# Feature Workflow

Taking a multi-PR feature from "shape unknown" to merged without five review rounds per...

- Repository: https://github.com/apache/tika (4119 stars)
- Category: Git and review
- License: Apache-2.0
- Last updated: 2026-11-01
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add apache/tika --skill feature-workflow -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add apache/tika --skill feature-workflow -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add apache/tika --skill feature-workflow -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add apache/tika --skill feature-workflow -g -a gemini-cli -y`

## Description

Taking a multi-PR feature from "shape unknown" to merged without five review rounds per PR: spike until interfaces stop moving, write the contract, cut PRs along contract seams, one review per PR. Use when starting a feature that touches more than one lifecycle object or public interface, when a PR review keeps changing interfaces, or when splitting a large branch.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

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Local override: `$TIKA_SKILLS_LOCAL/feature-workflow/LOCAL.md` (default `~/.tika-skills`),
read after this file, wins on conflict.

# Feature Workflow: spike, contract, cut, ship

A complex feature's shape is learned by building it. Learning it *on the PR*
costs a review round per lesson and reshapes what the next round reviews.
Keep learning and shipping on different branches.

## 1. Spike

Throwaway branch. Build end to end, roughly: no CHANGES, docs, or polish;
change neighbors freely. Review it (`.skills/devs/pr-review/SKILL.md`) and let
findings reshape interfaces.

**Exit:** the last review changed edge-case handling, not an interface. While
reviews still rename, split, or add methods, keep spiking (pr-review verdict
"still spiking").

## 2. Contract

Write down what the spike taught, half a page per lifecycle object
(open/close, acquire/release, publish/abort, spill, rewind): states and
transitions, each method's behavior per state, resource ownership on success
and every failure path, threading. Put it in the type's javadoc.

The rest: https://github.com/apache/tika/blob/HEAD/.skills/devs/feature-workflow/SKILL.md