---
---
Single owner of `wave/<wave>/`. Keeps the wave's identity current and folds what the branch learned into memory.
## The wave's shape
A wave is a local operating context plus Linear-owned planning:
- **`wave/<wave>/GOAL.md`** — the wave's identity: what it's for, how it judges
progress, the loop prompt it runs. Frontmatter carries machine config and the
Linear handle (`pm.linear_initiative`). This is the anchor; it changes rarely.
- **`wave/<wave>/MEMORY.md`** — what the wave remembers between loops. Durable
observations, decisions, and context. This is where branch learnings land.
- **Projects and tasks live in Linear**, not in the repo. `lf pm sync` projects
them into SQLite. Read them with `lf pm show`;
change them with `lf pm project ...` and `lf pm task ...`. There is no local
planning mirror — never write `N-*.md` item files or a roadmap table.
## Orientation
Before starting, orient yourself in this branch:
- Read `scratch/` completely — design docs and notes for the current work live
here (`scratch/<branch>.md` is this PR's design; `scratch/questions.md` holds
open questions and assumptions).
- Read `wave/<wave>/GOAL.md` and `MEMORY.md`.
- Read the local PM snapshot: `lf pm show` (add `--wave <name>` if ambiguous).
- Read the repo's agent doc (`CLAUDE.md` / `AGENTS.md`) for conventions.
## Goal
Whether you're cleaning up after a build, reconciling scratch analysis, or both:
- Durable learnings from `scratch/` are folded into `MEMORY.md`.
- `GOAL.md` still describes the wave truthfully — if the branch changed the
wave's intent, flow, or metrics, update it. Otherwise leave it.
- Linear Projects still describe the live measured bets truthfully. If a branch
changes a project's definition or KR set, update it with `lf pm project
update`; the command refreshes SQLite before returning.
- The PM tasks in Linear reflect reality: shipped work is closed, new work is
filed, stale items are corrected — all through `lf pm task ...`.
- `scratch/` is trimmed to what a reviewer needs (see below).
## Bias: fold into MEMORY, don't drop
`scratch/` is cleared on land. Anything left there is lost. Anything folded into
`MEMORY.md` — or filed as a Linear task — survives. **Dropping content is a worse
failure mode than duplicating it.**
Every scratch file with future-relevant content must land somewhere durable:
- Decisions, learnings, gotchas, patterns established → fold into `MEMORY.md`.
- Concrete future work (a next step, a follow-up, a discovered bug) → file it as
a PM task with `lf pm task create --project <project> --title "…" --notes "…"`.
- Open questions about future work → `MEMORY.md`, or a PM task if it's
actionable.
- If content overlaps what's already in `MEMORY.md`, merge it — don't skip it.
Design docs for already-shipped work and other purely historical content can be
left for git history. The test: does this content inform future work? If yes,
fold it. If it only describes what was already built, let it go.
## Workflow
1. Read the diff (if any) to understand what this branch built.
2. Read `GOAL.md`, `MEMORY.md`, and the live PM tasks (`lf pm show`).
3. Read the PM snapshot and `scratch/` — every file, completely.
4. **Reconcile Linear tasks against reality.** For each task, ask:
- **Shipped?** If this branch (or main) crossed its finish line, close it:
`lf pm task done --id <task-id>`.
- **Accurate?** If the item's description no longer matches the codebase,
correct it: `lf pm task update --id <task-id> --title "…" --notes "…"`.
- **New work surfaced?** File it: `lf pm task create --title "…" --notes "…"`.
Do this remotely. Never create or delete local task-list files.
5. **Fold scratch learnings into `MEMORY.md`.** Merge into existing sections
where there's a clear match; add sections for new durable context. Keep it
tight — memory is a working store, not an archive.
6. **Update Linear Projects when measured bets moved.**
Project KRs should read as proof: observable end states, not backlog bullets,
issue ids, status, or implementation receipts. Individual technical-debt
cleanup is a task; a standing debt frontier can be a project.
7. **Update `GOAL.md` only if the wave's identity moved.** Changed objective,
bounds, cadence, or routing judgment count. If the branch didn't change what
the wave *is*, leave `GOAL.md` alone. Official metric meaning belongs in
reviewed `wave/<wave>/metrics/*.md` contracts.
8. **Trim scratch docs for shipped work.** Don't delete them — `lf pr land`
handles that. Strip implementation detail that now lives in the code. Keep
only:
- **Validation procedures** — "Done when" checks, commands to run, expected
output.
- **Measurement instructions** — benchmarks, before/after, how to reproduce.
- **Try-it recipes** — quick ways for a reviewer to exercise the change.
If a scratch doc has none of these, delete it.
## Creating a new wave
When `scratch/` holds a proposal and no wave exists yet, create one:
1. Write `wave/<wave>/GOAL.md` (see below).
2. Create `wave/<wave>/MEMORY.md` — seed it with the load-bearing context from
the proposal (key decisions, constraints, what's known). It can be short.
3. Connect Linear: `lf pm init --wave <name>` creates or links the wave's
Initiative and writes `linear_initiative` into `GOAL.md`.
4. Create measured bets with `lf pm project create`; definitions and KRs live
in Linear Project content.
5. File the opening tasks in Linear with `lf pm task create` — the urgent and
next-step work, one task each. Tasks start in Linear, not on disk.
### GOAL.md
`GOAL.md` anchors the wave's identity. Loopflow parses it for the UI.
**Frontmatter:**
```yaml
---
pm:
linear_initiative: "8c4ba3f9-cf23-4136-87ed-37847aa7dc82" # written by `lf pm init`
---
```
**Body** — the loop prompt, in the wave's own voice:
- What this wave is and why it exists; scope boundaries as natural qualifiers.
- How it selects and steers Project bets.
- The milestones or shape of the work ahead.
**GOAL.md must not contain:** a roadmap table, status indicators
(shipped/in-progress/planned), item lists, or a live Measures section. Tasks are
in Linear; official live metrics are reviewed contracts under
`wave/<wave>/metrics/`.
### Projects
Projects are measured bets inside the wave. Write one file per live project:
```markdown
# Technical Architecture
Loopflow's architecture is legible from the top down: the key data structures
and APIs explain the system, the implementation follows that map, and obsolete
pre-loop concepts do not linger as alternate design.
## KRs
- Top-down architecture documentation is complete, published, and centered on the key data structures and public APIs.
- Every data structure and API in the architecture is ratified as minimally simple for its purpose.
- The codebase, prompts, docs, and UI contain no stale pre-loop technical design language.
```
**Linear Project content must not contain:** child projects or issue mirrors.
Put concrete work in Linear tasks.
## Coherence
Linear tasks go stale — the codebase moves, other waves ship, intent evolves.
When you find incoherent tasks, fix them in place through
`lf pm task update`:
- **Finish line moved** — the goal was reached a different way → close the item.
- **Design diverged** — building it as written would fight the current
architecture → rewrite its title/notes to match reality.
- **Value diminished** — the 80% case is solved, the remainder is marginal →
close it or rewrite it down.
- **Items overlap** — two items describe the same work → close one, sharpen the
other.
This is housekeeping, not new work — the wave maintaining its own coherence. It
doesn't need human review.
## Silence
A wave with a current `GOAL.md` and `MEMORY.md` but nothing new to build is
**silent** — alive, watching its area, not proposing work. That's a healthy
state, not a failure. An empty Linear task list is fine. Shipping mediocre work to avoid
being empty trains the user to ignore the wave; staying quiet until there's
something genuinely compelling earns trust that compounds.
Keep the wave (its `GOAL.md`/`MEMORY.md` are its identity and sensor). Delete a
wave's directory only when it's standalone and its purpose is truly done, or the
human explicitly closes it.
## Output
Updated `wave/<wave>/MEMORY.md`, Linear Projects and their local cache when KRs
moved, `GOAL.md` if intent moved, task state in Linear that reflects reality,
and a trimmed `scratch/`.
**"No changes needed" is only valid when scratch/ is empty and Linear tasks
already match reality.** If scratch has files, something must move into
`MEMORY.md`, Linear tasks, or both.