[problem] manage-problem SKILL.md commit-message convention fails @commitlint/config-conventional subject-case rule

[tompahoward]

Description

/wr-itil:manage-problem's SKILL.md documents commit-message convention examples in the shape docs(problems): P<NNN> <verb> — <summary> (with uppercase P first). Adopter projects that use @commitlint/config-conventional's default subject-case rule reject every commit that follows the SKILL example because the subject begins with an uppercase token (P<NNN> → pascal-case), which the rule disallows alongside sentence-case, start-case, and upper-case.

The working shape that consistently lands in @commitlint/config-conventional-defaulted adopter projects is docs(problems): <verb> P<NNN> — <summary> (lowercase verb first, then ticket ID). The verb-first shape passes subject-case because the subject starts with a lowercase verb token.

This is a SKILL-contract drift: the documented convention contradicts the convention every adopter project must use in practice. New adopters hit the rejection on their very first problem-ticket commit; established adopters work around it by agent-memory + project memory but the SKILL examples remain a stumbling block.

Symptoms

• First commit attempt of any status-transition or capture commit that follows the SKILL's example shape (docs(problems): P<NNN> parked — ...) is rejected by commitlint's subject-case rule.
• Error output from the pre-commit hook: ⚠ subject must not be sentence-case, start-case, pascal-case, upper-case [subject-case].
• Recovery: reword the subject to docs(problems): park P<NNN> — ... (lowercase verb first); commit succeeds.
• AFK orchestrators dispatching iter subprocesses via claude -p lose ~1 turn + 30 seconds wall-clock per affected commit on the rejection-and-retry cycle.

Workaround

Manually use the <verb> P<NNN> shape (lowercase verb first) for all problem-ticket commits regardless of what SKILL.md examples show. Project memory notes + repeated agent training reinforce the shape across sessions. The 8 successful commits in today's /wr-itil:work-problems AFK loop on a representative adopter project (dry-aged-deps) all use the <verb> P<NNN> shape (close P002, close P008, capture P009, park P004, park P007, park P005, transition P009, capture P010).

Affected plugin or component

@windyroad/itil

Frequency

Every time — fires on first commit attempt of any /wr-itil:manage-problem status-transition or capture commit in an adopter project using @commitlint/config-conventional defaults. Almost certain to recur for any new adopter following the SKILL examples verbatim.

Versions

• Local plugin: @windyroad/itil@0.32.1 (latest installed; SKILL.md P<NNN> <verb> example shape unchanged from @windyroad/itil@0.29.0 — both versions documented in ~/.claude/plugins/cache/windyroad/wr-itil/<version>/skills/manage-problem/SKILL.md lines 681 + 882)
• Upstream package: @commitlint/config-conventional (version dependent on adopter project; default subject-case rule is [2, 'never', ['sentence-case', 'start-case', 'pascal-case', 'upper-case']])
• Claude Code CLI: 2.1.143
• Node: v22.17.1
• OS: Darwin 25.3.0 x86_64

Evidence

Today's /wr-itil:work-problems AFK loop session on the dry-aged-deps adopter project produced 3 same-day park commits and several lifecycle commits that all confirm the <verb> P<NNN> working shape:

• Iter 1 (P004 park): first commit attempt docs(problems): P004 parked — ... rejected by commitlint subject-case; reworded to docs(problems): park P004 — upstream-blocked on windyroad/agent-plugins#123 (commit b107ce1) succeeded.
• Iter 2 (P007 park): iter-1 lesson applied pre-commit; docs(problems): park P007 — upstream-blocked on @windyroad/risk-scorer (commit 872821c) landed cleanly on first commit attempt.
• Iter 3 (P005 park): same; docs(problems): park P005 — upstream-blocked on @windyroad/voice-tone (commit 5346d81) landed cleanly.
• ADR-0013 supersession sequence (commits 6a081bc, a2eec5b, 4c50c64, 7a945b5, 0c82d50, ed5c0e4, 79dd8db) — all use lowercase-verb-first subjects per the working shape.
• P009 verification trigger and P010 capture commit (b63b536) also use the <verb> shape.

SKILL.md sources cited:

• ~/.claude/plugins/cache/windyroad/wr-itil/0.32.1/skills/manage-problem/SKILL.md:
  • Line 681: Standalone transition commits (e.g. docs(problems): P<NNN> known error — <summary>).
  • Line 882: Known Error transition: docs(problems): P<NNN> known error — <root cause summary>
  • Line 883: Verification Pending transition: ... docs(problems): P<NNN> verification pending — <release marker>.

Suggested fix (user-approved direction during the /wr-itil:work-problems Step 2.5 surfacing on 2026-05-17, AskUserQuestion answer "Approve + amend upstream SKILL"):

• Flip the SKILL.md examples to docs(problems): <verb> P<NNN> — <summary> shape so adopter projects using @commitlint/config-conventional defaults do not hit subject-case rejection on every status transition.
• Concrete examples to flip:
  • docs(problems): P<NNN> known error — <root cause summary> → docs(problems): mark P<NNN> known error — <root cause summary>
  • docs(problems): P<NNN> verification pending — <release marker> → docs(problems): transition P<NNN> verification pending — <release marker>
  • Apply consistently across both citation sites (lines 681 + 882-883).

Additional context

• Downstream tracking: dry-aged-deps problem ticket P010 (docs/problems/010-skill-md-commit-message-convention-fails-commitlint-subject-case.open.md) at commit b63b536.
• Adopter project repo: https://github.com/voder-ai/dry-aged-deps (commits cited above are local to this session and not yet pushed).
• Same-day related upstream reports filed today: [problem] @windyroad/tdd hook only recognises same-dir or __tests__/ test associations #123 (P004 TDD hook test mapping), [problem] wr-voice-tone:agent returns blanket FAIL when docs/VOICE-AND-TONE.md is missing #124 (P005 voice-tone agent guide bootstrap). Pattern: today's /wr-itil:work-problems AFK loop surfaced three upstream-blocked items consecutively.
• Possible alternative fix (smaller diff): rather than amend the SKILL examples, document the <verb> P<NNN> shape as the canonical convention in the SKILL's commit-message section AND ensure @windyroad/itil's own commitlint config matches the documented shape (the SKILL examples were authored against a relaxed commitlint config — the maintainer's own monorepo likely disables subject-case).