Intent Prefixes¶

BaseCoat sessions use a structured prefix convention to communicate intent. Every message prefix tells the AI three things at once: what kind of work, how urgent, and which agents to involve.

The prefix vocabulary¶

Prefix	Means	Timing	Routes to
`bug:`	Defect, regression, broken behavior	Now	`@code-review`, `@self-healing-ci`
`feature:`	New capability or enhancement	Backlog	`@sprint-planner`, `@solution-architect`
`audit:`	Review, assess, validate — no changes	Now, read-only	`@security-analyst`, `@config-auditor`
`plan:`	Sprint or project planning	Now, no implementation	`@sprint-planner`, `@product-manager`
`spike:`	Time-boxed investigation, no deliverable	Now, research only	`@solution-architect`
`chore:`	Maintenance, cleanup, non-functional	Soon	`@devops-engineer`, `@release-manager`
`security:`	Security concern or vulnerability	Now, high priority	`@security-analyst`, `@guardrail`
`perf:`	Performance degradation	Now, measure first	`@performance-analyst`
`outage:`	Service outage, broken or dead system, site down	Now, high priority	`@rca`
`docs:`	Documentation only	Soon	`@tech-writer`
`test:`	Test coverage gap or test failure	Now	`@manual-test-strategy`
`refactor:`	Structural improvement, no behavior change	Later, batch	`@code-review`
`ux:`	User experience or design	Soon	`@ux-designer`

Syntax matters as much as the prefix¶

The same prefix means different things depending on how it appears in the message.

Standalone → act now¶

bug: the sync script exits with code 1 on Windows when BASECOAT_REPO is unset

A prefix at the start of a standalone message is an immediate work order. The AI investigates and fixes it in this session.

Bulleted list → triage and log, not implement¶

- bug: metrics dashboard is broken on mobile
- feature: add a getting-started prompt
- chore: clean up stale branches

Prefixes inside a bulleted list are triage items. The AI logs them (as GitHub issues, plan notes, or backlog entries) and confirms receipt. It does not start implementing.

This is the most important distinction. A bulleted feature: means "add this to the backlog." It does not mean "build this now."

Mixed message → preamble is immediate, list is triage¶

run an audit against the CI workflows and log issues

- feature: add retry logic to sync.sh
- bug: secret-scan.yml always exits 0

The preamble instruction ("run an audit") executes now. The bulleted items are logged. The AI returns audit findings plus a summary of what was filed. It waits for direction before starting any of the list items.

Timing modifiers¶

These words in a message override the default timing of any prefix:

Word	Effect
`now`, `immediately`, `urgent`	Promote to immediate, even `feature:`
`later`, `backlog`, `next sprint`	Defer, even `bug:`
`no changes`, `read-only`	Analysis only, suppress all implementation
`log it`, `file an issue`	Log and stop; do not implement
`just document`	Documentation output only; no code changes

Audit mode is always read-only¶

audit: never makes changes unless the user adds "and fix" or "resolve."

audit: run a say-vs-do check on the CI workflows

→ Returns findings. Logs issues if asked. Waits.

audit: run impeccable against GH Pages, log issues, and resolve

→ Runs audit, logs issues, then implements fixes.

Why this convention exists¶

Working in a long session with many items in flight, prefixes let you:

Drop items into the backlog mid-conversation without losing flow
Signal urgency without context-switching — the AI knows security: means stop and address it, chore: means batch it
Audit without side effects — audit: is a safe way to ask "what's wrong here?" without triggering changes
Control sprint scope — a bulleted list of feature: items at the end of a message becomes the next sprint's backlog, not this session's work

Outage routing¶

When a user says a service is broken, dead, down, or not responding, normalize that request to outage: and route it to the RCA agent.

Alias	Normalized intent
`broken`	`outage:`
`broke`	`outage:`
`dead`	`outage:`
`site down`	`outage:`
`down`	`outage:`
`not responding`	`outage:`
`incident`	`outage:`
`it's broken`	`outage:`
`nothing works`	`outage:`

Use @rca for the deep-dive investigation after the active incident is stable.

The instruction file¶

This convention is codified in instructions/intent-routing.instructions.md.

When BaseCoat is synced to your repo, this instruction is loaded by Copilot automatically and applies to all conversations. You can adopt this prefix convention in your own team immediately — no configuration required.

Examples¶

Good: bug in a standalone message¶

bug: the lint workflow silently passes on instructions with trailing spaces

AI fixes it now.

Good: features in a bulleted list¶

- feature: add retry logic to sync.sh
- feature: add a prompt for onboarding new repos
- feature: support BASECOAT_EXCLUDE env var

AI logs three backlog items and reports what was filed.

Common mistake: bulleted feature treated as immediate¶

- feature: add a getting-started prompt

❌ Wrong response: "Here is the getting-started prompt I just created..." ✅ Correct response: "Logged as a backlog item. Should I add it to the current sprint?"

Combine audit and fix explicitly¶

audit: check all agent files for missing Workflow sections, log issues, fix them

AI audits → logs → fixes in one pass because "fix them" was explicit.