---

name: start description: "Start or resume an Elixir rewrite of an app in any language (Rails, Django, PHP, Node, Go, Java, .NET, others) and show its status. Use when someone wants to port, migrate or rewrite an app into Elixir/Phoenix." effort: medium argument-hint: "[<legacy-app-path>] [--steering <dir>] [--oracle <dir>] [--status] [--auto]"

Rewrite Start — Entry, Resume, Status

The front door of the rewrite workflow. It explains the method once, finds where an existing rewrite stands, checks that the legacy source has not changed underneath it, and routes to the next phase.

/rewrite:start → /rewrite:analyze → /rewrite:architect → /rewrite:roadmap
                                                             ↓ per slice
                         /rewrite:verify ← /phx:work ← /phx:plan

Iron Laws

1. ONE PHASE AT A TIME — route to the next phase; with --auto, chain only analyze → architect → roadmap
2. IDENTITY BEFORE RESUME — compare the source snapshot before trusting earlier artifacts
3. STATE COMES FROM FILES — read .claude/rewrite/ and the ledger script, never memory of a previous session
4. --auto STOPS AT DECISIONS — it never approves ASSUMED choices, never starts /phx:work, never deploys or touches production data
5. LEGACY STAYS READ-ONLY — never write into or execute the source app

Workflow

1. Check dependencies and detect state

If the phx:plan skill is not in this session's skill list, tell the user to install elixir-phoenix from the marketplace that provided rewrite (/plugin install elixir-phoenix@oliver-kriska, or that marketplace's name), then run /reload-plugins. Without it the architect consults and the /phx:plan handoff fail, so --auto stops after analyze.

ls .claude/rewrite/ .claude/rewrite/architecture/ 2>/dev/null && sed -n '1,40p' .claude/rewrite/status.md
python3 "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../architect/scripts/ledger.py" check --rewrite-dir .claude/rewrite  # once architecture.md exists

Read the first matching row, top to bottom. An active slice comes before seeding a new one:

| Found | State | Next | |-------|-------|------| | nothing | new | step 2, then /rewrite:analyze <path> | | phase analyzing, or an analysis/*.md missing | analyze incomplete | /rewrite:analyze <Source path> | | analysis/*.md, no ADR-000 | analyzed | /rewrite:architect | | ADR-000, no architecture.md | architect incomplete | /rewrite:architect (resumes at step 4) | | ADR-000 + architecture.md, but decisions.md or divergences.md missing, phase architecting, or ledger.py check fails | architect incomplete | /rewrite:architect (resumes at step 4 or 5) | | ADR-000 + architecture.md + decisions.md + divergences.md, clean ledger, no roadmap.md | architected | /rewrite:roadmap | | a slice planned or in-progress whose plan.md has at least one - [x] and no - [ ] | awaiting gate | /rewrite:verify NN | | a slice planned or in-progress | building | /phx:work .claude/plans/{slug}/plan.md, then /rewrite:verify NN | | roadmap.md with ready or seeded slices | slicing | /rewrite:roadmap --next | | every slice done | complete | release rehearsal slice, or close out |

2. New rewrite: explain once, then analyze

In five lines or fewer, tell the user how this works: features are goals, every mechanism's purpose is recovered before it is ported, the compatibility bar comes before architecture, slices go to /phx:plan, and parity needs evidence. Then run /rewrite:analyze with the path (ask for it if missing). The artifacts go to ./.claude/rewrite/ in the current directory; that must be the Elixir project or an empty workspace, not the legacy app.

3. Resume: check identity

SOURCE=$(sed -n 's/^Source path: //p' .claude/rewrite/status.md)
TARGET=$(sed -n 's/^Target path: //p' .claude/rewrite/status.md); [ "$(pwd -P)" = "$TARGET" ]
python3 "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../analyze/scripts/inventory.py" "$SOURCE" \
  --compare .claude/rewrite/inventory/inventory.json

Stop and name Target path when the cwd differs. Exit 1 from --compare lists the changed identity fields. For a git source, show what changed since the recorded sha:

git -C "$SOURCE" diff --stat {recorded_sha}..HEAD

Ask whether to re-analyze the changed areas (/rewrite:analyze --scope …). Mark evidence stale for ledger rows whose anchors fall in changed files.

4. Status (--status, or always on resume)

python3 "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../architect/scripts/ledger.py" stats --rewrite-dir .claude/rewrite
grep -E "^\| [0-9]{2}[a-z]? " .claude/rewrite/roadmap.md

Show: phase, ADR-000 status (accepted or ASSUMED), ledger verified-of- denominator with UNDECIDED and accepted-risk counts, slices by state, pending divergences, and the single next command.

5. --auto chain

Run /rewrite:analyze <path> --auto (passing any --steering or --oracle), then /rewrite:architect --auto, then /rewrite:roadmap --auto, each via the Skill tool from this session. Stop early when a phase reports a blocker. End with the list of ASSUMED decisions the user must approve and the next command; /phx:plan runs only when no consequential decision is ASSUMED or pending.

Headless or CI runs (claude -p) stop background agents 10 minutes after the last turn. Lift that ceiling for the whole chain:

CLAUDE_CODE_PRINT_BG_WAIT_CEILING_MS=0 claude -p "/rewrite:start /path/to/legacy --auto"

Artifacts (.claude/rewrite/)

| Path | Written by | |------|------------| | status.md, charter.md, inventory/, kb/, analysis/ (incl. budget.md) | analyze | | ledger.md, architecture/ (ADR-000-compatibility-bar.md, architecture.md, decisions.md, divergences.md, adr/, consults/) | architect | | roadmap.md, ../plans/rewrite-NN-*/interview.md + scratchpad.md | roadmap | | verify/NN/ (preflight, evidence, idiom, parity, report), verify/accepted-risks.md | verify (risks: user only) |

Arguments

• <legacy-app-path> — the app to rewrite (new rewrites)
• --steering <dir>, --oracle <dir> — passed to analyze: docs that steer it, and a test or API suite outside the app (read and graded, never run)
• --status — report only
• --auto — chain analyze → architect → roadmap without questions; defaults recorded as ASSUMED