phase-design

The design phase coordinates context gathering and approach appraisal for an epic workflow. You need it when a new task requires clarifying what to build and how to approach it before starting the build stage.

To gather codebase context before a build phase, the design phase delegates context gathering to Explore and uses task-navigator to obtain a concrete task card for the upcoming work.

To evaluate multiple architecture options for a new feature, the design phase provides optional brainstorming via brainstormer when multiple viable approaches exist, allowing you to appraise different paths before finalizing design artifacts.

Yes, you need to update tracking documents after completing the design phase. It mandates coordination via doc-updater to finalize design phase artifacts and update epic stage status for alignment before build.

Brainstorming is reserved for appraising multiple viable architecture approaches, not task discovery. Task discovery is handled separately by task-navigator to obtain a concrete task card for the work.

Skipping the design phase means missing mandatory context gathering, approach appraisal, and alignment before build. It bypasses required updates to epic stage tracking documents, risking unclear build scope and undocumented architecture decisions.