Cody Product Builder

Agent Instructions

• Read this entire document (SKILL.md) and commit it to memory.
• Make sure you check this document often if you need to understand how to process any Cody Product Builder commands.
• Anything that has [AGENT TODO: to do item] means you need to take action.
• When you see AGENT ANNOUNCE, anything in between the [message] (tick marks), you will display to the user exactly as stated.
• After every phase, make sure you re-read this document.
• {{cfPlaceholders}} used in commands are defined in this document, under the "Template Placeholder Values" section. When you see a placeholder, you will replace it with its appropriate value.
• The roles are as follows:
  • USER Is the human guiding you in the building process.
  • AGENT That's you! The AI Development AGENT.
• For detailed phase descriptions, document references, and version naming conventions, see {{cfReferences}}/phases.md.

Template Placeholder Values

These placeholders are a pointer to actual values. They are created here and used throughout various commands. When you encounter a placeholder, you will replace it with its value and consider that as the literal (e.g. {{cfCommands}}/help.md translates to commands/help.md).

The skill-file placeholders ({{cfRoot}}, {{cfAssets}}, {{cfCommands}}, {{cfReferences}}) are paths relative to this skill's own folder.

File System Checks

• Always use the placeholder paths (e.g., {{cfPlanPhase}}, {{cfProject}}) when checking for files or folders. Never construct paths manually or use relative paths like ./cody-projects/....
• Before concluding that a folder is empty or files don't exist, always verify with at least two different methods (e.g., a glob search AND a directory listing). Never make decisions based on a single failed search. This prevents false negatives caused by path resolution issues.

Executing Commands

• If the USER types any of the commands listed below, read and execute the corresponding command file.
• Only read command files when they are invoked. Do not pre-load all commands.

:cody help

[AGENT TODO: Read and execute {{cfCommands}}/help.md]

:cody plan

[AGENT TODO: Read and execute {{cfCommands}}/plan.md]

:cody build

[AGENT TODO: Read and execute {{cfCommands}}/build.md]

:cody idea

[AGENT TODO: Read and execute {{cfCommands}}/idea.md]

:cody prototype

[AGENT TODO: Read and execute {{cfCommands}}/prototype.md]

:cody refresh

[AGENT TODO: Read and execute {{cfCommands}}/refresh.md]

Activation

When this skill is activated, AGENT, please execute the following exactly:

1. Resolve the project configuration. Resolving placeholder paths from cody.json is deterministic work, so the skill ships a script to do it reliably and cheaply.

   Run the resolver script. From the project root, run {{cfRoot}}/scripts/resolve-config.py. It reads cody.json and prints a JSON object: the resolved placeholder paths under resolved (cfProject, cfPlanPhase, cfWorkPhase, cfReleaseNotes, cfPrototypes, cfBestPractices), plus the flags cody_json_exists, has_section, release_notes_path_present, and legacy_project_json_exists. Cache the six resolved values for the rest of the session.

   Fallback -- only if the script cannot run (no Python runtime, or code execution unavailable). Resolve the values by hand:

   • If cody.json exists with a cody-product-builder section: {{cfProject}} = projectPath; {{cfPlanPhase}} = {{cfProject}}/plan; {{cfWorkPhase}} = {{cfProject}}/build; {{cfPrototypes}} = {{cfProject}}/prototypes; {{cfBestPractices}} = {{cfProject}}/best-practices; {{cfReleaseNotes}} from releaseNotesPath ("{{projectPath}}" resolves to {{cfWorkPhase}}, "{{projectRoot}}" to the project root, any other value to that path).
   • If cody.json does not exist: use defaults -- {{cfProject}} = cody-projects/product-builder, with /plan, /build, /prototypes, and /best-practices beneath it, and {{cfReleaseNotes}} = {{cfWorkPhase}}.
   • Cache the resolved values for the rest of the session.

   One-time migration -- missing releaseNotesPath. If cody.json exists with a cody-product-builder section but no releaseNotesPath field (script flag has_section is true and release_notes_path_present is false), handle it here -- the script leaves this to the skill because it needs the USER:

   • Tell the USER where release-notes.md currently lives (check {{cfWorkPhase}}/release-notes.md).
   • Ask: "Would you like to keep release notes there, or move them?" with options:
     1. Keep current location
     2. Project root
     3. Custom path
   • STOP and wait for the USER.
   • If they keep the current location, set releaseNotesPath to "{{projectPath}}" in cody.json.
   • If project root, set releaseNotesPath to "{{projectRoot}}" in cody.json.
   • If custom, ask for the path and set releaseNotesPath to that value in cody.json.
   • If they chose a different location and release-notes.md exists at the current location, move it to the new location.
   • Re-resolve {{cfReleaseNotes}} (re-run the script) and cache it.

2. Show the USER the following banner (replace {version} with the metadata.version value from this file's frontmatter):

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
  Cody Product Builder v{version}
  by iBuildWith.ai
  (c) 2026 Red Pill Blue Pill Studios
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Cody Product Builder is an AI agent skill for domain experts and knowledge workers that takes you from idea to finished product. It provides a structured, repeatable process so your projects are scalable, maintainable, and built right from the start, whether you're starting fresh, improving existing work, or making quick updates in any AI coding environment.

3. Show the USER a contextual prompt based on their current phase:

   • Check if cody.json exists and has a cody-product-builder section.
     • If it exists and phase is "plan": show "Ready to get started? Type :cody plan to begin, :cody prototype to test an idea first, or :cody help to see all available commands."
     • If it exists and phase is "build": show "What would you like to work on? Type :cody build to continue building, :cody prototype to test an idea, :cody idea to capture a quick thought, :cody refresh to refresh project memory, or :cody help to see all available commands."
     • If it does NOT exist, check if the legacy file cody-projects/product-builder/project.json exists.
       • If the legacy file exists:
         • Tell the USER: "This version of Cody Product Builder uses a new project settings format. Let me migrate your settings."
         • [AGENT TODO: Read and execute {{cfReferences}}/project-settings-check.md]
         • After migration is complete, re-resolve {{cfProject}}, {{cfPlanPhase}}, {{cfWorkPhase}}, and {{cfReleaseNotes}} from the newly created cody.json and cache them for the session.
         • Show the contextual prompt based on the phase from cody.json.
       • If neither file exists: show "What would you like to work on? Type :cody help to see all available commands."

4. Stop here and wait for the USER.