Daedalus

Daedalus is a Codex Skill for spec-led, risk-tiered, test-first software development. It requires a proportional Software Design Document before production code, selects only necessary UML, runs vertical RED→GREEN→REFACTOR→CHECK slices, and closes work with fresh evidence.

The name refers to Daedalus, the architect and craftsperson of Greek mythology: design and construction are treated as one traceable discipline.

What it changes

• lite keeps a local fix to a one-page design and focused regression.
• standard adds contracts, selected UML, test portfolio, and traceability.
• high-risk adds only the applicable security, migration, rollout, monitoring, and independent review evidence.
• SDD, tests, implementation, and observed results stay synchronized.

Daedalus does not create branches or worktrees, install dependencies, use telemetry, update itself, or write external state without separate authorization.

Repository layout

• .agents/plugins/marketplace.json — public marketplace identity and root Plugin source.
• .codex-plugin/plugin.json — formal Plugin identity and SemVer.
• skills/daedalus/ — Skill payload packaged by the Plugin.
• lifecycle.json — immutable package boundary and repository checks.
• docs/ — design and acceptance evidence.
• CHANGELOG.md — released project changes.
• tests/ — standard-library contract tests for scripts and Skill packaging.

Install from GitHub

Register the public repository at main, then install Daedalus from its marketplace:

codex plugin marketplace add timshan/daedalus --ref main
codex plugin add daedalus@daedalus

Restart or open a new Codex session after installation. Invoke it explicitly with a request such as:

Use $daedalus to add this API integration with a risk-tiered SDD and test-first slices.

Scaffold and validate an SDD

python3 skills/daedalus/scripts/init_sdd.py \
  --tier standard \
  --title "Add billing adapter" \
  --change-id BILLING-002 \
  --output docs/sdd/BILLING-002.md

python3 skills/daedalus/scripts/validate_sdd.py \
  docs/sdd/BILLING-002.md \
  --phase ready

The validator checks structural gates; it does not prove that requirements, design, tests, or engineering judgment are correct.

Verify this repository

python3 -m unittest discover -s tests -v
python3 skills/daedalus/scripts/self_test.py

The bundled self-test scaffolds a fresh standard SDD and validates a completed example using only the installed Daedalus payload and Python's standard library.

Forward-test provenance

The recorded lite and standard forward tests ran inside an environment that also loaded global Eureka PDCA and SessionStart context. The observed runs consumed approximately 64k and 96k tokens, respectively. Those totals are not attributable to Daedalus alone and are evidence of evaluation contamination, not a clean cost benchmark. The behavioral results remain useful—the fixtures, tests, diffs, and completed SDDs are retained—but adopters should not infer Daedalus's standalone token cost from those two runs.

License

MIT. Third-party projects examined during prior-art research were not copied into this repository.