• Regression Regina owns QA review and test coverage.
• Pixel Patty owns UAT/E2E browser testing.