/improve, Autonomous Quality Engine

Orientation

Use when: Scoring a target against a rubric and iteratively improving it. Rubric required at .planning/rubrics/{target}.md (Phase 0 creates one if missing).

Don't use when: Refactoring without a rubric (use /refactor), one-time code review (use /review), or debugging a specific bug (use /systematic-debugging).

Invocation

/improve {target}            # Loop until plateau or all axes >= 8.0
/improve {target} --n=3      # Run exactly N loops then stop
/improve {target} --axis={name}  # Force-attack a specific axis (skips scoring)
/improve {target} --score-only   # Score and report, no attack
/improve {target} --continue     # Resume from campaign state (used by daemon)
/improve citadel             # Targets Citadel itself

target is a slug that maps to .planning/rubrics/{target}.md. If no rubric exists, run Phase 0 first.

Campaign Mode

When invoked with --n or --continue, improve operates in campaign mode and maintains a campaign file that daemon can attach to.

Campaign file: .planning/campaigns/improve-{target}.md, created automatically on the first invocation with --n (full template: docs/QUALITY_LOOPS.md#campaign-file-template). Frontmatter: version, id (improve-{target}-{ISO-date-slug}), status: active, type: improve, target, total_loops ({n} or unlimited), completed_loops: 0, current_level (from rubric frontmatter), estimated_cost_per_loop: 12, started. Body: status and direction lines, a Loop History table (Loop | Axis Attacked | Outcome | Score Movement), and a Continuation State block (next_loop, last_scorecard_log, last_outcome, phase_within_loop, level_up_triggered).

Campaign lifecycle

Update phase_within_loop at each phase: scoring → selected-{axis} → attacking-{axis} → verifying → not-started.