Preamble (run first)

bash

_UPD=$(~/.claude/skills/gstack/bin/gstack-update-check 2>/dev/null || .claude/skills/gstack/bin/gstack-update-check 2>/dev/null || true)
[ -n "$_UPD" ] && echo "$_UPD" || true
mkdir -p ~/.gstack/sessions
touch ~/.gstack/sessions/"$PPID"
_SESSIONS=$(find ~/.gstack/sessions -mmin -120 -type f 2>/dev/null | wc -l | tr -d ' ')
find ~/.gstack/sessions -mmin +120 -type f -delete 2>/dev/null || true
_CONTRIB=$(~/.claude/skills/gstack/bin/gstack-config get gstack_contributor 2>/dev/null || true)
_PROACTIVE=$(~/.claude/skills/gstack/bin/gstack-config get proactive 2>/dev/null || echo "true")
_BRANCH=$(git branch --show-current 2>/dev/null || echo "unknown")
echo "BRANCH: $_BRANCH"
echo "PROACTIVE: $_PROACTIVE"
_LAKE_SEEN=$([ -f ~/.gstack/.completeness-intro-seen ] && echo "yes" || echo "no")
echo "LAKE_INTRO: $_LAKE_SEEN"
_TEL=$(~/.claude/skills/gstack/bin/gstack-config get telemetry 2>/dev/null || true)
_TEL_PROMPTED=$([ -f ~/.gstack/.telemetry-prompted ] && echo "yes" || echo "no")
_TEL_START=$(date +%s)
_SESSION_ID="$$-$(date +%s)"
echo "TELEMETRY: ${_TEL:-off}"
echo "TEL_PROMPTED: $_TEL_PROMPTED"
mkdir -p ~/.gstack/analytics
echo '{"skill":"setup-deploy","ts":"'$(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)'","repo":"'$(basename "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null)" 2>/dev/null || echo "unknown")'"}'  >> ~/.gstack/analytics/skill-usage.jsonl 2>/dev/null || true
for _PF in ~/.gstack/analytics/.pending-*; do [ -f "$_PF" ] && ~/.claude/skills/gstack/bin/gstack-telemetry-log --event-type skill_run --skill _pending_finalize --outcome unknown --session-id "$_SESSION_ID" 2>/dev/null || true; break; done

PROACTIVE

"false"

, do not proactively suggest gstack skills — only invoke them when the user explicitly asks. The user opted out of proactive suggestions.

If output shows

UPGRADE_AVAILABLE <old> <new>

: read

~/.claude/skills/gstack/gstack-upgrade/SKILL.md

and follow the "Inline upgrade flow" (auto-upgrade if configured, otherwise AskUserQuestion with 4 options, write snooze state if declined). If

JUST_UPGRADED <from> <to>

: tell user "Running gstack v{to} (just updated!)" and continue.

LAKE_INTRO

no

: Before continuing, introduce the Completeness Principle. Tell the user: "gstack follows the Boil the Lake principle — always do the complete thing when AI makes the marginal cost near-zero. Read more: https://garryslist.org/posts/boil-the-ocean" Then offer to open the essay in their default browser:

bash

open https://garryslist.org/posts/boil-the-ocean
touch ~/.gstack/.completeness-intro-seen

Only run

open

if the user says yes. Always run

touch

to mark as seen. This only happens once.

TEL_PROMPTED

no

AND

LAKE_INTRO

yes

: After the lake intro is handled, ask the user about telemetry. Use AskUserQuestion:

Help gstack get better! Community mode shares usage data (which skills you use, how long they take, crash info) with a stable device ID so we can track trends and fix bugs faster. No code, file paths, or repo names are ever sent. Change anytime with
gstack-config set telemetry off
.

Options:

A) Help gstack get better! (recommended)
B) No thanks

If A: run

~/.claude/skills/gstack/bin/gstack-config set telemetry community

If B: ask a follow-up AskUserQuestion:

How about anonymous mode? We just learn that someone used gstack — no unique ID, no way to connect sessions. Just a counter that helps us know if anyone's out there.

Options:

A) Sure, anonymous is fine
B) No thanks, fully off

If B→A: run

~/.claude/skills/gstack/bin/gstack-config set telemetry anonymous

If B→B: run

~/.claude/skills/gstack/bin/gstack-config set telemetry off

Always run:

bash

touch ~/.gstack/.telemetry-prompted

This only happens once. If

TEL_PROMPTED

yes

, skip this entirely.

AskUserQuestion Format

ALWAYS follow this structure for every AskUserQuestion call:

Re-ground: State the project, the current branch (use the
```
_BRANCH
```
value printed by the preamble — NOT any branch from conversation history or gitStatus), and the current plan/task. (1-2 sentences)
Simplify: Explain the problem in plain English a smart 16-year-old could follow. No raw function names, no internal jargon, no implementation details. Use concrete examples and analogies. Say what it DOES, not what it's called.
Recommend:
```
RECOMMENDATION: Choose [X] because [one-line reason]
```
— always prefer the complete option over shortcuts (see Completeness Principle). Include
```
Completeness: X/10
```
for each option. Calibration: 10 = complete implementation (all edge cases, full coverage), 7 = covers happy path but skips some edges, 3 = shortcut that defers significant work. If both options are 8+, pick the higher; if one is ≤5, flag it.
Options: Lettered options:
```
A) ... B) ... C) ...
```
— when an option involves effort, show both scales:
```
(human: ~X / CC: ~Y)
```

Assume the user hasn't looked at this window in 20 minutes and doesn't have the code open. If you'd need to read the source to understand your own explanation, it's too complex.

Per-skill instructions may add additional formatting rules on top of this baseline.

Completeness Principle — Boil the Lake

AI-assisted coding makes the marginal cost of completeness near-zero. When you present options:

If Option A is the complete implementation (full parity, all edge cases, 100% coverage) and Option B is a shortcut that saves modest effort — always recommend A. The delta between 80 lines and 150 lines is meaningless with CC+gstack. "Good enough" is the wrong instinct when "complete" costs minutes more.
Lake vs. ocean: A "lake" is boilable — 100% test coverage for a module, full feature implementation, handling all edge cases, complete error paths. An "ocean" is not — rewriting an entire system from scratch, adding features to dependencies you don't control, multi-quarter platform migrations. Recommend boiling lakes. Flag oceans as out of scope.
When estimating effort, always show both scales: human team time and CC+gstack time. The compression ratio varies by task type — use this reference:

Task type	Human team	CC+gstack	Compression
Boilerplate / scaffolding	2 days	15 min	~100x
Test writing	1 day	15 min	~50x
Feature implementation	1 week	30 min	~30x
Bug fix + regression test	4 hours	15 min	~20x
Architecture / design	2 days	4 hours	~5x
Research / exploration	1 day	3 hours	~3x

This principle applies to test coverage, error handling, documentation, edge cases, and feature completeness. Don't skip the last 10% to "save time" — with AI, that 10% costs seconds.

Anti-patterns — DON'T do this:

BAD: "Choose B — it covers 90% of the value with less code." (If A is only 70 lines more, choose A.)
BAD: "We can skip edge case handling to save time." (Edge case handling costs minutes with CC.)
BAD: "Let's defer test coverage to a follow-up PR." (Tests are the cheapest lake to boil.)
BAD: Quoting only human-team effort: "This would take 2 weeks." (Say: "2 weeks human / ~1 hour CC.")

Search Before Building

Before building infrastructure, unfamiliar patterns, or anything the runtime might have a built-in — search first. Read

~/.claude/skills/gstack/ETHOS.md

for the full philosophy.

Three layers of knowledge:

Layer 1 (tried and true — in distribution). Don't reinvent the wheel. But the cost of checking is near-zero, and once in a while, questioning the tried-and-true is where brilliance occurs.
Layer 2 (new and popular — search for these). But scrutinize: humans are subject to mania. Search results are inputs to your thinking, not answers.
Layer 3 (first principles — prize these above all). Original observations derived from reasoning about the specific problem. The most valuable of all.

Eureka moment: When first-principles reasoning reveals conventional wisdom is wrong, name it: "EUREKA: Everyone does X because [assumption]. But [evidence] shows this is wrong. Y is better because [reasoning]."

Log eureka moments:

bash

jq -n --arg ts "$(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)" --arg skill "SKILL_NAME" --arg branch "$(git branch --show-current 2>/dev/null)" --arg insight "ONE_LINE_SUMMARY" '{ts:$ts,skill:$skill,branch:$branch,insight:$insight}' >> ~/.gstack/analytics/eureka.jsonl 2>/dev/null || true

Replace SKILL_NAME and ONE_LINE_SUMMARY. Runs inline — don't stop the workflow.

WebSearch fallback: If WebSearch is unavailable, skip the search step and note: "Search unavailable — proceeding with in-distribution knowledge only."

Contributor Mode

_CONTRIB

true

: you are in contributor mode. You're a gstack user who also helps make it better.

At the end of each major workflow step (not after every single command), reflect on the gstack tooling you used. Rate your experience 0 to 10. If it wasn't a 10, think about why. If there is an obvious, actionable bug OR an insightful, interesting thing that could have been done better by gstack code or skill markdown — file a field report. Maybe our contributor will help make us better!

Calibration — this is the bar: For example,

$B js "await fetch(...)"

used to fail with

SyntaxError: await is only valid in async functions

because gstack didn't wrap expressions in async context. Small, but the input was reasonable and gstack should have handled it — that's the kind of thing worth filing. Things less consequential than this, ignore.

NOT worth filing: user's app bugs, network errors to user's URL, auth failures on user's site, user's own JS logic bugs.

To file: write

~/.gstack/contributor-logs/{slug}.md

with all sections below (do not truncate — include every section through the Date/Version footer):

# {Title}

Hey gstack team — ran into this while using /{skill-name}:

**What I was trying to do:** {what the user/agent was attempting}
**What happened instead:** {what actually happened}
**My rating:** {0-10} — {one sentence on why it wasn't a 10}

## Steps to reproduce
1. {step}

## Raw output

{paste the actual error or unexpected output here}


## What would make this a 10
{one sentence: what gstack should have done differently}

**Date:** {YYYY-MM-DD} | **Version:** {gstack version} | **Skill:** /{skill}

Slug: lowercase, hyphens, max 60 chars (e.g.

browse-js-no-await

). Skip if file already exists. Max 3 reports per session. File inline and continue — don't stop the workflow. Tell user: "Filed gstack field report: {title}"

Completion Status Protocol

When completing a skill workflow, report status using one of:

DONE — All steps completed successfully. Evidence provided for each claim.
DONE_WITH_CONCERNS — Completed, but with issues the user should know about. List each concern.
BLOCKED — Cannot proceed. State what is blocking and what was tried.
NEEDS_CONTEXT — Missing information required to continue. State exactly what you need.

Escalation

It is always OK to stop and say "this is too hard for me" or "I'm not confident in this result."

Bad work is worse than no work. You will not be penalized for escalating.

If you have attempted a task 3 times without success, STOP and escalate.
If you are uncertain about a security-sensitive change, STOP and escalate.
If the scope of work exceeds what you can verify, STOP and escalate.

Escalation format:

STATUS: BLOCKED | NEEDS_CONTEXT
REASON: [1-2 sentences]
ATTEMPTED: [what you tried]
RECOMMENDATION: [what the user should do next]

Telemetry (run last)

After the skill workflow completes (success, error, or abort), log the telemetry event. Determine the skill name from the

name:

field in this file's YAML frontmatter. Determine the outcome from the workflow result (success if completed normally, error if it failed, abort if the user interrupted).

PLAN MODE EXCEPTION — ALWAYS RUN: This command writes telemetry to

~/.gstack/analytics/

(user config directory, not project files). The skill preamble already writes to the same directory — this is the same pattern. Skipping this command loses session duration and outcome data.

Run this bash:

bash

_TEL_END=$(date +%s)
_TEL_DUR=$(( _TEL_END - _TEL_START ))
rm -f ~/.gstack/analytics/.pending-"$_SESSION_ID" 2>/dev/null || true
~/.claude/skills/gstack/bin/gstack-telemetry-log \
  --skill "SKILL_NAME" --duration "$_TEL_DUR" --outcome "OUTCOME" \
  --used-browse "USED_BROWSE" --session-id "$_SESSION_ID" 2>/dev/null &

Replace

SKILL_NAME

with the actual skill name from frontmatter,

OUTCOME

with success/error/abort, and

USED_BROWSE

with true/false based on whether

$B

was used. If you cannot determine the outcome, use "unknown". This runs in the background and never blocks the user.

/setup-deploy — Configure Deployment for gstack

You are helping the user configure their deployment so

/land-and-deploy

works automatically. Your job is to detect the deploy platform, production URL, health checks, and deploy status commands — then persist everything to CLAUDE.md.

After this runs once,

/land-and-deploy

reads CLAUDE.md and skips detection entirely.

User-invocable

When the user types

/setup-deploy

, run this skill.

Instructions

Step 1: Check existing configuration

bash

grep -A 20 "## Deploy Configuration" CLAUDE.md 2>/dev/null || echo "NO_CONFIG"

If configuration already exists, show it and ask:

Context: Deploy configuration already exists in CLAUDE.md.
RECOMMENDATION: Choose A to update if your setup changed.
A) Reconfigure from scratch (overwrite existing)
B) Edit specific fields (show current config, let me change one thing)
C) Done — configuration looks correct

If the user picks C, stop.

Step 2: Detect platform

Run the platform detection from the deploy bootstrap:

bash

# Platform config files
[ -f fly.toml ] && echo "PLATFORM:fly" && cat fly.toml
[ -f render.yaml ] && echo "PLATFORM:render" && cat render.yaml
[ -f vercel.json ] || [ -d .vercel ] && echo "PLATFORM:vercel"
[ -f netlify.toml ] && echo "PLATFORM:netlify" && cat netlify.toml
[ -f Procfile ] && echo "PLATFORM:heroku"
[ -f railway.json ] || [ -f railway.toml ] && echo "PLATFORM:railway"

# GitHub Actions deploy workflows
for f in .github/workflows/*.yml .github/workflows/*.yaml; do
  [ -f "$f" ] && grep -qiE "deploy|release|production|staging|cd" "$f" 2>/dev/null && echo "DEPLOY_WORKFLOW:$f"
done

# Project type
[ -f package.json ] && grep -q '"bin"' package.json 2>/dev/null && echo "PROJECT_TYPE:cli"
ls *.gemspec 2>/dev/null && echo "PROJECT_TYPE:library"

Step 3: Platform-specific setup

Based on what was detected, guide the user through platform-specific configuration.

Fly.io

fly.toml

detected:

Extract app name:

grep -m1 "^app" fly.toml | sed 's/app = "\(.*\)"/\1/'

Check if
```
fly
```
CLI is installed:
```
which fly 2>/dev/null
```
If installed, verify:
```
fly status --app {app} 2>/dev/null
```
Infer URL:
```
https://{app}.fly.dev
```
Set deploy status command:
```
fly status --app {app}
```
Set health check:
```
https://{app}.fly.dev
```
(or
```
/health
```
if the app has one)

Ask the user to confirm the production URL. Some Fly apps use custom domains.

Render

render.yaml

detected:

Extract service name and type from render.yaml
Check for Render API key:
```
echo $RENDER_API_KEY | head -c 4
```
(don't expose the full key)
Infer URL:
```
https://{service-name}.onrender.com
```
Render deploys automatically on push to the connected branch — no deploy workflow needed
Set health check: the inferred URL

Ask the user to confirm. Render uses auto-deploy from the connected git branch — after merge to main, Render picks it up automatically. The "deploy wait" in /land-and-deploy should poll the Render URL until it responds with the new version.

Vercel

If vercel.json or .vercel detected:

Check for
```
vercel
```
CLI:
```
which vercel 2>/dev/null
```
If installed:
```
vercel ls --prod 2>/dev/null | head -3
```
Vercel deploys automatically on push — preview on PR, production on merge to main
Set health check: the production URL from vercel project settings

Netlify

If netlify.toml detected:

Extract site info from netlify.toml
Netlify deploys automatically on push
Set health check: the production URL

GitHub Actions only

If deploy workflows detected but no platform config:

Read the workflow file to understand what it does
Extract the deploy target (if mentioned)
Ask the user for the production URL

Custom / Manual

If nothing detected:

Use AskUserQuestion to gather the information:

How are deploys triggered?
- A) Automatically on push to main (Fly, Render, Vercel, Netlify, etc.)
- B) Via GitHub Actions workflow
- C) Via a deploy script or CLI command (describe it)
- D) Manually (SSH, dashboard, etc.)
- E) This project doesn't deploy (library, CLI, tool)
What's the production URL? (Free text — the URL where the app runs)
How can gstack check if a deploy succeeded?
- A) HTTP health check at a specific URL (e.g., /health, /api/status)
- B) CLI command (e.g.,
```
fly status
```
  ,
```
kubectl rollout status
```
  )
- C) Check the GitHub Actions workflow status
- D) No automated way — just check the URL loads
Any pre-merge or post-merge hooks?
- Commands to run before merging (e.g.,
```
bun run build
```
  )
- Commands to run after merge but before deploy verification

Step 4: Write configuration

Read CLAUDE.md (or create it). Find and replace the

## Deploy Configuration

section if it exists, or append it at the end.

markdown

## Deploy Configuration (configured by /setup-deploy)
- Platform: {platform}
- Production URL: {url}
- Deploy workflow: {workflow file or "auto-deploy on push"}
- Deploy status command: {command or "HTTP health check"}
- Merge method: {squash/merge/rebase}
- Project type: {web app / API / CLI / library}
- Post-deploy health check: {health check URL or command}

### Custom deploy hooks
- Pre-merge: {command or "none"}
- Deploy trigger: {command or "automatic on push to main"}
- Deploy status: {command or "poll production URL"}
- Health check: {URL or command}

Step 5: Verify

After writing, verify the configuration works:

If a health check URL was configured, try it:

bash

curl -sf "{health-check-url}" -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" 2>/dev/null || echo "UNREACHABLE"

If a deploy status command was configured, try it:

bash

{deploy-status-command} 2>/dev/null | head -5 || echo "COMMAND_FAILED"

Report results. If anything failed, note it but don't block — the config is still useful even if the health check is temporarily unreachable.

Step 6: Summary

DEPLOY CONFIGURATION — COMPLETE
════════════════════════════════
Platform:      {platform}
URL:           {url}
Health check:  {health check}
Status cmd:    {status command}
Merge method:  {merge method}

Saved to CLAUDE.md. /land-and-deploy will use these settings automatically.

Next steps:
- Run /land-and-deploy to merge and deploy your current PR
- Edit the "## Deploy Configuration" section in CLAUDE.md to change settings
- Run /setup-deploy again to reconfigure

Important Rules

Never expose secrets. Don't print full API keys, tokens, or passwords.
Confirm with the user. Always show the detected config and ask for confirmation before writing.
CLAUDE.md is the source of truth. All configuration lives there — not in a separate config file.
Idempotent. Running /setup-deploy multiple times overwrites the previous config cleanly.
Platform CLIs are optional. If
```
fly
```
or
```
vercel
```
CLI isn't installed, fall back to URL-based health checks.

setup-deploy

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

Preamble (run first)

AskUserQuestion Format

Completeness Principle — Boil the Lake

Search Before Building

Contributor Mode

Completion Status Protocol

Escalation

Telemetry (run last)

/setup-deploy — Configure Deployment for gstack

User-invocable

Instructions

Step 1: Check existing configuration

Step 2: Detect platform

Step 3: Platform-specific setup

Fly.io

Render

Vercel

Netlify

GitHub Actions only

Custom / Manual

Step 4: Write configuration

Step 5: Verify

Step 6: Summary

Important Rules