/promote

Propose promoting a pattern to bassclef. Creates an issue in the current repo (not bassclef) with the bassclef-evolution label. Three modes cover default, luminary upgrade, and substrate defect.

Copy the command

/promote

Type it bare, or paste it with loose context after — Claude figures out the rest.

Solves

Good patterns in one adopter repo stay stuck there. Every other adopter reinvents the same wheel.

Payoff

Files a promote ticket in the current repo plus bassclef-upstream. Substrate evolves with real usage.

Takes in

A pattern description or code snippet or discipline learned

Returns

Promote ticket filed in current repo
Cross-repo mirror in bassclef-upstream

Runs with

/state-a-problem /kiss /value-prop

Needs first

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Called by

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Deep dive — 10 sections · ~769 words · original SKILL.mdScroll for tutorial ↓

What it does

An issue filed in the current app repo with the bassclef-evolution label, proposing that bassclef adopt a skill / rule / hook / workflow pattern you built locally. Three modes cover different promotion classes — the default files a general promotion issue; --type luminary files a full-depth upgrade for a stub luminary; --type substrate-defect files a mandatory promotion after fixing a bug in bassclef's own mechanism. Every issue body opens with a Problem section drafted by /state-a-problem brief and runs through /kiss --grade10 inline.

The issue stays in your current repo. Bassclef's session-reflection hook scans for bassclef-evolution labeled issues across child repos and ingests during a bassclef session — accept, defer, or reject.

Read the full skill

The complete instructions live at .claude/skills/promote/SKILL.md in your repo after bassclef-sync. Open with your editor for phases, rules, and worked examples.

Where in the SDLC

Also relevant in: Concept, Design, Build, Test, Operate, Adopt.

Why this phase: Propose app-standard-to-bassclef. Fires whenever substrate defect surfaces — genuinely any phase.

Skills catalog — browse all skills grouped by lifecycle phase
Tier system — what each tier gives you

FAQ

Terms from bassclef vocabulary that appear on this page.

luminary: A design or engineering thinker whose discipline bassclef borrows as a review lens — the practitioner in the cameo pattern above. Cooper for personas, Norman for signifiers, Feathers for characterization tests, Beck for TDD rhythm, plus about 90 others. Skills invoke a lens to check work against a specific discipline. `/luminary` browses the catalog. See: /docs/skills/luminary, doi:10.5281/zenodo.22145491
chronicle: A narrative log of what a session shipped — what worked, what did not, what got deferred. Written at session-end. Bassclef's chronicles live under `docs/chronicles/YYYY-MM-DD-slug.md`. Chronicles are how future sessions understand context that the code alone cannot show. See: /docs/skills/session-log
hook: A shell script bassclef wires into Claude Code's tool-invocation lifecycle. Hooks fire at events like PreToolUse (before an Edit lands) or SessionStart (when a session opens). Hooks enforce rules mechanically — a rule says 'don't do X'; a hook fires and BLOCKs if X happens.
rule: A markdown file auto-loaded into every session's context. Rules pin discipline the agent applies to every response (plain-English writing, blocked-items protocol, temperance gates). Different from a hook — rules are steering; hooks are enforcement.
skill: A user-invocable command (like `/kiss` or `/temperance`) that runs a specific bassclef workflow. Every skill lives at `.claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.md` with frontmatter + procedure. Adopters type the slash command; Claude Code loads the skill and runs it.
adopter: A repo that has bassclef installed — either via `bassclef init` (lite tier from npm) or via the symlink pattern (standard tier with an Anthropic key). Bassclef's discipline: never break adopters. Every change to a downstream-observable surface ships with a compat shim.
bassclef-upstream: The private repo where bassclef substrate is authored. Ships to a public `bassclef` npm package + a public `bassclef-web` docs site. Adopters read the public tier; the operator maintains upstream.
session log: Same shape as a chronicle — narrative record of what a session shipped. `/session-log` skill drafts it from the session's commits + branch state. Feeds into `/journal` when the operator wants an audience-tuned draft. See: /docs/skills/session-log

Shipped by @kingofrock · Read the essays