SDLC Pipeline

Track SDLC pipeline progress for software epics directly in VS Code. Visualize every phase — from planning to release — with agent ownership and real-time status.

Features

• Epic Tree View — sidebar panel showing all epics and their pipeline phases
• Pipeline Dashboard — visual dashboard with progress bars, phase dots, and hover details
• Phase Status — each phase shows: pending, in-progress, done, or blocked
• Agent Ownership — see which agent (PO, Tech Lead, QA, Dev, RM, SRE) owns each phase
• Pipeline Settings — enable/disable phases per epic via a settings panel
• Isolated Phase Sessions — open a dedicated editor session scoped to a single phase
• Claude Code MCP auto-config — extension wires up the SDLC MCP server; skills and agents become available inside Claude Code without manual setup

How It Works

The extension scans your docs/sdlc/epics/ folder for epic artifacts (PRD, Tech Design, Test Plan, etc.) and determines pipeline status based on file content — no external service required.

Pipeline Phases

Getting Started

1. Install the extension (VS Code Marketplace or Open VSX)
2. Open a workspace folder
3. The SDLC Pipeline icon appears in the activity bar
4. On first activation, the extension:
   • Creates docs/sdlc/epics/EPIC-1000/ with a starter epic + template set
   • Writes .claude/settings.json so Claude Code auto-loads the SDLC MCP server

Configuration

Use your own pipeline

If you have a private fork (e.g. company-specific SDLC with core-business docs), you can point the extension at it:

1. Open the Pipeline Settings panel (sidebar → … → Pipeline Settings, or Command Palette → SDLC: Pipeline Settings).
2. Scroll to MCP Pipeline Source at the top.
3. Enter your package spec — e.g.:
   • github:yourcompany/cf-sdlc-pipeline (GitHub repo, public or private with SSH auth)
   • @yourcompany/sdlc-pipeline (once published to npm)
4. Pick the platform that matches your project.
5. Click Apply & Reload MCP — the extension rewrites .claude/settings.json and Claude Code loads your pipeline on the next tool call.

To switch back, click Reset to Default.

How Sync Works (MCP Server)

When Claude Code boots the MCP server (triggered on the first MCP tool invocation per session), it runs syncWorkspace() against your project root. The server is published from hueanmy/aidlc-pipeline — pulled via npx -y github:hueanmy/aidlc-pipeline (or the npm package when available).

What gets synced on every boot

Into your project (cwd = workspace root):

<workspace>/
├── .claude/
│   ├── settings.json            # written by extension
│   ├── skills/
│   │   ├── _gate-check.md
│   │   ├── prd/SKILL.md         # merged: generic + platform overlay
│   │   ├── tech-design/SKILL.md
│   │   ├── test-plan/SKILL.md
│   │   └── ... (19 skills total)
│   └── agents/
│       ├── po.md                 # merged: generic + platform overlay
│       ├── tech-lead.md
│       ├── qa.md
│       └── ... (7 agents total)
└── docs/
    └── sdlc/
        ├── workflow/README.md    # scaffold (only if missing)
        └── epics/
            └── EPIC-1000/        # sample epic (only if missing)
                ├── EPIC-1000.md
                ├── PRD.md
                └── ITS.md

Layered merge (platform overrides)

Content is merged at boot using a simple overlay:

1. Generic — from the pipeline package root (skills/, agents/, templates/)
2. Platform — from platforms/<SDLC_PLATFORM>/<kind>/ (e.g., platforms/mobile/agents/po.md)
3. Project (optional) — from projects/<SDLC_PROJECT>/<kind>/

Later layers override sections of the earlier ones by matching ## headings. {{PLACEHOLDER}} tokens get substituted from the project's config.json if provided.

Timing

Claude Code boots MCP servers lazily — the server does not start until a slash command triggers an MCP tool call. Practical implications:

• First Claude Code session in a fresh workspace: slash commands may not appear immediately. Fire any / command (e.g. /dashboard) once to trigger boot → reload or reopen the prompt → commands appear.
• Subsequent sessions: sync runs again at first tool call, refreshing any out-of-date content.

If you want slash commands to work immediately without waiting for lazy boot, run once manually in the workspace:

npx -y github:hueanmy/aidlc-pipeline
# Ctrl+C after a second — sync has already run during startup.

Use with Claude Code

The extension auto-configures an MCP server in .claude/settings.json. Drive each phase by Jira epic key with slash commands — pass the key (e.g. ABC-123) and the pipeline will pull context from Jira automatically (requires the Atlassian MCP):

Use /dashboard to see pipeline status across all epics, or /pipeline EPIC-KEY-123 to run the full SDLC sequentially.

Walkthrough — start an epic from scratch

Assume your team created a new Jira epic ABC-123 with a linked Figma frame.

1. Scaffold the epic

/epic ABC-123

• Claude calls the Jira MCP to fetch the epic's title, description, children, document links, and Figma to pull design context.
• Claude creates docs/sdlc/epics/ABC-123/ with the epic template pre-filled (title, scope, acceptance criteria skeleton).
• The VS Code sidebar refreshes — ABC-123 appears with all phases in pending.

2. Draft the PRD

/prd ABC-123

• The Product Owner agent reads the Jira issue + any Figma link attached to it (via the Figma MCP) to extract screens, user flows, and design tokens.
• Writes docs/sdlc/epics/ABC-123/PRD.md with user stories, acceptance criteria, and analytics events.
• Plan phase flips to done; Design becomes in-progress.

3. Technical design

/tech-design ABC-123

• The Tech Lead agent reads the PRD + explores the current codebase to propose architecture, API contracts, file impact, and DI plan.
• Writes TECH-DESIGN.md.

4. Test plan

/test-plan ABC-123

• The QA Engineer agent maps PRD acceptance criteria to unit/UI/integration test cases.
• Writes TEST-PLAN.md.

5. Implement on a feature branch

Out of band — developer cuts feature/ABC-123-... and builds the code. Claude can assist as the Developer agent, constrained to the design + test plan.

6. Review the PR

/review <pr-url>

• Validates the PR diff against PRD + Tech Design + Test Plan and flags gaps.

7. UAT → Release → Monitor

/uat ABC-123      # QA generates UAT script
/release          # RM prepares release notes + git tag
/deploy           # RM deploys to uat/prod
/monitor          # SRE pulls crash + analytics for the first 24–48h

8. Close the loop

/doc-sync ABC-123

• The Archivist agent diffs planned docs vs shipped code and reverse-syncs the PRD/Tech Design so they reflect what actually shipped.

At any point, /dashboard shows the pipeline status for every epic, or you can run /pipeline ABC-123 to walk through phases 1 → 8 sequentially without invoking each skill by hand.

Commands

All commands are available via Cmd+Shift+P (or Ctrl+Shift+P):

Troubleshooting

Slash commands don't appear in Claude Code

Cause: the MCP server hasn't booted yet. Claude Code starts MCP servers lazily — only on the first MCP tool call.

Fix:

1. Type any / command (e.g. /list-skills) to trigger an MCP tool call. The server will boot and sync in the background.
2. Reload the Claude Code prompt / start a new chat → slash commands now discoverable.
3. Alternatively, warm up manually in your workspace root: npx -y github:hueanmy/aidlc-pipeline (kill after 1–2 seconds; the sync runs during startup).

.claude/skills/ or .claude/agents/ is empty after activation

Cause: the MCP server either hasn't run yet, or npx failed silently.

Fix:

1. Check the SDLC Pipeline output channel (View → Output → "SDLC Pipeline") for errors.
2. Verify .claude/settings.json contains a mcpServers.sdlc entry with command: "npx" and args: ["-y", "github:hueanmy/aidlc-pipeline"].
3. Try running it manually in a terminal from your workspace root:

   cd /path/to/your/project
   npx -y github:hueanmy/aidlc-pipeline
   

   If this works, .claude/skills/ and .claude/agents/ will populate. Kill with Ctrl+C.
4. If npx errors: rm -rf ~/.npm/_npx to clear the package cache, retry.

MCP config not written to .claude/settings.json

Cause: the extension skips configuration if cfPipeline.autoConfigureMcp is false, or if it detects an existing mcpServers.sdlc entry (it won't overwrite).

Fix:

1. Verify cfPipeline.autoConfigureMcp is true in VS Code settings.
2. If mcpServers.sdlc already exists but is misconfigured: delete that entry from .claude/settings.json, reload the window.
3. Open Command Palette → SDLC: Refresh Pipeline Status to re-trigger auto-config.

Slash commands use old or outdated content

Cause: npx caches the GitHub tarball; new commits to aidlc-pipeline aren't picked up automatically.

Fix:

rm -rf ~/.npm/_npx

Then reload Claude Code. The next MCP boot will re-download the latest main from GitHub.

"MCP server sdlc already configured, leaving as-is" in output

This is expected behavior after the first activation — the extension protects your hand-edited MCP config. If you need to reset:

1. Open .claude/settings.json
2. Delete the mcpServers.sdlc entry
3. Reload VS Code window — the extension will re-create it with the latest defaults.

Epic folder doesn't show up in the sidebar

Cause: the extension only treats folders matching [A-Z][A-Z0-9]*-\d+ (e.g. ABC-123, EPIC-2100) as epics.

Fix: rename the folder to match the pattern. Folders like my-feature/ or abc-123/ (lowercase) are ignored.

Platform-specific agents not loading

Cause: only platforms/mobile/ has overrides shipped today. Other platforms (web, backend, desktop, generic) fall back to generic content — this is normal.

Fix: if you need platform-specific overlays, contribute them upstream to hueanmy/aidlc-pipeline under platforms/<name>/.

Extension activates but no tree view appears

Cause: a workspace folder must be open (file-only mode is not enough).

Fix: File → Open Folder → select your project root → reload.

Nothing in docs/sdlc/epics/ after activation

Cause: the extension only seeds EPIC-1000 on the very first activation if the folder is empty. If there's already any folder inside, no seed is created.

Fix:

1. Run SDLC: Select Epics Folder and pick a new empty folder, or
2. Manually delete any *-NNNN/ folder first, reload window, and activation will seed EPIC-1000.

Where to find logs

• Extension side: View → Output → "SDLC Pipeline" channel
• Claude Code / MCP side: Claude Code output panel, or run the MCP manually with npx -y github:hueanmy/aidlc-pipeline in a terminal — all server logs go to stderr.

Requirements

• VS Code 1.85.0+ (or compatible: VSCodium, Cursor, Windsurf)
• A workspace folder (not single-file mode)
• Claude Code extension/app for slash command support
• Network access for npx to fetch the MCP server from GitHub
• Optional: Atlassian MCP for Jira integration, Figma MCP for design context

License

MIT