RAILS — Shape

Definition of done

Both @tristan and @dan feel confident using RAILS on real projects with other team members.

Scope

Slackbot infra

Must work reliably in project channels. Should not break when people use threads inside those channels.

Web dashboard

Multiple views at different zoom levels:

• Company: all projects in flight, organized by initiative
• Initiative: all projects for a particular initiative
• Project: state of a single project
• Stage: zoomed-in view of where a project currently sits Intentionally minimal/unstyled — avoid design opinions early so feedback stays on the process, not pixels (Spolsky's Iceberg Secret). Pull Slack profile pics for user avatars via the Slack API.

Assistant logic

Keeps projects on track and organized. Is genuinely helpful, not just a state machine. SOUL.md for personality.

File handling

Save all files shared in a project channel to the project's folder in the repo. Currently only images are downloaded — extend to all file types.

Migration / onboarding

A temporary process to onboard current in-flight projects to their correct states in RAILS. Once deployed, new projects just start in RAILS natively and this goes away.

Daily message archive

Save all messages from each project channel as a daily file in the project folder. Makes project context portable for AI workflows and preserves full history independent of context.md.

Stretch: context pull for coding sessions

Simple UX for a team member to pull all project context (history, decisions, blockers, deliverables, docs) into their interactive coding session (Claude Code, Codex, etc). Nice to have but likely a "wow" moment for team buy-in.

Stretch: company-wide context

A shared context file (team profiles, products, org structure) so the bot doesn't need things explained that everyone already knows. Could eventually live at the Contextone platform level.

Stretch: daily cron digest

Automated daily summary of where each project sits. Doubles as a default view in the web dashboard.

Stretch: RAILS bug/feature tracker

A lightweight way for RAILS users to quickly log bugs and feature requests without breaking flow. Keeps the "user hat" and "builder hat" separate while dogfooding.

Appetite

Small — a few days.

RAILS — Build (WIP)

This document is underway while the project is in Build. It will be finalized when the stage completes.

Entered Build: 2026-04-06 · Owner: @tristan · Initiative: Refounding

Goal

Get RAILS working well enough that both @tristan and @dan feel confident using it on real projects with other team members (from Shape definition of done).

What's been built

Slackbot infra

• Core listener/router/session architecture working in project channels
• Thread handling implemented — threads in a project channel are part of the same project conversation
• Mention-reply rules hardened (must always use slack-post.js)
• Auto-orientation on startup (finds project by channel ID, reads state + latest digest)

Web dashboard

• Live at hosted URL (contextone bug blocking it resolved Apr 7)
• Company kanban view landed
• Initiative, Project, and Stage zoom levels deferred — no real projects to test with yet

Assistant logic

• CLAUDE.md is the functional brain — stage management, git conventions, Slack conventions
• SOUL.md referenced via @import, left empty for human authoring
• claude-code-guide agent directive added for harness questions
• Bot personality and judgment improving through daily use

Daily digests (replaced context.md)

• daily_digests/manifest.md + YYYY-MM-DD.md structure — battle-tested from @dan's workflows
• Digests generated via /loop 1d (session-scoped; /schedule is upgrade path)
• Digests updated on stage transitions, not just daily
• Backfilled Apr 6–7 from original context.md

Stage model

• Originally 6 stages, split Execute into Build + Expedite (7 total: Backlog, Shape, Build, Expedite, Ship, Learn, Done)
• Stage definitions from original diagram codified in CLAUDE.md
• PR #3 merged with split + test fixes (94 tests passing)

File handling

• Images supported; non-image files still dropped on the floor

CLAUDE.md resilience

• Bot accidentally clobbered hardened rules twice during PR edits — caught and restored
• Memory added to prevent this in future sessions

What's in progress

• Project backfill skill — @tristan building a skill to onboard existing in-flight work into RAILS
• Migration of @dan's 10+ in-flight channels (last core Build item before this is a real tool)

What's not done yet

• Dashboard Initiative/Project/Stage zoom levels (deferred until real projects exist)
• File handling for non-image types
• Context pull for coding sessions (stretch)
• Company-wide context file (stretch)
• RAILS bug/feature tracker (stretch)

Open Questions (for Expedite)

• Document storage UX: git markdown works for agents but feels "disconnected" for humans. Likely a dashboard UI problem, not a format issue. Wikiwise renders markdown readably as a reference point.
• Where do product questions found during Build go? Consensus: park for Expedite batching, not one-by-one handling.
• Should project view show state from GitHub/Figma/Notion? Decision: keep RAILS as source of truth for stage/ownership, link out to external tools rather than mirror their state.
• Expedite feedback aggregation feature — @dan's idea for a RAILS-owned skill that constantly collects team feedback during polishing.
• Dashboard version history — surface git commit history for project docs so users can see what changed and why. Git gives this for free, just needs UI. (per @kris and @dan)
• Dashboard deep linking to doc sections (anchor on headings) + Slack link previews for inline context. (per @kris)
• Inline LLM editing — select part of a doc in the dashboard, give an instruction, get it updated. Key requirement: output must be trustworthy. (per @kris)
• Embedded video in docs — pull/trim Loom mp4s directly instead of linking out. (per @dan)
• Periodic jobs for daily digests — replace session-scoped /loop with contextone cron jobs that run at a fixed time. (per @tristan and @dan)