Modular template system: formal gates, hints, inline subphases, interview skill

[codevibesmatter]

Summary

Redesign the template system with formal action schema. Supersedes #35 (consolidated config).

Problem

• Templates encode 125+ actions as unstructured prose (bash commands, tool calls, agent spawns, conditionals)
• Interviews defined in YAML but duplicated as prose in planning template — no code loads them
• Subphase patterns in external registry but only one consumer (implementation.md)
• Consolidated config: unified kata.yaml, simplified setup, upstream merge #35 proposed absorbing these into kata.yaml, but that complicates sync for no sharing benefit

Design Direction

• Hybrid model: gates (executable by runtime) + hints (typed, agent-interpreted) + instructions (prose)
• Subphase patterns: inline in template frontmatter (drop external registry)
• Interviews: callable skill/command system, not a config section
• Keep from Consolidated config: unified kata.yaml, simplified setup, upstream merge #35: setup/update/migrate commands, batteries removal, kata_version

Spec

• planning/specs/37-modular-template-system.md — APPROVED
• 8 behaviors (B1-B8), 7 implementation phases
• Supersedes Consolidated config: unified kata.yaml, simplified setup, upstream merge #35

Research

• planning/research/2026-04-02-modular-template-system.md

[codevibesmatter]

Spec written: planning/specs/37-modular-template-system.md

Behaviors: B1-B8 covering gate schema, hint schema, placeholder resolution, inline subphases, interview skill, template migration, setup/update/migrate, and template rewrite.

Phases: 7 phases with dependency ordering. p1+p2+p3 can run in parallel. Full rollout plan in spec.

[codevibesmatter]

Spec approved. planning/specs/37-modular-template-system.md status: approved.

[codevibesmatter]

Starting implementation on branch: feat/37-modular-template-system