Handoff: Template System Redesign (bd-r6a)

Status

bd-r6a.1: DONE - Reverted YAML workflow code, deleted workflow.go and types
bd-r6a.2: IN PROGRESS - Implementing subgraph cloning with variable substitution

What Was Removed

cmd/bd/workflow.go - entire file
cmd/bd/templates/workflows/ - YAML templates directory
internal/types/workflow.go - WorkflowTemplate types

Build passes. Tests pass.

The New Design

Core Principle

Templates are just Beads. An epic with the template label and {{variable}} placeholders in titles/descriptions.

Beads provides primitives:

Clone a subgraph (epic + children + dependencies)
Substitute {{variables}}
Return ID mapping (old → new)

Orchestrators (Gas Town) provide composition:

Multiple instantiations
Cross-template dependencies
Dynamic task generation

Commands

bd template list                              # List templates (label=template)
bd template instantiate <id> --var key=value  # Clone + substitute
bd template instantiate <id> --dry-run        # Preview

Gas Town Use Case: Witness

The Witness manages polecat lifecycles with a dynamic DAG:

Witness Round (1 instance)
├── Check context
├── Initialize tracking
├── [polecat tasks wired in by Gas Town]
├── Submit to merge queue
└── Finalize

Polecat Lifecycle (N instances, one per polecat)
├── Verify startup
├── Monitor progress
├── Verify shutdown
└── Decommission

Gas Town instantiates templates in a loop and wires dependencies between them.

Implementation Started

Was creating cmd/bd/template.go with:

templateCmd - parent command
templateListCmd - list templates (issues with template label)
templateInstantiateCmd - clone subgraph with substitution
TemplateSubgraph struct - holds issues + dependencies
loadTemplateSubgraph() - recursive load of epic + descendants
cloneSubgraph() - create new issues with ID remapping
extractVariables() - find {{name}} patterns
substituteVariables() - replace patterns with values

File was not written yet (got interrupted).

Key Functions Needed

// Load template and all descendants
func loadTemplateSubgraph(templateID string) (*TemplateSubgraph, error)

// Clone with substitution, return new epic ID and ID mapping
func cloneSubgraph(subgraph *TemplateSubgraph, vars map[string]string) (string, map[string]string, error)

// Extract {{variable}} patterns
func extractVariables(text string) []string

// Replace {{variable}} with values
func substituteVariables(text string, vars map[string]string) string

Remaining Tasks

bd-r6a.2: Implement subgraph cloning (in progress)
bd-r6a.3: Create version-bump as native Beads template
bd-r6a.4: Add bd template list command
bd-r6a.5: Update documentation

HOP Context

Templates feed into HOP vision:

Work is fractal (templates are reusable work patterns)
Beads IS the ledger (templates are ledger entries)
Gas Town is execution engine (composes templates into swarms)

See ~/gt/hop/CONTEXT.md for full HOP context.

To Resume

cd /Users/stevey/src/dave/beads
bd show bd-r6a          # See epic and tasks
bd ready                # bd-r6a.2 should be ready
bd update bd-r6a.2 --status=in_progress
# Create cmd/bd/template.go with the design above

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