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Skills Development Codebase Pattern and Steering Management

Codebase Pattern and Steering Management

v20260427
kiro-steering
This utility analyzes a codebase (product, technology, and structure) to automatically extract core architectural patterns, guiding principles, and engineering standards. It manages a persistent 'Steering' repository, performing initial bootstrapping and continuous synchronization. It detects 'code drift' when the code deviates from established patterns and suggests additive updates, ensuring project documentation remains a comprehensive source of truth.
Codebase Documentation Architecture Patterns Principles System Design Maintenance Best Practices
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Overview

Kiro Steering Management

<background_information> Role: Maintain {{KIRO_DIR}}/steering/ as persistent project memory.

Mission:

  • Bootstrap: Generate core steering from codebase (first-time)
  • Sync: Keep steering and codebase aligned (maintenance)
  • Preserve: User customizations are sacred, updates are additive

Success Criteria:

  • Steering captures patterns and principles, not exhaustive lists
  • Code drift detected and reported
  • All {{KIRO_DIR}}/steering/*.md treated equally (core + custom) </background_information>
## Scenario Detection

Check {{KIRO_DIR}}/steering/ status:

Bootstrap Mode: Empty OR missing core files (product.md, tech.md, structure.md)
Sync Mode: All core files exist

Bootstrap Flow

  1. Load templates from {{KIRO_DIR}}/settings/templates/steering/
  2. Analyze codebase (JIT):

Parallel Research

The following research areas are independent and can be executed in parallel:

  1. Product analysis: README, package.json, documentation files for purpose, value, core capabilities
  2. Tech analysis: Config files, dependencies, frameworks for technology patterns and decisions
  3. Structure analysis: Directory tree, naming conventions, import patterns for organization

If multi-agent is enabled, spawn sub-agents for each area above. Otherwise execute sequentially.

After all parallel research completes, synthesize patterns for steering files.

  1. Extract patterns (not lists):
    • Product: Purpose, value, core capabilities
    • Tech: Frameworks, decisions, conventions
    • Structure: Organization, naming, imports
  2. Generate steering files (follow templates)
  3. Load principles from rules/steering-principles.md from this skill's directory
  4. Present summary for review

Focus: Patterns that guide decisions, not catalogs of files/dependencies.

Sync Flow

  1. Load all existing steering ({{KIRO_DIR}}/steering/*.md)
  2. Analyze codebase for changes (JIT)
  3. Detect drift:
    • Steering → Code: Missing elements → Warning
    • Code → Steering: New patterns → Update candidate
    • Custom files: Check relevance
  4. Propose updates (additive, preserve user content)
  5. Report: Updates, warnings, recommendations

Update Philosophy: Add, don't replace. Preserve user sections.

Granularity Principle

From rules/steering-principles.md (in this skill's directory):

"If new code follows existing patterns, steering shouldn't need updating."

Document patterns and principles, not exhaustive lists.

Bad: List every file in directory tree
Good: Describe organization pattern with examples

Tool guidance

  • Glob: Find source/config files
  • Read: Read steering, docs, configs
  • Grep: Search patterns
  • Bash with ls: Analyze structure

JIT Strategy: Fetch when needed, not upfront.

Output description

Chat summary only (files updated directly).

Bootstrap:

✅ Steering Created

## Generated:
- product.md: [Brief description]
- tech.md: [Key stack]
- structure.md: [Organization]

Review and approve as Source of Truth.

Sync:

✅ Steering Updated

## Changes:
- tech.md: React 18 → 19
- structure.md: Added API pattern

## Code Drift:
- Components not following import conventions

## Recommendations:
- Consider api-standards.md

Examples

Bootstrap

Input: Empty steering, React TypeScript project Output: 3 files with patterns - "Feature-first", "TypeScript strict", "React 19"

Sync

Input: Existing steering, new /api directory Output: Updated structure.md, flagged non-compliant files, suggested api-standards.md

Safety & Fallback

  • Security: Never include keys, passwords, secrets (see principles)
  • Uncertainty: Report both states, ask user
  • Preservation: Add rather than replace when in doubt

Notes

  • All {{KIRO_DIR}}/steering/*.md loaded as project memory
  • Templates and principles are external for customization
  • Focus on patterns, not catalogs
  • "Golden Rule": New code following patterns shouldn't require steering updates
  • Avoid documenting agent-specific tooling directories (e.g. .cursor/, .gemini/, .claude/)
  • {{KIRO_DIR}}/settings/ content should NOT be documented in steering files (settings are metadata, not project knowledge)
  • Light references to {{KIRO_DIR}}/specs/ and {{KIRO_DIR}}/steering/ are acceptable; avoid other .kiro/ directories
Info
Category Development
Name kiro-steering
Version v20260427
Size 4.52KB
Source gotalab/cc-sdd
Updated At 2026-04-28
Language
简体中文
English