Main Orchestrator
Purpose
To decompose high-level requirements into concrete, testable tasks and coordinate execution across domain orchestrators. Maintains epic progress, resolves cross-domain conflicts, and ensures quality gates are met.
When to Use This Skill
Use this skill when:
- Receiving product requirements documents (PRDs)
- User submits feature requests spanning multiple domains
- Need to break down complex workflows into tasks
- Coordinating cross-domain dependencies (frontend + backend + data)
- Epic-level planning and progress tracking is required
How to Use This Skill
Step 1: Analyze Requirements
Parse incoming requirements to identify:
- Affected domains (frontend, backend, data, devops)
- Cross-domain dependencies
- Quality standards to apply
- Test requirements for each component
Step 2: Create Epic Structure
Generate an epic with decomposed tasks:
epic:
id: "epic-{feature-name}"
priority: "critical|high|medium|low"
contexts: ["frontend", "backend", "data"]
tasks:
- task-001
- task-002
dependencies: {}
success_criteria: "measurable outcomes"
Step 3: Decompose into Tasks
For each task, use this template:
task:
id: "task-{number}-{feature}"
epic: "parent-epic-id"
context: "frontend|backend|data|devops"
when: "Start conditions"
who: "domain-orchestrator-skill"
where: "Code locations"
what: "Feature description"
how: "standards/standard-name.md"
goal: "Success criteria"
check:
valid: "Happy path scenarios"
error: "Error handling tests"
invalid: "Input validation tests"
edge: "Boundary conditions"
functional: "Business logic tests"
visual: "UI tests (if applicable)"
performance: "Load/speed tests"
security: "Security validation"
close: "Final state to record"
Step 4: Assign to Domain Orchestrators
Route tasks to appropriate orchestrators:
- frontend-orchestrator: UI/UX, components, state management
- backend-orchestrator: APIs, services, business logic
- data-orchestrator: ETL, pipelines, feature engineering
- test-orchestrator: Test strategy, coverage enforcement
- devops-orchestrator: Infrastructure, CI/CD, deployments
Step 5: Monitor and Coordinate
Track progress by:
- Reading
operations.logfor task completion events - Updating
ai-state/active/tasks.yamlwith task status - Resolving cross-domain conflicts
- Triggering human-docs generation on epic completion
Context Management
Read From
ai-state/knowledge/patterns.md- Proven architectural patternsai-state/knowledge/decisions.md- Past architecture decisionsoperations.log- Real-time event stream from all orchestratorsstandards/*.md- Quality standards to enforce
Write To
ai-state/active/tasks.yaml- Task registry (living document)operations.log- Orchestration events (append-only)ai-state/knowledge/decisions.md- Strategic architectural choices
Communication Protocol
Listen for Events
{
"event": "requirement.new",
"source": "user|product-manager",
"content": "requirement description"
}
Broadcast Events
{
"event": "task.created",
"orchestrator": "main",
"task_id": "task-001",
"assigned_to": "frontend-orchestrator",
"dependencies": ["task-002"],
"priority": "high"
}
Decision Criteria
When to Decompose vs Delegate
Decompose into multiple tasks when:
- Feature spans multiple domains (frontend + backend)
- Complex workflow with sequential steps
- Multiple skills need coordination
- Cross-domain dependencies exist
Delegate directly when:
- Single-domain feature (only frontend OR backend)
- Isolated component with no dependencies
- Single skill can handle end-to-end
Priority Assignment
- Critical - Security issues, data loss, breaking changes
- High - User-facing features, API changes, blockers
- Medium - Performance improvements, refactoring
- Low - Documentation, nice-to-have enhancements
Conflict Resolution
Backend-Frontend API Misalignment
Problem: Frontend needs API that backend hasn't built yet
Resolution:
- Create mock API task for frontend
- Update backend task with API contract
- Add dependency: frontend depends on backend completion
- Log decision in
knowledge/decisions.md
Circular Dependencies
Problem: Task A needs B, Task B needs A
Resolution:
- Identify shared requirement
- Extract into new Task C
- Make A and B both depend on C
- Re-sequence task order
Resource Constraints
Problem: Multiple critical tasks, limited skill availability
Resolution:
- Serialize tasks by business impact
- Document delay reasoning in task notes
- Communicate priority to stakeholders
- Update timeline estimates
Success Metrics
Monitor these metrics:
- Task completion rate > 90%
- Cross-context conflicts < 5%
- Epic cycle time within estimates
- Test coverage > 85% per task
- Zero critical issues in production
Example Usage
Input: OAuth2 Login Feature
requirement: "Add OAuth2 login with Google and GitHub"
Output: Decomposed Epic
epic:
id: "epic-oauth2"
priority: "high"
contexts: ["frontend", "backend", "data"]
tasks:
- task-001-oauth-ui:
context: "frontend"
who: "frontend-orchestrator"
what: "Add Google and GitHub login buttons"
how: "standards/frontend-standard.md"
dependencies: []
- task-002-oauth-api:
context: "backend"
who: "backend-orchestrator"
what: "Implement OAuth2 flow with provider integration"
how: "standards/backend-standard.md"
dependencies: []
- task-003-oauth-db:
context: "data"
who: "data-orchestrator"
what: "Add OAuth tokens table and user linking"
how: "standards/data-quality-standard.md"
dependencies: []
- task-004-oauth-tests:
context: "test"
who: "test-orchestrator"
what: "E2E tests for OAuth flows"
how: "standards/testing-requirements.md"
dependencies: ["task-001", "task-002", "task-003"]
Anti-Patterns to Avoid
- Creating mega-tasks spanning multiple contexts without decomposition
- Skipping test requirements to "save time"
- Bypassing orchestrators with direct skill invocation
- Ignoring failed tests and proceeding to next task
- Document-first development (write code first, document after)
- Forgetting to log events in operations.log
- Not updating task status in ai-state/active/tasks.yaml
Integration Points
With Domain Orchestrators
frontend-orchestrator:
- UI/UX components
- State management
- Visual testing
backend-orchestrator:
- API development
- Business logic
- Service integration
data-orchestrator:
- Schema changes
- Data migrations
- Pipeline updates
test-orchestrator:
- Test strategy
- Coverage enforcement
- Quality gates
devops-orchestrator:
- Infrastructure provisioning
- CI/CD pipeline updates
- Deployment coordination
With Human-Docs Skill
Trigger documentation generation when:
- Epic completes successfully
- Breaking changes introduced
- Architecture decisions made
Provide to human-docs:
- Task summaries
- Architecture decisions
- API contract changes