What problem does it solve? Starting a new project phase without reviewing past lessons or verifying what already exists in the codebase leads to repeated mistakes, duplicated work, and plans built on false assumptions. This Skill enforces a mandatory briefing and reality-check protocol before any spec, plan, or implementation begins. ## Core Features & Use Cases - Retrospective Briefing: Reads previous phase retrospectives from .swarm/evidence/retro-* bundles, extracting lessons learned, top rejection reasons, and persistent user directives before any new phase starts. - Codebase Reality Check: Fans out asynchronous read-only explorer lanes (up to 8 per batch) that verify whether every referenced file, module, function, or config surface exists, its current state, and whether plan assumptions are accurate. - Hard Settlement Gate: Blocks spec finalization, plan generation, and implementation-agent dispatch until all lanes settle and a REALITY CHECK report classifies every reference as NOT STARTED, PARTIALLY DONE, ALREADY COMPLETE, or ASSUMPTION INCORRECT. - Use Case: Before planning Phase 3 of a multi-phase refactor, the architect reviews Phase 2's retrospective, dispatches 3 explorer lanes to verify 12 referenced modules, and discovers one assumption is outdated — correcting the plan before any code is written. ## Quick Start Run the pre-phase briefing protocol to review prior retrospectives and verify all codebase references before starting the next phase.
