Forge4

Which one do I want? Forge4 is the frozen Claude 4 generation edition, tuned with the defensive, verification-heavy prompting that suits Claude 4 models. If you are on a Claude 5 model (Opus 5, Fable 5), use forge-workflow (command /forge) instead, which is leaned out for v5. Both install side by side from the same dailen catalog, so you can keep both and use whichever fits your model.

A gated spec-to-ship lifecycle for Claude Code: one command works out where your project stands and does the next thing, from requirements discovery through toolchain bootstrap to test-driven implementation and a tagged release.

You only need to remember one command:

/forge4

It detects the current phase, reconciles the recorded state against the repository, and either continues the work or starts the next phase. The phase commands exist as overrides, not as something you sequence by hand.

Read the guide first

If you are not a developer, or you just want the tour before installing, read the illustrated guide:

https://daileng.github.io/forge4-workflow/

It explains what Forge4 does, what each phase feels like, and what lands in your project, in plain language with no jargon.

Install (marketplace)

Two commands. The first tells Claude Code where to find the catalog; the second installs the plugin.

claude plugin marketplace add DailenG/dailens-claude-toolbelt
claude plugin install forge4-workflow@dailen

Confirm when prompted, then run /reload-plugins or restart Claude Code. Type / and you should see forge4 in the list. When a new version ships later, claude plugin marketplace update dailen pulls it down.

Forge4 is distributed through the dailen marketplace catalog at DailenG/dailens-claude-toolbelt. Add the marketplace by that shorthand, which clones the catalog so the plugin resolves correctly. Do not add it by a direct link to the raw marketplace.json file: a URL-only marketplace downloads just that one file and cannot resolve the plugin source.

Install (manual)

A secondary option if you would rather drop the folder into place by hand. Download forge4-workflow.zip from the releases page, close Claude Code, and extract it so the folder lands here:

~/.claude/skills/forge4-workflow/

On Windows that path is %USERPROFILE%\.claude\skills\forge4-workflow\, and the .claude folder is hidden, so paste the path into the Explorer address bar. It loads on the next session as forge4-workflow@skills-dir. Verify it:

claude plugin validate ~/.claude/skills/forge4-workflow --strict
claude plugin list

On Linux and macOS, make the hook scripts executable: chmod +x ~/.claude/skills/forge4-workflow/scripts/*.js. On Windows, skip that step.

SKILL.md edits apply immediately; changes under hooks/ need /reload-plugins or a restart.

Requirements

• Claude Code. Forge4 is a Claude Code plugin (skills plus hooks). It does nothing on its own.
• Node.js on PATH. The hook scripts are Node. Forge4 does not ask you to check for it: /forge4 verifies its own machinery and tells you if something is missing. Without working hooks the workflow still runs, but cold-start resumption becomes best-effort instead of guaranteed, because the SessionStart hook is what injects CONTINUE.md into a fresh chat. Phase 1 checks for Node before it creates the file the hooks depend on.

Commands

Command	What it does
/forge4	Detect the phase, reconcile state against git, do the next thing. This is the one you use
/forge4-spec	Phase 1 override: requirements to 95 percent confidence, produces docs/SRS.md
/forge4-env	Phase 2 override: toolchain from zero, repos, code intelligence, testing, hooks, CI
/forge4-code	Phase 3 override: test-driven implementation in vertical slices

forge4-standards loads automatically in any project containing CONTINUE.md, TODO.md, or docs/SRS.md. The three phase skills are explicit-invocation only, so Claude cannot wander into a phase on its own. /forge4 also covers resuming: "where am I" and "what was I doing" get the same answer.

The three phases and their gates

1. Spec. Requirements discovery. Claude asks questions in small batches and scores its understanding across ten areas, reporting the lowest score rather than the average. It keeps going until the lowest reaches 95. The phase ends with a written docs/SRS.md and a full stop: Claude will not approve its own spec. You read it and approve. This gate is always strict.
2. Env. Toolchain and repository bootstrap. It inventories the machine, installs only what is genuinely missing, sets up the repo, testing harness, git hooks, and CI, and proves the test runner actually reports failures rather than silently passing.
3. Code. Test-driven implementation, one short-lived branch per vertical slice. Tests are written first and watched to fail before they pass. A pre-push hook runs build, tests, lint, and a secret scan, and it is the only automated gate before main, so --no-verify is prohibited. When the milestone backlog empties and the release gates pass, Forge4 switches to a strict mode and proposes a tagged release.

Default mode is FLOW (proceed between slices without asking, report after each). STRICT engages automatically as a release comes into reach, and some gates are always strict regardless of mode: SRS approval, repository visibility, anything needing elevation, discarding uncommitted work, tagging or publishing, adding a dependency not named in the SRS, and any discrepancy between the record and the repository.

What it creates in your project

File	Purpose
CONTINUE.md	Phase, gate, mode, and where work stands. Drives the detection ladder
TODO.md	Work needed, in progress, completed
docs/SRS.md	The specification. Living, amended by change log only
docs/DECISIONS.md	Dated decision record
docs/ENVIRONMENT.md	Machine profile, tool versions, manual steps performed
docs/traceability.md	Requirement to test mapping. v1.0.0 cannot be tagged until it is complete
docs/docs-manifest.yml	Doc page to symbol map, drives the CI drift gate
docs/images/MANIFEST.md	Screenshot inventory and capture state
CHANGELOG.md	Generated by git-cliff from conventional commits

Templates live in templates/. Phase 1 creates CONTINUE.md; Phase 2 creates the rest.

Platform support

Phase 2 is Windows and PowerShell specific today. Its machine inventory and install steps assume PowerShell and Windows package managers. Everything else, Phases 1 and 3, the standards, the hooks, and the documents, is platform-neutral.

If you are on macOS or Linux, Forge4 still works, but you will need to translate Phase 2's install steps to your package manager (Homebrew, apt, pacman, and so on). The rest of the lifecycle needs no changes.

Known limits

• Screenshots of anything that is not a web UI stay partly manual. The image manifest makes the gap visible rather than hiding it.
• The docs drift gate needs per-project tuning. Signature comparison is clean in typed languages and awkward in dynamic ones.
• The Stop hook warns rather than blocks, so a session can still end with unrecorded state. The SessionStart hook catches it next time.
• The detection ladder is only as good as the Phase and Gate fields in CONTINUE.md. A stale gate would route the next session into the wrong phase, which is why /forge4 reconciles against git rather than trusting the file alone.
• Forge4 has had a partial shakedown, not a complete one. That is why it ships as 0.1.0.

License and author

MIT. Copyright (c) 2026 Dailen Gunter.

Built by Dailen Gunter (me@dailen.net).