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v2.5.0: Work Packages, Highlander Audit

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@matthewsinclair matthewsinclair released this 24 Feb 10:19
· 8172 commits to main since this release
v2.5.0
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Intent v2.5.0 Release Notes

Release Date: 24 February 2026

Overview

Intent v2.5.0 adds work package management (intent wp), plugin discovery (intent plugin), removes the Backlog.md integration, and applies a Highlander audit to eliminate ~350 lines of duplicated plugin code via a shared helper library.

What's New

Plugin Discovery

Intent has two plugins (claude and agents) but previously had zero discoverability. The new intent plugin command makes all plugins and their commands visible:

intent plugin               # List all plugins and their commands
intent plugin list          # Same as above
intent plugin show claude   # Detailed view of a single plugin
intent plugin show agents   # Detailed view of a single plugin

Each plugin now has a plugin.json metadata file for structured discovery.

Help improvements:

  • intent help now shows claude and plugin in the Core section
  • intent help claude -- new help file for the claude namespace
  • intent help plugin -- new help file for the plugin command
  • intent help agents -- corrected to describe AGENTS.md management (was incorrectly documenting subagent operations)

Work Package Management (ST0024)

Work packages break a steel thread into smaller units of work. Each WP lives in a numbered subdirectory under STXXXX/WP/NN/.

New command: intent wp

intent wp new <STID> "Title"   # Create next WP (auto-assigns 01-99)
intent wp list <STID>          # Table with WP, Title, Scope, Status
intent wp start <STID/NN>      # Mark WP as WIP
intent wp done <STID/NN>       # Mark WP as Done (hints when all complete)
intent wp show <STID/NN>       # Display WP info.md
intent wp help                 # Show usage

Specifiers accept bare numbers: 5 = ST0005, 5/01 = ST0005/01. Titles can contain special characters (/, &, \) safely.

Highlander Audit: Shared Plugin Helper Library

The skills and subagents scripts shared ~80% identical code for install/sync/uninstall/manifest operations. A new shared library eliminates the duplication:

  • Created intent/plugins/claude/lib/claude_plugin_helpers.sh -- shared install, sync, uninstall, and manifest operations using a callback pattern
  • Refactored intent_claude_skills (654 -> 299 lines) -- defines 8 callbacks, delegates install/sync/uninstall to shared functions
  • Refactored intent_claude_subagents (1015 -> 613 lines) -- defines 8 callbacks, keeps init/list/show/status as script-specific

Each plugin script defines a small set of callbacks describing its source/target/copy semantics, then delegates operations to shared functions. Bug fixes and new features (e.g., adding --dry-run) now only need to be made once.

Shared Config Extraction

Added get_config_field() to bin/intent_helpers -- a single function replacing inline grep -oE patterns duplicated across intent_st and intent_wp.

# Before (duplicated in intent_st and intent_wp):
AUTHOR=$(grep -oE '"author"[[:space:]]*:[[:space:]]*"[^"]+"' .intent/config.json | cut -d'"' -f4)

# After (one shared function):
AUTHOR=$(get_config_field "author" "$USER")

Backlog.md Removal (ST0023)

All backlog commands and configuration removed:

  • Removed intent bl, intent task, intent status, intent migrate commands
  • Removed backlog configuration keys and intent init backlog directory creation
  • Removed Node.js dependency from CI pipeline
  • Deleted 3 test files; test suite reduced from 17 to 14 files

Documentation Updates

  • README.md: Added bare number syntax and special character support for WP commands
  • CLAUDE.md: Added WP specifier syntax, directory structure, and special character notes
  • user_guide.md: Added special character handling for WP titles and template location
  • reference_guide.md: Added special character support, template location, and WP directory structure

Testing

  • 29 new BATS tests for work package commands
  • 12 new BATS tests for plugin discovery command
  • 5 new tests for help and global command coverage
  • Test sandbox updated to include lib/ directory for shared helpers
  • Full test suite: 356 tests across 18 test files
  • All tests passing on macOS

Breaking Changes

  • Backlog.md commands removed (intent bl, intent task, intent status, intent migrate)
  • backlog_dir and backlog_list_status configuration keys no longer recognized

Migration

No migration required. Work package commands and plugin discovery are additive. If you were using Backlog.md commands, those are no longer available -- use work packages (intent wp) as the replacement workflow.

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