rhizomatous/loam

Use after meaningful implementation or before merge to run an independent review, fix every finding, and re-review until clean.

Use when about to claim work is complete, fixed, or passing, before committing or creating PRs - requires running verification commands and confirming output before making any success claims; evidence before assertions always

Use when beginning any design process - gathers context, resolves contradictions, and explores approaches until requirements are clear enough to write down.

Use after design-spec-exploring has settled the requirements, to write the design spec as a concise prioritized PRD.

Use when implementation is complete, all tests pass, and you need to decide how to integrate the work - guides completion of development work by presenting structured options for merge, PR, or cleanup

Use when executing a Loam project plan milestone by milestone with isolated implementation subagents, requirement verification, and review loops.

Use at the start of implementation, before any code is written - settles whether the work gets its own worktree, a new branch, or the current checkout, then prepares that working tree and verifies a clean baseline

Use when implementing any feature or bugfix, before writing implementation code

Use when planning or designing features and need to understand current codebase state, find existing patterns, or verify assumptions about what exists; when design makes assumptions about file locations, structure, or existing code that need verification - prevents hallucination by grounding plans in reality

Use when planning features and need current API docs, library patterns, or external knowledge; when testing hypotheses about technology choices or claims; when verifying assumptions before design decisions - gathers well-sourced, current information from the internet to inform technical decisions

Use when encountering any bug, test failure, or unexpected behavior, before proposing fixes

Use when an approved design spec needs a project plan, issue breakdown, validation, and execution handoff for engineers with zero codebase context.

Use when beginning work with Loam or when the user asks what Loam is, how it works, or which workflow to use.