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The Pipeline Status utility provides a comprehensive, read-only view of your current SDD pipeline state. It verifies artifact integrity, detects staleness, and recommends your next action.

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When to use

Invoke pipeline status when you need to:
  • Check which pipeline stages are complete and which are pending
  • Verify that all expected artifacts exist for completed stages
  • Identify stale stages that need re-execution
  • Get a recommendation for what to do next
  • Review recent change reports and cascade impact

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Invocation

/sdd:pipeline-status
This is a read-only skill. It never modifies files or executes pipeline stages.

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How it works

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1. Read pipeline state

Reads pipeline-state.json from your project root. If the file doesn’t exist, the skill reports “No pipeline initialized” and recommends running /sdd:setup.

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2. Verify artifacts exist

For each stage marked as done, verifies that expected output artifacts actually exist on disk:
StageExpected artifacts
requirements-engineerrequirements/REQUIREMENTS.md
specifications-engineerspec/ with domain-model.md, use-cases.md, workflows.md, contracts.md, nfr.md
spec-auditoraudits/AUDIT-BASELINE.md
test-plannertest/TEST-PLAN.md, test/TEST-MATRIX-*.md
plan-architectplan/PLAN.md, plan/ARCHITECTURE.md, plan/fases/FASE-*.md
task-generatortask/TASK-FASE-*.md, task/TASK-INDEX.md
task-implementersrc/ and/or tests/ with implementation files
Any stage marked done whose artifacts are missing is flagged as INCONSISTENT.

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3. Detect staleness

Checks if any done stage’s output directory has files newer than the lastRun timestamp of downstream stages. Flags those downstream stages as potentially stale.

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4. Check for errors

Reports any stage with status: "error" and includes the staleReason if present.

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5. Generate report

Outputs a formatted report with:
  • Pipeline status table: Shows each stage’s status, last run timestamp, artifact verification result, and notes
  • Last change section: If pipeline-state.json has the extended schema with lastChange, displays the change report ID, changed artifacts, invalidated stages, and cascade mode
  • Recommended next action: Suggests which skill to run next based on the current state
  • Warnings: Lists inconsistencies (missing artifacts, stale stages)

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Example output

## SDD Pipeline Status

| # | Stage | Status | Last Run | Artifacts | Notes |
|---|-------|--------|----------|-----------|-------|
| 1 | requirements-engineer | done | 2026-01-15 | OK | — |
| 2 | specifications-engineer | done | 2026-01-16 | OK | — |
| 3 | spec-auditor | stale | 2026-01-14 | OK | Stale: specs modified after audit |
| 4 | test-planner | pending | — | — | Not started |
| 5 | plan-architect | pending | — | — | Not started |

### Last Change
- Change Report: CHG-2026-01-20-001
- Changed Artifacts: requirements/, spec/
- Invalidated Stages: plan-architect, task-generator
- Cascade Mode: manual

### Recommended Next Action
> Run `spec-auditor` to re-audit the updated specifications.

### Warnings
- Stage 3 potentially stale (upstream modified after lastRun)

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Readiness gates

No prerequisites. Works on any project directory (reports “No pipeline initialized” if needed).

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Constraints

  • Read-only: Never modifies any files
  • Reports facts only: Does not execute pipeline stages
  • Graceful degradation: If pipeline-state.json has the extended schema, includes the lastChange section; otherwise skips it

Setup

Initialize pipeline state before first use

Dashboard

Visual traceability dashboard with pipeline status

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