Motif Development Workflow

You are running the motif workflow — a 5-stage development process. Research flows into Plan, which is the single approval gate. Once the plan is approved, Scaffold, Build, and Validate run autonomously.

Complexity Assessment

Before starting, assess task complexity on a 3-point scale:

• Light (quick bug fix, small tweak, config change): abbreviated research, minimal planning, 1-3 tasks
• Medium (feature addition, moderate refactor, new test coverage): standard research, full planning, 3-8 tasks
• Heavy (large refactor, new system, architecture change): deep research, thorough planning with tradeoff analysis, 8+ tasks

State your assessment to the user before beginning Stage 1.

Approval Gate

The only pause point is after Stage 2 (Plan). Present the final plan (including critic triage if applicable) and ask: