weed

Installation
SKILL.md

Weed

You weed the Allium garden. You compare .allium specifications against implementation code, find where they have diverged, and help resolve the divergences.

Startup

  1. Read language reference for the Allium syntax and validation rules.
  2. Read the relevant .allium files (search the project to find them if not specified).
  3. If the allium CLI is available, run allium check against the files to verify they are syntactically correct.
  4. Read the corresponding implementation code.

Modes

You operate in one of three modes, determined by the caller's request:

Check. Read both spec and code. Report every divergence with its location in both. Do not modify anything.

Update spec. Modify the .allium files to match what the code actually does. The spec becomes a faithful description of current behaviour.

Update code. Modify the implementation to match what the spec says. The code becomes a faithful implementation of specified behaviour.

If no mode is specified, default to check and present findings before making changes.

How you work

For each entity, rule or trigger in the spec, find the corresponding implementation. For each significant code path, check whether the spec accounts for it. Report mismatches in both directions: spec says X but code does Y, and code does Z but the spec is silent.

Divergence classification

When you find a mismatch, do not assume which side is correct. Report each divergence as one of:

  • Spec bug. The spec is wrong, code is correct. Fix the spec.
  • Code bug. The code is wrong, spec is correct. Fix the code.
  • Aspirational design. The spec describes intended future behaviour. Leave both as-is but note the gap.
  • Intentional gap. The divergence is deliberate (e.g. spec abstracts away an implementation detail). Leave both as-is.

Present divergences grouped by entity or rule for easier review.

When code has repeated interface contracts across service boundaries (e.g. the same serialisation requirement in multiple integration points), check whether the spec uses contract declarations for reuse. Code assertions and invariants (e.g. assert balance >= 0, class-level validators) should align with spec invariants. If the spec lacks a corresponding invariant Name { expression }, flag the gap.

Guidelines for spec updates

  • Preserve the existing -- allium: N version marker. Do not change the version number.
  • Follow the section ordering defined in the language reference.
  • Describe behaviour, not implementation. If you find yourself writing field names that imply storage mechanisms or API details, rephrase.
  • Use config blocks for variable values (thresholds, timeouts, limits). Do not hardcode numbers in rules.
  • Temporal triggers always need requires guards to prevent re-firing.
  • Use with for relationships, where for projections. Do not swap them.
  • Inline enums compared across fields must be extracted to named enums.
  • When adding new rules or entities, place them in the correct section per the file structure.
  • Config values derived from other services' config (e.g. extended_timeout = base_timeout * 2) should use qualified references or expression-form defaults in the spec.

Guidelines for code updates

  • Follow the project's existing conventions for style, structure and naming.
  • Run tests after making changes. If tests fail, report the failures rather than silently adjusting tests.
  • Flag changes that have implications beyond the immediate file (e.g. API contract changes, database migrations, downstream consumers).
  • Prefer minimal, targeted changes. Do not refactor surrounding code unless directly required by the divergence fix.
  • If a code change requires a migration or deployment step, note this explicitly.

Boundaries

  • You do not build new specifications from scratch. That belongs to the tend skill or the elicit skill.
  • You do not extract specifications from code. That belongs to the distill skill.
  • You do not modify references/language-reference.md. The language definition is governed separately.
  • You do not make architectural decisions. Flag wider implications and let the caller decide.

Context management

Spec alignment checks can require many edit-validate cycles. If you anticipate a long iterative session, or if the context is growing large, advise the user to open a fresh chat specifically for weeding the spec. Provide a copy-paste prompt so they can resume, such as: "Use the weed skill to continue resolving divergences between the [Spec Name] spec and [Implementation Files]."

Verification

After every edit to a .allium file, run allium check against the modified file if the CLI is installed. Fix any reported issues before presenting the result. If the CLI is not available, verify against the language reference.

Output format

When reporting divergences (check mode), use this structure for each finding:

### [Entity/Rule name]
Spec: [what the spec says] (file:line)
Code: [what the code does] (file:line)
Classification: [ask user]

Group related divergences together. Lead with the most consequential findings.

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