Skills Overview

Michi has nine skills — Claude Code slash commands that guide different phases of development. They range from rigid (follow every step) to flexible (a posture, not a checklist).

The core loop

Most milestone work follows a three-skill cycle:

/michi-planning → /michi-session → /michi-debrief

Plan the work, execute it with verification discipline, review what happened. This is the load-bearing structure. Bootstrap happens once before the first cycle. Everything else supports or supplements this loop.

All nine skills

Skill	Type	When to use
`michi-bootstrap`	Flexible	Before first session — onboard a project, scaffold docs
`michi-explore`	Flexible	Research, brainstorming, cold starts, pre-planning
`michi-planning`	Flexible	Before implementation — write the milestone plan
`michi-session`	Rigid	During implementation — execute with verification
`michi-debrief`	Flexible	After implementation — review, capture, calibrate
`michi-sustainability`	Flexible	Between milestones — health checks at scaled depth
`michi-scenario-test-builder`	Flexible	During planning — generate Kaner-style scenarios
`michi-workshop`	Flexible	Everyday work — bug fixes, small features, quick tasks
`michi-pr-prep`	Flexible	Before PR review — prepare a review guide

Only michi-session is rigid. The rest adapt to the situation.

Skill flow

michi-bootstrap (once)
  └── Creates: Michi doc structure, CLAUDE.md, PROJECT.md, STATUS.md

michi-explore (as needed)
  └── Produces: research findings, epic docs, shared understanding

michi-planning
  ├── Explores codebase, surfaces assumptions
  ├── Co-designs verification scenarios
  └── Produces: milestone plan doc

michi-session
  ├── Executes against the plan
  ├── Logs decisions, notes, discussion items
  └── Produces: committed milestone, verified code

michi-debrief
  ├── Reviews decisions and discussion items
  ├── Promotes learnings to journal, patterns, CLAUDE.md
  └── Produces: journal entry, trust assessment

michi-sustainability (between milestones/epics)
  └── Assesses: code quality, test quality, architecture, knowledge gaps

Skill transitions

Skills aren’t silos — work flows between them naturally.

Workshop → full lifecycle. In one project, a session started with /michi-workshop to investigate a Python export tool. The question “should it move to JS and add tests?” grew the scope. The human initiated a transition: workshop → bootstrap → planning → session → debrief. The workshop skill’s guidance says “know when you’ve outgrown it” — this was that moment.

Explore → planning. Research often precedes planning. /michi-explore builds the shared context that makes a plan grounded rather than speculative. When the exploration produces enough to plan against, transition to /michi-planning.

Planning → session. When the plan is reviewed and approved, /michi-session executes it. The plan doc is the handoff artifact.

Debrief → next planning. The debrief’s trust assessment, captured learnings, and updated scenarios feed directly into the next milestone’s planning. This is the spiral — each debrief makes the next plan better.

Choosing the right skill

Quick task, minimal ceremony? → michi-workshop
Need to understand something first? → michi-explore
Ready to build a milestone? → michi-planning → michi-session → michi-debrief
Between milestones, want a health check? → michi-sustainability
Need verification scenarios? → michi-scenario-test-builder (during planning)
Preparing a PR for review? → michi-pr-prep

Individual skill details are in the Skills Reference.