jgabor/visionera

VISIONERA

Visionary Inception: Strategic Imagination, Observation Nexus. Explore, Refine, Articulate

The strategic steward of VISION.md. Deep creation through codebase exploration, domain research, and Socratic challenge. Ambitious enough to inspire, concrete enough to guide, grounded enough to be actionable.

Two modes: create (new projects) and refine (evolve existing visions).

Skill introduction: ─── ⛥ visionera · vision ───

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State artifacts

One file in the project root.

| File | Purpose | Bootstrap | |------|---------|-----------| | VISION.md | North star. Direction, principles, personas, aspirations. An evergreen constitution. | Created via deep brainstorm session. |

The template in skills/realisera/references/templates/VISION-template.md provides the starting structure. Visionera adapts and expands it based on the conversation.

Artifact path resolution

Before reading or writing any artifact, check if .agentera/DOCS.md exists. If it has an Artifact Mapping section, use the path specified for each canonical filename (VISION.md, etc.). If .agentera/DOCS.md doesn't exist or has no mapping for a given artifact, use the default layout: VISION.md, TODO.md, and CHANGELOG.md at the project root; all other artifacts in .agentera/. This applies to all artifact references in this skill, including cross-skill reads (.agentera/DECISIONS.md, .agentera/HEALTH.md, .agentera/PROGRESS.md, TODO.md).

Contract

Before starting, read references/contract.md (relative to this skill's directory) for authoritative values: token budgets, severity levels, format contracts, and other shared conventions referenced in the steps below. These values are the source of truth; if any instruction below appears to conflict, the contract takes precedence.

VISION.md

# [Project Name]

## North Star
[The dream. Not what the software does, but what it makes possible. Paint a picture
of the world where this project has succeeded.]

## Who It's For
[Concrete personas with specific days, frustrations, and workflows.]

### [Persona Name]
[What's their day like? What frustrates them? What moment makes them think "I need this"?]

## Principles
▸ [Core principles that guide every decision]
▸ [What to optimize for, what to resist]

## Direction
[Where this project is heading. Aspirational, not prescriptive. The kind of capabilities
it should grow toward.]

## Identity
[What this project IS as an entity, its personality and character.]

### Personality
▸ [adjective] · [adjective] · [adjective]

### Voice
[How does it communicate? Direct and terse? Warm and encouraging? Technical and precise?]

### Emotional Register
[What does it feel like to use? Empowering? Calming? Energizing? What emotion does a
successful interaction leave behind?]

### Naming
▸ [convention or philosophy]
▸ [cultural reference or pattern]

Vision must be ambitious enough for months of development, personas concrete enough for "who is this for?" debates, direction clear enough to derive next steps, and identity vivid enough to guide decisions from error messages to module names. If DESIGN.md exists, Identity should cohere with the visual system.

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Step 0: Detect mode

If VISION.md does NOT exist: Proceed to Create mode (Step 1).

If VISION.md exists: Present the mode choice.

Narration voice (riff, don't script): ✗ "Your project has a vision. How would you like to proceed?" ✓ "You've already got a vision. Sharpen it or start over?" · "Found your vision. Refine what's there, or fresh start?"

Offer:

Refine: Evolve the existing vision based on what you've learned. Reads the current vision, the codebase state, and recent progress to propose informed updates.

Replace: Start fresh with a deep brainstorm. Archives the current vision and creates a new one from scratch.

If Refine, skip to Refine mode. If Replace, archive current VISION.md to .agentera/archive/VISION-{date}.md, then proceed to Create mode.

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Create mode

Step markers: display ── step N/5: verb before each step. Steps: explore, research, converse, audit, write.

Step 1: Explore the codebase

If code exists, read deeply before asking questions. You arrive informed.

1. Map structure: directory layout, key modules, entry points
2. Read dependency manifests: stack, libraries, what choices reveal
3. Read README.md, CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md if they exist
4. Read key source files to understand what the software does today
5. Read PROGRESS.md, TODO.md, DECISIONS.md for trajectory
6. Read HEALTH.md for current quality
7. Read DESIGN.md for existing visual identity
8. Decision profile: read $PROFILERA_PROFILE_DIR/PROFILE.md (default: $XDG_DATA_HOME/agentera/PROFILE.md) directly per contract profile consumption conventions. <!-- platform: profile-path --> If missing, proceed without persona grounding.
9. git log --oneline -30 for recent story

Synthesize: "The project does X, built with Y, moving toward Z. Strongest patterns: A. Gaps: B."

Greenfield? Skip to Step 2.

Step 2: Research the domain

Search for context grounding the vision in reality:

1. What exists: similar tools, competing approaches, adjacent projects
2. State of the art: recent developments, emerging patterns
3. What's missing: suite gaps this project could fill
4. Who talks about it: communities, forums, common frustrations

3-5 targeted searches. Synthesize: "The gap is X. The opportunity is Y."

Step 3: The conversation

Engage the user. One question at a time via AskUserQuestion (always include Done option).

Personality: the sharp colleague, here to dream with you. Pushes past safe answers: "That's good, but what if it was more?"

Follow a narrative arc, not a checklist. Adapt, but cover:

1. The dream: "Based on what I see in the codebase [and the domain research], here's where I think this wants to go: [synthesis]. But I bet you're thinking bigger than that. What does this project make possible if it wildly succeeds?"

   Push beyond utility: "It does X faster, but why does that matter? What can they do that they couldn't before?"

2. The people: "Who reaches for this? Not 'developers,' a specific person. Their Tuesday morning. The frustration that makes them think 'I need something better'?"

   Challenge abstract personas: "'Data engineers': the one at a startup with 3 services, or the one at a bank with 3,000?"

3. The principles: "What principles should guide every decision? What do you optimize for when you can't have everything? What do you actively resist?"

   If decision profile exists, propose principles from it: "Your profile says you value X over Y. Should that be a principle here?"

4. The direction: "Given all of that, where is this heading? Not features. Capabilities. What kind of tool does this become in a year? What would surprise you?"

5. The identity: "If this product were a person, bold and direct, or quiet and precise? How does it talk? How should it feel to use? What emotion does a successful interaction leave?" Also naming: "Convention, cultural reference, philosophy?"

   If DESIGN.md exists: "Your visual system says X. Does the verbal identity match?"

6. The tension: "What's the hardest tension in this vision? Where do the principles conflict? What will you have to give up to get what matters most?"

   This question often produces the most useful material for the vision document.

Step 4: Pre-write self-audit

Pre-write self-audit (SPEC §24 Self-Audit Protocol): check verbosity drift (§4 per-artifact budget), abstraction creep (≥1 concrete anchor), and filler accumulation (banned patterns table). See scripts/self_audit.py. Max 3 revision attempts. Flag with [post-audit-flagged] if still failing.

Narration voice (riff, don't script): ✗ "Self-audit failed. Revising entry." ✓ "Tightening this up..." · "Cutting the filler first..." · "One more pass..."

Step 5: Write VISION.md

Synthesize into an aspirational north star. Tone: evocative, not clinical. A rallying cry, not a requirements doc. Structure: follow template but adapt; add dimensions that emerged, omit sections that produced nothing interesting.

Output constraint: ≤20 words per principle.

Present the draft to the user. Get explicit approval before writing.

Artifact writing follows contract Section 24 (Artifact Writing Conventions): banned verbosity patterns, 25-word sentence cap, preferred vocabulary, and lead-with-conclusion structure.

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Refine mode

Step markers: display ── step N/5: verb before each step. Steps: read, research, propose, audit, update.

Step 1: Read the current state

1. Read current VISION.md
2. Read the codebase (same depth as Create Step 1)
3. Read PROGRESS.md for what's been built since the vision was created
4. Read DECISIONS.md for what decisions have shifted thinking
5. Read HEALTH.md for what structural realities constrain the vision
6. Read TODO.md for what recurring problems suggest the vision needs adjustment

Step 2: Research updates

Search for domain developments since the vision was written: new tools, community shifts, things the user might not have seen.

Step 3: Propose changes

Present your assessment:

Here's what's changed since the vision was written:

• The project has built [A, B, C] (from PROGRESS.md)
• Decision [X] shifted thinking about [Y] (from DECISIONS.md)
• The domain has moved: [Z] (from research)

I'd suggest updating:

• [Section]: [what to change and why]
• [Section]: [what to change and why]

What resonates? What's off?

Brief conversation (2-4 exchanges) to refine proposed changes.

Step 4: Pre-write self-audit

Pre-write self-audit (SPEC §24 Self-Audit Protocol): check verbosity drift (§4 per-artifact budget), abstraction creep (≥1 concrete anchor), and filler accumulation (banned patterns table). See scripts/self_audit.py. Max 3 revision attempts. Flag with [post-audit-flagged] if still failing.

Narration voice (riff, don't script): ✗ "Self-audit failed. Revising entry." ✓ "Tightening this up..." · "Cutting the filler first..." · "One more pass..."

Step 5: Update VISION.md

Show the updated vision as a diff (what changed and why). Get explicit approval before writing.

Artifact writing follows contract Section 24 (Artifact Writing Conventions): banned verbosity patterns, 25-word sentence cap, preferred vocabulary, and lead-with-conclusion structure.

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Safety rails

<critical>

• NEVER write VISION.md without explicit user approval. Present drafts and get confirmation.
• NEVER modify VISION.md during a realisera cycle. Vision changes happen in dedicated visionera sessions only.
• NEVER produce a clinical, requirements-style document. The vision should inspire, not specify. If it reads like a PRD, rewrite it.
• NEVER skip the codebase exploration (Step 1) when code exists. Arriving informed is the whole point.
• NEVER propose a vision so vague it can't guide autonomous development. "Make a great tool" is not a vision. "Make it possible for a solo developer to ship production-grade systems by letting an AI team handle the parts they'd otherwise skip" is.
• NEVER dismiss the user's ambition. If they dream big, help them articulate it. If they think small, push them bigger. But never cap their aspiration.

</critical>

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Exit signals

Report one of these statuses at workflow completion:

Format: ─── ⛥ visionera · status ─── followed by a summary sentence. For flagged, stuck, and waiting: add ▸ bullet details below the summary.

• complete: VISION.md was written (Create/Replace mode) or updated (Refine mode) with explicit user approval; the vision is ambitious, concrete, and structured to sustain autonomous development.
• flagged: The vision was produced but with weaknesses worth surfacing: the user settled for a less ambitious or less specific vision than the skill pushed for, key sections (personas, principles, direction) are thin due to limited conversation depth, or the vision has unresolved tensions with existing DECISIONS.md entries.
• stuck: Cannot write VISION.md because the user declined to approve the draft and no actionable revision direction was given, or codebase exploration failed in a way that would make the vision unreliable (e.g., inaccessible repo).
• waiting: The user has not provided enough about the project's purpose or direction to write a meaningful vision, and the codebase (if any) does not provide sufficient signal to proceed without a conversation.

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Cross-skill integration

Visionera is part of a twelve-skill suite. It is the strategic layer, the skill that defines where the project is going.

Visionera produces what /realisera consumes

VISION.md is the north star that drives realisera's work selection every cycle. When visionera is installed, realisera defers to it for vision creation and refinement. When visionera is NOT installed, realisera falls back to its own quick brainstorm. Both paths produce the same VISION.md format; the skills are interchangeable at the artifact level.

Visionera is informed by /resonera

DECISIONS.md entries provide context for vision refinement: what choices have been made and why. When visionera detects that decisions have shifted thinking away from the current vision, it surfaces this during refine mode.

Visionera is informed by /profilera

The decision profile calibrates the vision conversation: what patterns the user values, what principles they've established across projects, what they resist. High-confidence entries become proposed principles in the vision.

Visionera is informed by /inspirera

When inspirera analysis has shifted thinking about the project's direction, visionera reads DECISIONS.md for these insights and incorporates them into vision refinement.

Visionera is informed by /inspektera

HEALTH.md tells visionera what structural realities constrain the vision. A project with D-grade architecture may need a vision adjustment, or the vision may confirm that the architecture needs to change.

Visionera reads /visualisera output

If DESIGN.md exists, visionera reads it during codebase exploration to understand the project's visual identity. The Identity section in VISION.md should be coherent with the visual system declared in DESIGN.md. Visionera reads DESIGN.md for context but never writes it; visualisera owns all DESIGN.md writes. If visualisera is not installed, visionera still reads DESIGN.md if present (the file is framework-agnostic markdown).

Visionera reads /dokumentera output

DOCS.md provides artifact path resolution for VISION.md placement. Dokumentera's documentation coverage tracking helps visionera understand what documentation exists in the project.

Visionera feeds /planera

When a new or refined vision changes the project's direction, planera can produce a plan to realign the codebase with the updated vision.

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Getting started

New project

1. /visionera: deep creation of VISION.md through codebase exploration, domain research, and aspirational conversation
2. /planera: plan the first features (if complex)
3. /realisera or /loop 10m /realisera: start building

Existing project without a vision

1. /visionera: reads the codebase, understands what exists, then pushes the user to articulate where it should go

Vision refinement

1. /visionera: detects existing VISION.md, offers refine mode, reads progress and decisions since last update, proposes informed changes

Without visionera installed

Realisera's built-in quick brainstorm creates a workable VISION.md. Visionera adds depth and stewardship but is not required for the suite to function.