Uw Build

Executing the Rebuild

Turn the rebuild spec (layer docs + REBUILD-PLAN.md) into actual code in the target stack, and measure how faithfully it carried over. The differentiator: completeness is verified by re-scanning the rebuilt repo and diffing it against the source graph — a before/after picture — not asserted.

Requires: a completed plan — docs/unwind/REBUILD-PLAN.md + docs/unwind/.cache/rebuild-decisions.json + docs/unwind/rebuild-graph.json + docs/unwind/layers/**. (Run uw-plan and uw-graph/uw-dashboard first.) Produces:

• Target-stack code in the chosen target repo (via builder subagents).
• docs/unwind/.cache/rebuild-state.json — the durable rebuild ledger (resume + loop).
• docs/unwind/.cache/rebuild-map/.json — per-slice source→target mappings.
• docs/unwind/.cache/rebuild-progress.json — overlay the dashboard renders.
• docs/unwind/rebuild-verification-graph.json + docs/unwind/rebuild-gaps.md.

Principles: builders follow rebuild-principles.md (functional equivalence, [MUST] inviolable, record every mapping, never silently skip).

> Hybrid / graceful fallback: with @unwind/core available, the rebuilt target > is re-scanned and completeness is measured. Without it (no Node/pnpm/core), the > builders still run from the docs and the orchestrator records state in plain JSON, > but there is no verification graph — completeness is LLM-asserted; say so.

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Phase A — Read the plan (deterministic intake)

Bootstrap the plugin + core, then read the decided strategy. Most of the "how" is already decided in the plan — apply the escape hatch and don't re-ask it.

# Locate the installed Unwind plugin, then load the core helper.
UNWIND_PLUGIN_ROOT="${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT:-${UNWIND_PLUGIN_ROOT:-}}"
[ -f "$UNWIND_PLUGIN_ROOT/skills/scripts/_resolve-plugin-root.sh" ] || \
  UNWIND_PLUGIN_ROOT="$(ls -dt "$HOME"/.claude/plugins/cache/*/unwind/*/ 2>/dev/null | head -1)"
source "${UNWIND_PLUGIN_ROOT%/}/skills/scripts/_resolve-plugin-root.sh"
ensure_unwind_core || echo "core unavailable — pure-LLM build, no verification graph"

Read and hold in mind:

• docs/unwind/REBUILD-PLAN.md — target stack, phasing order, re-use decisions.
• docs/unwind/.cache/rebuild-decisions.json — the machine-readable decisions

(target language/framework/datastore/ORM, API style, hosting, …). Note whether the API contract style changed (REST→tRPC/GraphQL) — it affects verification.

• docs/unwind/rebuild-graph.json — the source nodes (id, layer, `[MUST]/[SHOULD]/

[DON'T]` priority, contractKind) you will rebuild and verify against.

• The layer docs under docs/unwind/layers/** — the per-item specifications.

Derive the slice list: one slice per present layer, in dependency order (database → domain → service → api → messaging → frontend → tests → infrastructure), seeded by the plan's phasing. Each slice's [MUST] source nodes come from rebuild-graph.json (filter by layer, drop priority: "DON'T").

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Phase B — Grill (the build interview)

Ask only the genuinely-new decisions the plan didn't answer, one per AskUserQuestion call, recommended-first. Skip anything the plan/decisions already fix. Offer "Accept recommended defaults" in the first question for a one-shot.

1. Scope — one slice / one phase / whole rebuild. (Recommended: start with

one slice — the foundational layer — to validate the loop before committing.)

1. Target output location — the directory/repo where rebuilt code goes, and

whether to scaffold the project skeleton first (package manifest, framework bootstrap) per the target stack.

1. Verification depth — structural + contract diff (recommended; deterministic

presence + endpoint/table diff) / + run target tests (heavier; needs the rebuilt app runnable).

1. Execution mode — step-through (gate after each slice) / *loop until

verified* (self-paced; see Loop mode). Recommended: step-through for the first slice, then loop once the pattern is proven.

1. First slice (slice mode) — default the foundational layer from phasing.
2. If rebuild-state.json already exists: resume (recommended) vs restart

(destructive — requires explicit confirmation before deleting state/maps).

> Warn at interview time if the target language is outside tree-sitter contract > extraction (TypeScript/JavaScript, Python, Rust, Java, C#): verification will be > file-grain only (presence, not contract diff). Set expectations now so a > later "low %" isn't a surprise.

Initialize the state ledger

Write docs/unwind/.cache/rebuild-state.json from the interview answers (the schema is validated by the scripts, so a malformed write is caught immediately):

{
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "generatedAt": "", "updatedAt": "",
  "targetRoot": "",
  "config": {
    "scope": "one-slice|one-phase|whole",
    "verificationDepth": "structural|contract-diff|run-tests",
    "executionMode": "step-through|loop",
    "sliceOrder": ["database", "domain", "service", "api", "..."],
    "scaffolded": false
  },
  "nodes": {},     // filled by merge-rebuild-map as builders report mappings
  "slices": {}     // filled as slices are built/verified
}

In loop mode also add: "loopState": { "enabled": true, "targetPct": 100, "dryRounds": 0, "lastCompletenessPct": 0, "lastSliceId": null }.

If restarting: after explicit confirmation, delete rebuild-state.json, rebuild-map/, rebuild-verification-graph.json, rebuild-gaps.md, rebuild-progress.json — and only those. Never touch the target code without asking.

---

Phase C — Build loop (per slice)

For each slice in sliceOrder (bounded by scope):

1. Dispatch the builder

Read the slice's seed (docs/unwind/.cache/seeds/{layer}.json) and dispatch the generic builder, pasting the decided stack + the seed + the layer + the spec path:

Task(subagent_type="general-purpose")
  description: "Build [layer] slice"
  prompt: |
    Use unwind:uw-build-layer to rebuild this slice in the target stack.

    sliceId: [layer]
    targetRoot: [targetRoot from rebuild-state.json]
    layer: [layer]   (selects the contract-preservation section)

    ## Target stack (from REBUILD-PLAN.md / rebuild-decisions.json)
    [paste the decided language, framework, datastore, ORM, etc.]

    ## Spec docs for this slice
    docs/unwind/layers/[docDir]/   (read these — they are the authority)

    ## Candidate checklist (your [MUST] list)
    [paste docs/unwind/.cache/seeds/[layer].json]

    Build idiomatic target-stack code under targetRoot for every [MUST] (and clean
    [SHOULD]); skip [DON'T]. Then WRITE the mapping file
    docs/unwind/.cache/rebuild-map/[layer].json (see rebuild-principles.md §3) using
    the verbatim sourceId and target ids computed against the files you wrote. Never
    map an item to code you didn't write. Report what you built and any [MUST] you
    could not build (leave it unmapped — it surfaces as a gap).

Dispatch slices in dependency order — wait for a layer before the layers that depend on it (same rule as uw-analyze). Independent slices (e.g. tests, infra) may go in parallel.

2. Merge → scan → verify

node "$UNWIND_PLUGIN_ROOT/skills/scripts/merge-rebuild-map.mjs" "$(pwd)"
node "$UNWIND_PLUGIN_ROOT/skills/scripts/verify-rebuild.mjs" "$(pwd)"

merge-rebuild-map ingests the per-slice maps into rebuild-state.json and derives rebuild-progress.json. verify-rebuild re-scans the target (into an isolated .cache/target-scan/ so the source baseline is never clobbered), writes rebuild-verification-graph.json + rebuild-gaps.md, promotes built nodes to verified/flags divergent, and prints the completeness %.

3. Inner gap-closing loop

Read rebuild-gaps.md / the verification stats. If the slice's [MUST] completeness is below target and the last round made progress, re-dispatch the builder for that slice pointed at rebuild-gaps.md (it merges fixes into the existing mapping), then repeat step 2. Stop the inner loop when the slice hits target or a round makes no progress (a stuck slice — surface it; don't spin). This mirrors uw-analyze's verify→complete loop and converges because the diff is deterministic.

4. Advance

• Step-through mode: use AskUserQuestion to gate — continue to the next slice,

or pause. Report the slice's completeness and any gaps.

• Loop mode: advance per Loop mode below.

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Loop mode (build until verified)

Run uw-build under the harness /loop skill, self-paced (no interval → the model paces itself; the loop ends when it stops scheduling the next iteration):

/loop /uw-build

Each iteration does one in-scope slice, then decides — using the measured number, never a feeling:

1. Read rebuild-state.json (the durable handoff) → pick the next slice whose status

isn't built/verified (or has needs-recheck nodes).

1. Run Phase C steps 1–3 for that slice.
2. Read rebuild-verification-graph.json.stats.completenessPct (over in-scope

[MUST]). Update loopState: set lastCompletenessPct; if it did not increase vs the previous iteration, dryRounds++, else reset dryRounds = 0.

1. STOP the loop (do not schedule another iteration; report) when:

• completenessPct >= loopState.targetPct (default 100% of in-scope [MUST]), OR
• dryRounds >= 2 (stuck — escalate to the user with the gaps), OR
• an error or a genuine new decision the plan didn't answer arises.

Otherwise continue the loop.

The dryRounds counter lives in rebuild-state.json, so even a fresh iteration that starts cold (after context compaction) cannot spin forever.

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After completion — report

Announce what was produced and the headline number: > Rebuild slice(s) complete. Completeness: N% of in-scope [MUST] items present > or equivalent (rebuild-verification-graph.json). Remaining gaps: > docs/unwind/rebuild-gaps.md. Progress overlays the dashboard via > rebuild-progress.json.

Remind that present ≠ correct — structural presence doesn't prove behavior; for behavioral equivalence use run-tests depth / the project's equivalence vectors.

Use AskUserQuestion for the next step:

• Open the dashboard — unwind:uw-dashboard (shows rebuild status on the graph,

plus a Rebuild view: the source→target file mapping + completeness, folded in from rebuild-state.json + rebuild-verification-graph.json).

• Continue the rebuild — next slice/phase (or /loop /uw-build).
• Pause here.

> Pipeline: scan → analyze → plan → build ✓ → dashboard.

Refresh interaction

After source code changes, uw-refresh flags changed contracts. On the next uw-build run, merge-rebuild-map reads changes.json and flips affected done/verified nodes to needs-recheck, so loop mode naturally re-builds the slices whose source moved. No parallel mechanism — the same changes.json drives both.

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: nearform
• Source: nearform/unwind
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.