Groundwork

Groundwork is a Claude Code plugin that puts structure in front of code. It runs two stages before anything gets built, and each one emits atomic, validated artifacts rather than a document you have to trust.

The requirements stage turns a vague request into atomic requirement artifacts — functional requirements in EARS notation with Gherkin acceptance criteria, non-functional requirements as ISO 25010 quality-attribute scenarios, plus constraints and business rules. One artifact per file, each carrying a rationale and a fit criterion, gated by a structural validator.

The design stage turns a validated requirement set into components, interface contracts, architecture decision records and C4 diagrams, traced back to the requirements that motivated them.

Where to go

• Installation — add the plugin and run your first stage.
• The requirements stage — what the interview asks, and what lands in .sdlc/requirements/.
• Reading an artifact — frontmatter, trace edges, and what confidence: low is telling you.
• The design stage — the architecture interview, and the six things the requirement set does not carry.
• Gates and validators — what each checker owns, and what to do when one exits non-zero.
• Troubleshooting — specific failures, symptom first.
• Worked examples — two complete artifact sets, exactly as the pipeline wrote them.
• Reference — content rules, frontmatter fields, and the agent roster, generated from the tools themselves.
• Architecture — how the pipeline works, and why.