Use the GSD-inspired Spec-Driven project template in Manager: split a release into phases and atomic tasks, and run each phase through discuss, plan, execute, verify and ship.
Each task runs in a clean agent context, so long projects stay free of context rot.
Tasks in one wave are independent and run side by side.
Every task is checked against the phase's acceptance criteria before it counts.
GSD fights context rot, the quality drop as an agent's context fills. A lean main session orchestrates; fresh-context subagents research, plan and execute. State lives in .planning/ files such as ROADMAP.md, STATE.md, CONTEXT.md and PLAN.md.
Each phase of a milestone runs one loop: /gsd-discuss-phase records decisions, /gsd-plan-phase writes atomic plans, /gsd-execute-phase runs them in parallel waves, /gsd-verify-work checks the result, and /gsd-ship opens the pull request.
Adapted from the open-source GSD methodology (Git. Ship. Done) by Open GSD, MIT, github.com/open-gsd/gsd-core. Not affiliated with or endorsed by GSD.
GSD's .planning/ files become work items, fields and wiki pages your team shares.
| GSD | In Manager |
|---|---|
| Milestone | A Release: Planned, Active, Shipped. |
| ROADMAP.md | A wiki page written by new-release. |
| Phase | A Phase whose status is its loop step, from Discuss to Ship. |
| CONTEXT.md | The phase description: agreed intent and acceptance criteria. |
| PLAN.md | A Task under the phase, with its own spec and acceptance check. |
| Waves, plan size | The Wave and Context Budget fields; blocks links set hard order. |
| STATE.md | The statuses of releases, phases and tasks, visible to everyone. |
Connect your agent to Manager over MCP and have it create a project from the Spec-Driven template.
Say to your agentManager: Set up a new project from the Spec-Driven template.
The new-release skill asks until goal, scope and success criteria are clear, then creates the release, its phases and a roadmap wiki page.
Say to your agentManager: Let's start a new release, and ask me what you need to know.
The discuss-phase skill pins down intent, edge cases and acceptance criteria. Then plan-phase splits the phase into atomic tasks with waves and context budgets.
Say to your agentManager: Run discuss-phase and then plan-phase for the next phase of the release.
The execute-phase skill finishes one wave before the next. Each task runs in a fresh context and ends in an atomic commit.
Say to your agentManager: Run execute-phase for that phase, with a fresh subagent per task.
The verify-work skill checks each task against the acceptance criteria and sends misses back. Once every phase reaches Ship, the ship skill tags and closes the release.
Say to your agentManager: Verify the last phase, then ship the release with a tag but without pushing.
A project created from the Spec-Driven template starts with these work item types and statuses. You can adapt all of them to your team later.
A release-sized goal, delivered through a sequence of phases.
A coherent slice of a release, run through the GSD loop.
An atomic unit of work that fits one fresh context.
A time-boxed investigation that resolves an unknown before planning.
These skills come with the template in Manager:
new-releaseAsks until the goal is clear, then lays out phases and roadmap.
discuss-phaseSettles a phase's intent, edge cases and acceptance criteria.
plan-phaseSplits a phase into atomic tasks with waves and context budgets.
execute-phaseRuns tasks wave by wave, each in a fresh context.
verify-workChecks each task against the acceptance criteria, then the whole phase.
shipCloses a release: tag, changelog, summary. Never pushes unless asked.
quickSmall, clear work as one Quick-labeled task, without the loop.
spikeTime-boxed research that turns an unknown into a decision.
GSD keeps state in .planning/ files and ships a pull request per phase. Here state lives in shared work items and wiki pages; ship closes a whole release.
A typo or an isolated tweak goes through the quick skill: one task with the Quick label. When an unknown blocks planning, run spike first.
For new products and multi-phase releases that agents build in parallel. Test-Driven suits feature-by-feature TDD, Change-Driven existing code, Governed Spec work bound by a constitution.
Your team and every agent see, search and pick up the same releases, phases and tasks.
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