Create Story Workflow

Goal: Create a comprehensive story file that gives the dev agent everything needed for flawless implementation.

Your Role: Story context engine that prevents LLM developer mistakes, omissions, or disasters.

• Communicate all responses in {communication_language} and generate all documents in {document_output_language}
• Your purpose is NOT to copy from epics - it's to create a comprehensive, optimized story file that gives the DEV agent EVERYTHING needed for flawless implementation
• COMMON LLM MISTAKES TO PREVENT: reinventing wheels, wrong libraries, wrong file locations, breaking regressions, ignoring UX, vague implementations, lying about completion, not learning from past work
• EXHAUSTIVE ANALYSIS REQUIRED: You must thoroughly analyze ALL artifacts to extract critical context - do NOT be lazy or skim! This is the most important function in the entire development process!
• UTILIZE SUBPROCESSES AND SUBAGENTS: Use research subagents, subprocesses or parallel processing if available to thoroughly analyze different artifacts simultaneously and thoroughly
• SAVE QUESTIONS: If you think of questions or clarifications during analysis, save them for the end after the complete story is written
• ZERO USER INTERVENTION: Process should be fully automated except for initial epic/story selection or missing documents

Conventions

• Bare paths (e.g.

  discover-inputs.md

  ) resolve from the skill root.

• {skill-root}

  resolves to this skill's installed directory (where

  customize.toml

  lives).

• {project-root}

  -prefixed paths resolve from the project working directory.

• {skill-name}

  resolves to the skill directory's basename.

On Activation

Step 1: Resolve the Workflow Block

Run:

python3 {project-root}/_bmad/scripts/resolve_customization.py --skill {skill-root} --key workflow

If the script fails, resolve the

workflow

1. {skill-root}/customize.toml

   — defaults

2. {project-root}/_bmad/custom/{skill-name}.toml

   — team overrides

3. {project-root}/_bmad/custom/{skill-name}.user.toml

   — personal overrides

Any missing file is skipped. Scalars override, tables deep-merge, arrays of tables keyed by

code

id

Step 2: Execute Prepend Steps

Execute each entry in

{workflow.activation_steps_prepend}

Step 3: Load Persistent Facts

Treat every entry in

{workflow.persistent_facts}

file:

{project-root}

Step 4: Load Config

Load config from

{project-root}/_bmad/bmm/config.yaml

• project_name

  ,

  user_name

• communication_language

  ,

  document_output_language

• user_skill_level

• planning_artifacts

  ,

  implementation_artifacts

• date

  as system-generated current datetime

Step 5: Greet the User

Greet

{user_name}

{communication_language}

Step 6: Execute Append Steps

Execute each entry in

{workflow.activation_steps_append}

Activation is complete. Begin the workflow below.

Paths

• sprint_status

  =

  {implementation_artifacts}/sprint-status.yaml

• epics_file

  =

  {planning_artifacts}/epics.md

• prd_file

  =

  {planning_artifacts}/prd.md

• architecture_file

  =

  {planning_artifacts}/architecture.md

• ux_file

  =

  {planning_artifacts}/*ux*.md

• story_title

  = "" (will be elicited if not derivable)

• default_output_file

  =

  {implementation_artifacts}/{{story_key}}.md

Input Files

{planning_artifacts}/*prd*.md

{planning_artifacts}/*prd*/*.md

{planning_artifacts}/*architecture*.md

{planning_artifacts}/*architecture*/*.md

{planning_artifacts}/*ux*.md

{planning_artifacts}/*ux*/*.md

{planning_artifacts}/*epic*.md

{planning_artifacts}/*epic*/*.md

Execution

<action>Check if {{sprint_status}} file exists for auto discover</action> <check if="sprint status file does NOT exist"> <output>🚫 No sprint status file found and no story specified</output> <output> Required Options: 1. Run

sprint-planning

<check if="user chooses 'q'">
  <action>HALT - No work needed</action>
</check>

<check if="user chooses '1'">
  <output>Run sprint-planning workflow first to create sprint-status.yaml</output>
  <action>HALT - User needs to run sprint-planning</action>
</check>

<check if="user provides epic-story number">
  <action>Parse user input: extract epic_num, story_num, story_title</action>
  <action>Set {{epic_num}}, {{story_num}}, {{story_key}} from user input</action>
  <action>GOTO step 2a</action>
</check>

<check if="user provides story docs path">
  <action>Use user-provided path for story documents</action>
  <action>GOTO step 2a</action>
</check>

<action>Find the FIRST story (by reading in order from top to bottom) where:
  - Key matches pattern: number-number-name (e.g., "1-2-user-auth")
  - NOT an epic key (epic-X) or retrospective (epic-X-retrospective)
  - Status value equals "backlog"
</action>

<check if="no backlog story found">
  <output>📋 No backlog stories found in sprint-status.yaml

    All stories are either already created, in progress, or done.

    **Options:**
    1. Run sprint-planning to refresh story tracking
    2. Load PM agent and run correct-course to add more stories
    3. Check if current sprint is complete and run retrospective
  </output>
  <action>HALT</action>
</check>

<action>Extract from found story key (e.g., "1-2-user-authentication"):
  - epic_num: first number before dash (e.g., "1")
  - story_num: second number after first dash (e.g., "2")
  - story_title: remainder after second dash (e.g., "user-authentication")
</action>
<action>Set {{story_id}} = "{{epic_num}}.{{story_num}}"</action>
<action>Store story_key for later use (e.g., "1-2-user-authentication")</action>

<!-- Mark epic as in-progress if this is first story -->
<action>Check if this is the first story in epic {{epic_num}} by looking for {{epic_num}}-1-* pattern</action>
<check if="this is first story in epic {{epic_num}}">
  <action>Load {{sprint_status}} and check epic-{{epic_num}} status</action>
  <action>If epic status is "backlog" → update to "in-progress"</action>
  <action>If epic status is "contexted" (legacy status) → update to "in-progress" (backward compatibility)</action>
  <action>If epic status is "in-progress" → no change needed</action>
  <check if="epic status is 'done'">
    <output>🚫 ERROR: Cannot create story in completed epic</output>
    <output>Epic {{epic_num}} is marked as 'done'. All stories are complete.</output>
    <output>If you need to add more work, either:</output>
    <output>1. Manually change epic status back to 'in-progress' in sprint-status.yaml</output>
    <output>2. Create a new epic for additional work</output>
    <action>HALT - Cannot proceed</action>
  </check>
  <check if="epic status is not one of: backlog, contexted, in-progress, done">
    <output>🚫 ERROR: Invalid epic status '{{epic_status}}'</output>
    <output>Epic {{epic_num}} has invalid status. Expected: backlog, in-progress, or done</output>
    <output>Please fix sprint-status.yaml manually or run sprint-planning to regenerate</output>
    <action>HALT - Cannot proceed</action>
  </check>
  <output>📊 Epic {{epic_num}} status updated to in-progress</output>
</check>

<action>GOTO step 2a</action>

<action>Find the FIRST story (by reading in order from top to bottom) where: - Key matches pattern: number-number-name (e.g., "1-2-user-auth") - NOT an epic key (epic-X) or retrospective (epic-X-retrospective) - Status value equals "backlog" </action>

  All stories are either already created, in progress, or done.

  **Options:**
  1. Run sprint-planning to refresh story tracking
  2. Load PM agent and run correct-course to add more stories
  3. Check if current sprint is complete and run retrospective
</output>
<action>HALT</action>

<action>Extract from found story key (e.g., "1-2-user-authentication"): - epic_num: first number before dash (e.g., "1") - story_num: second number after first dash (e.g., "2") - story_title: remainder after second dash (e.g., "user-authentication") </action> <action>Set {{story_id}} = "{{epic_num}}.{{story_num}}"</action> <action>Store story_key for later use (e.g., "1-2-user-authentication")</action>

<action>Check if this is the first story in epic {{epic_num}} by looking for {{epic_num}}-1-* pattern</action> <check if="this is first story in epic {{epic_num}}"> <action>Load {{sprint_status}} and check epic-{{epic_num}} status</action> <action>If epic status is "backlog" → update to "in-progress"</action> <action>If epic status is "contexted" (legacy status) → update to "in-progress" (backward compatibility)</action> <action>If epic status is "in-progress" → no change needed</action> <check if="epic status is 'done'"> <output>ERROR: Cannot create story in completed epic</output> <output>Epic {{epic_num}} is marked as 'done'. All stories are complete.</output> <output>If you need to add more work, either:</output> <output>1. Manually change epic status back to 'in-progress' in sprint-status.yaml</output> <output>2. Create a new epic for additional work</output> <action>HALT - Cannot proceed</action> </check> <check if="epic status is not one of: backlog, contexted, in-progress, done"> <output>ERROR: Invalid epic status '{{epic_status}}'</output> <output>Epic {{epic_num}} has invalid status. Expected: backlog, in-progress, or done</output> <output>Please fix sprint-status.yaml manually or run sprint-planning to regenerate</output> <action>HALT - Cannot proceed</action> </check> <output>Epic {{epic_num}} status updated to in-progress</output> </check>

<action>GOTO step 2a</action> </step>

<action>Read fully and follow

./discover-inputs.md

persistent_facts

<action>From {epics_content}, extract Epic {{epic_num}} complete context:</action> EPIC ANALYSIS: - Epic objectives and business value - ALL stories in this epic for cross-story context - Our specific story's requirements, user story statement, acceptance criteria - Technical requirements and constraints - Dependencies on other stories/epics - Source hints pointing to original documents <!-- Extract specific story requirements --> <action>Extract our story ({{epic_num}}-{{story_num}}) details:</action> STORY FOUNDATION: - User story statement (As a, I want, so that) - Detailed acceptance criteria (already BDD formatted) - Technical requirements specific to this story - Business context and value - Success criteria <!-- Previous story analysis for context continuity --> <check if="story_num > 1"> <action>Find {{previous_story_num}}: scan {implementation_artifacts} for the story file in epic {{epic_num}} with the highest story number less than {{story_num}}</action> <action>Load previous story file: {implementation_artifacts}/{{epic_num}}-{{previous_story_num}}-*.md</action> PREVIOUS STORY INTELLIGENCE: - Dev notes and learnings from previous story - Review feedback and corrections needed - Files that were created/modified and their patterns - Testing approaches that worked/didn't work - Problems encountered and solutions found - Code patterns established <action>Extract all learnings that could impact current story implementation</action> </check>

<check if="previous story exists AND git repository detected"> <action>Get last 5 commit titles to understand recent work patterns</action> <action>Analyze 1-5 most recent commits for relevance to current story: - Files created/modified - Code patterns and conventions used - Library dependencies added/changed - Architecture decisions implemented - Testing approaches used </action> <action>Extract actionable insights for current story implementation</action> </check> </step>

<action>From architecture analysis, identify specific libraries, APIs, or frameworks</action> <action>For each critical technology, research latest stable version and key changes: - Latest API documentation and breaking changes - Security vulnerabilities or updates - Performance improvements or deprecations - Best practices for current version </action> EXTERNAL CONTEXT INCLUSION: <action>Include in story any critical latest information the developer needs: - Specific library versions and why chosen - API endpoints with parameters and authentication - Recent security patches or considerations - Performance optimization techniques - Migration considerations if upgrading </action> </step>

<action>Initialize from template.md: {default_output_file}</action> <template-output file="{default_output_file}">story_header</template-output>

<template-output file="{default_output_file}">story_requirements</template-output>

<check if="previous story learnings available"> <template-output file="{default_output_file}">previous_story_intelligence</template-output> </check>

<check if="git analysis completed"> <template-output file="{default_output_file}">git_intelligence_summary</template-output> </check>

<template-output file="{default_output_file}">project_context_reference</template-output>

<action>Set story Status to: "ready-for-dev"</action> <action>Add completion note: "Ultimate context engine analysis completed - comprehensive developer guide created"</action> </step>

<action>Report completion</action> <output>🎯 ULTIMATE BMad Method STORY CONTEXT CREATED, {user_name}!

**Story Details:**
- Story ID: {{story_id}}
- Story Key: {{story_key}}
- File: {{story_file}}
- Status: ready-for-dev

**Next Steps:**
1. Review the comprehensive story in {{story_file}}
2. Run dev agents `dev-story` for optimized implementation
3. Run `code-review` when complete (auto-marks done)
4. Optional: If Test Architect module installed, run `/bmad:tea:automate` after `dev-story` to generate guardrail tests

**The developer now has everything needed for flawless implementation!**