/design -- Product Validation Gate

Quick Ref: Validates that a proposed goal aligns with the product's strategic direction before discovery begins major work. Council-gated with --preset=product.

Quick Start

/design "add caching layer for CLI"           # validate goal against PRODUCT.md
/design --quick "add caching layer"           # inline check, no council spawning
/design --strict "redesign hook system"       # higher threshold (avg >= 2.5)
/design                                       # infers goal from recent context

Execution Steps

Step 0: Check for PRODUCT.md

Locate PRODUCT.md in the repo root.

ls PRODUCT.md 2>/dev/null

If absent: Output a warning and return PASS with note: "No PRODUCT.md found -- skipping product validation gate. Run /product to generate one."

If present: Continue to Step 1.

Step 1: Load Product Context

Read PRODUCT.md and extract:

Mission -- the product's core purpose
Personas -- defined user types and their needs
Gaps -- known product gaps or roadmap items
Competitive landscape -- how the product differentiates

If any section is missing, note it as unavailable and score that dimension conservatively (1).

Step 2: Score Alignment Matrix

Evaluate the proposed goal against five dimensions. Use the scoring rubric in references/alignment-matrix.md.

Dimension	Score (0-3)	Rationale
Gap Alignment		Does this goal address a known product gap?
Persona Fit		Does this serve defined personas?
Competitive Diff		Does this strengthen competitive position?
Precedent		Has similar work been done before? What can we learn?
Scope Fit		Is this appropriately scoped for the current phase?

Compute the average score across all five dimensions.

Step 3: Run Council

Invoke council with the product preset. See references/product-council-preset.md for judge configuration.

Skill(skill="council", args="--preset=product validate design alignment for: <goal>")

Pass the alignment matrix from Step 2 as context to the council judges.

If --quick flag is set, skip council spawning and perform inline assessment instead.

Step 4: Write Design Artifact

Write the design artifact to .agents/design/:

mkdir -p .agents/design

Filename: <date>-design-<goal-slug>.md (e.g., 2026-03-30-design-add-caching-layer.md)

Artifact contents:

Goal statement
Alignment matrix with scores and rationale
Council verdict (or inline assessment if --quick)
Final verdict and recommendation

Step 5: Output Verdict

Determine the final verdict based on scores:

Condition	Verdict
Average score >= 2.0 AND no dimension at 0	PASS -- goal aligns with product direction
Average score >= 1.5 OR one dimension at 0 with others strong	WARN -- goal has alignment concerns, review before proceeding
Average score < 1.5 OR multiple dimensions at 0	FAIL -- goal does not align with product direction

When --strict is set, raise the PASS threshold to average >= 2.5.

Output the verdict in this format:

DESIGN VERDICT: <PASS|WARN|FAIL>
  Gap Alignment:     <score>/3 -- <one-line rationale>
  Persona Fit:       <score>/3 -- <one-line rationale>
  Competitive Diff:  <score>/3 -- <one-line rationale>
  Precedent:         <score>/3 -- <one-line rationale>
  Scope Fit:         <score>/3 -- <one-line rationale>
  Average:           <avg>/3.0
  Artifact:          .agents/design/<filename>.md

Flags

Flag	Effect
`--quick`	Inline check without council spawning. Faster but less thorough.
`--strict`	Raise PASS threshold from avg >= 2.0 to avg >= 2.5. Use for high-stakes changes.

Reference Documents

references/alignment-matrix.md -- Scoring rubric for the five alignment dimensions
references/product-council-preset.md -- Council --preset=product judge configuration and verdict rules

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