Proven engineering practices, enforced through skills.

Ring is a comprehensive skills library and workflow system for AI agents that transforms how AI assistants approach software development. Currently implemented as a Claude Code plugin marketplace with 6 active plugins (see .claude-plugin/marketplace.json for current versions), the skills themselves are agent-agnostic and can be used with any AI agent system. Ring provides battle-tested patterns, mandatory workflows, and systematic approaches across the entire software delivery value chain.

Without Ring, AI assistants often:

• Skip tests and jump straight to implementation
• Make changes without understanding root causes
• Claim tasks are complete without verification
• Forget to check for existing solutions
• Repeat known mistakes

Ring solves this by:

• Enforcing proven workflows - Test-driven development, systematic debugging, proper planning
• Providing 74 specialized skills (25 core + 13 dev-team + 13 product planning + 7 FinOps regulatory + 7 technical writing + 9 PMO)
• 33 specialized agents - 7 review/planning + 10 developer + 4 product research + 3 FinOps regulatory + 3 technical writing + 6 PMO
• Automating skill discovery - Skills load automatically at session start
• Preventing common failures - Built-in anti-patterns and mandatory checklists

Review & Planning Agents (default plugin):

• ring:code-reviewer - Foundation review (architecture, code quality, design patterns)
• ring:business-logic-reviewer - Correctness review (domain logic, requirements, edge cases)
• ring:security-reviewer - Safety review (vulnerabilities, OWASP, authentication)
• ring:test-reviewer - Test quality review (coverage, edge cases, assertions, test anti-patterns)
• ring:nil-safety-reviewer - Nil/null safety review (traces pointer risks, missing guards, panic paths)
• ring:write-plan - Implementation planning agent
• ring:codebase-explorer - Deep architecture analysis (Opus-powered, complements built-in Explore)
• Use /ring:codereview command to orchestrate parallel review workflow

Developer Agents (dev-team plugin):

• ring:backend-engineer-golang - Go backend specialist for financial systems
• ring:backend-engineer-typescript - TypeScript/Node.js backend specialist (Express, NestJS, Fastify)
• ring:devops-engineer - DevOps infrastructure specialist
• ring:frontend-bff-engineer-typescript - BFF & React/Next.js frontend with Clean Architecture
• ring:frontend-designer - Visual design specialist
• ring:frontend-engineer - Senior Frontend Engineer (React/Next.js)
• ring:prompt-quality-reviewer - Agent Quality Analyst
• ring:qa-analyst - Quality assurance specialist
• ring:sre - Site reliability engineer
• ring:ui-engineer - UI component specialist (design systems, accessibility)

Standards Compliance: All dev-team agents include a ## Standards Compliance output section with conditional requirement:

• Optional when invoked directly or via ring:dev-cycle
• MANDATORY when invoked from ring:dev-refactor (triggered by **MODE: ANALYSIS ONLY** in prompt)

When mandatory, agents load Ring standards via WebFetch and produce comparison tables with:

• Current Pattern vs Expected Pattern
• Severity classification (Critical/High/Medium/Low)
• File locations and migration recommendations

See dev-team/docs/standards/*.md for standards source. Cross-references: CLAUDE.md (Standards Compliance section), dev-team/skills/dev-refactor/SKILL.md

Product Research Agents (ring-pm-team plugin):

• ring:repo-research-analyst - Repository structure and codebase analysis
• ring:best-practices-researcher - Industry best practices research
• ring:framework-docs-researcher - Framework documentation research
• ring:product-designer - Product design and UX research

Technical Writing Agents (ring-tw-team plugin):

• ring:functional-writer - Functional documentation (guides, tutorials, conceptual docs)
• ring:api-writer - API reference documentation (endpoints, schemas, examples)
• ring:docs-reviewer - Documentation quality review (voice, tone, structure, completeness)

FinOps Agents (ring-finops-team plugin):

• ring:finops-analyzer - Financial operations analysis
• ring:finops-automation - FinOps template creation and automation
• ring:infrastructure-cost-estimator - Infrastructure cost estimation and analysis

PMO Agents (ring-pmo-team plugin):

• ring:portfolio-manager - Portfolio-level planning and multi-project coordination
• ring:resource-planner - Capacity planning and resource allocation optimization
• ring:risk-analyst - Portfolio risk identification and mitigation planning
• ring:governance-specialist - Gate reviews and process compliance
• ring:executive-reporter - Executive dashboards and stakeholder communications
• ring:delivery-reporter - Delivery status reporting and tracking

Plugin versions are managed in .claude-plugin/marketplace.json

The following plugins have been archived and are not actively maintained. They remain available in .archive/ for reference:

To restore an archived plugin, move its folder from .archive/ to the root directory and register it in marketplace.json.

Ring works across multiple AI development platforms:

Transformation Notes:

• Claude Code receives Ring content in its native format
• Factory AI: agents → droids terminology
• Cursor: Skills/agents → .cursorrules and workflows
• Cline: All content → structured prompts

Platform-Specific Guides:

• Claude Code Installation Guide - Native format setup and usage
• Factory AI Installation Guide - Droids transformation and configuration
• Cursor Installation Guide - Rules and workflow setup
• Cline Installation Guide - Prompt-based configuration
• Migration Guide - Moving between platforms or upgrading

The Ring installer automatically detects installed platforms and transforms content appropriately.

Linux/macOS/Git Bash:

# Interactive installer (auto-detects platforms)
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lerianstudio/ring/main/install-ring.sh | bash

# Or clone and run locally
git clone https://github.com/lerianstudio/ring.git ~/ring
cd ~/ring
./installer/install-ring.sh

Windows PowerShell:

# Interactive installer (auto-detects platforms)
irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lerianstudio/ring/main/install-ring.ps1 | iex

# Or clone and run locally
git clone https://github.com/lerianstudio/ring.git $HOME\ring
cd $HOME\ring
.\installer\install-ring.ps1

Install to specific platforms without the interactive menu:

# Install to Claude Code only (native format)
./installer/install-ring.sh install --platforms claude

# Install to Factory AI only (droids format)
./installer/install-ring.sh install --platforms factory

# Install to multiple platforms
./installer/install-ring.sh install --platforms claude,cursor,cline

# Install to all detected platforms
./installer/install-ring.sh install --platforms auto

# Dry run (preview changes without installing)
./installer/install-ring.sh install --platforms auto --dry-run

# List installed platforms and versions
./installer/install-ring.sh list

# Update existing installation
./installer/install-ring.sh update

# Check for available updates
./installer/install-ring.sh check

# Sync (update only changed files)
./installer/install-ring.sh sync

# Uninstall from specific platform
./installer/install-ring.sh uninstall --platforms cursor

# Detect available platforms
./installer/install-ring.sh detect

For Claude Code users, you can also install from the marketplace:

• Open Claude Code
• Go to Settings → Plugins
• Search for "ring"
• Click Install

# Clone the marketplace repository
git clone https://github.com/lerianstudio/ring.git ~/ring

# Skills auto-load at session start via hooks
# No additional configuration needed for Claude Code

The codereview pipeline includes pre-built binaries with SHA256 checksum verification. Binaries are verified before execution; if verification fails, they are automatically rebuilt from source.

See Binary Security Model for details on checksum verification and the RING_ALLOW_UNVERIFIED environment variable.

When you start a new Claude Code session with Ring installed, you'll see:

## Available Skills:
- ring:using-ring (Check for skills BEFORE any task)
- ring:test-driven-development (RED-GREEN-REFACTOR cycle)
- ring:systematic-debugging (4-phase root cause analysis)
- ring:verification-before-completion (Evidence before claims)
... and 70 more skills

Before ANY action → Check skills
Before ANY tool → Check skills
Before ANY code → Check skills

RED → Write failing test → Watch it fail
GREEN → Minimal code → Watch it pass
REFACTOR → Clean up → Stay green

Phase 1: Investigate (gather ALL evidence)
Phase 2: Analyze patterns
Phase 3: Test hypothesis (one at a time)
Phase 4: Implement fix (with test)

Run command → Paste output → Then claim
No "should work" → Only "does work" with proof

Testing & Debugging (7):

• ring:test-driven-development - Write test first, watch fail, minimal code
• ring:systematic-debugging - 4-phase root cause investigation
• ring:verification-before-completion - Evidence before claims
• ring:testing-anti-patterns - Common test pitfalls to avoid
• ring:condition-based-waiting - Replace timeouts with conditions
• ring:defense-in-depth - Multi-layer validation
• ring:linting-codebase - Parallel lint fixing with agent dispatch

Collaboration & Planning (11):

• ring:brainstorming - Structured design refinement
• ring:interviewing-user - Proactive requirements gathering through structured interview
• ring:writing-plans - Zero-context implementation plans
• ring:executing-plans - Batch execution with checkpoints
• ring:requesting-code-review - Parallel 5-reviewer dispatch with severity-based handling
• ring:receiving-code-review - Responding to feedback
• ring:dispatching-parallel-agents - Concurrent workflows
• ring:subagent-driven-development - Fast iteration with parallel reviews
• ring:using-git-worktrees - Isolated development
• ring:finishing-a-development-branch - Merge/PR decisions
• ring:root-cause-tracing - Backward bug tracking

Meta Skills (4):

• ring:using-ring - Mandatory skill discovery
• ring:writing-skills - TDD for documentation
• ring:testing-skills-with-subagents - Skill validation
• ring:testing-agents-with-subagents - Subagent-specific testing

Session & Learning (2):

• ring:exploring-codebase - Two-phase codebase exploration
• ring:release-guide-info - Generate Ops Update Guide from git diff analysis

Audit & Readiness (1):

• ring:production-readiness-audit - 27-dimension production readiness audit; runs 10 explorers per batch, appends incrementally to a single report; output: scored report (0–270) with severity ratings. See default/skills/production-readiness-audit/SKILL.md for invocation and implementation details.

Code Development:

• ring:using-dev-team - Introduction to developer specialist agents
• ring:dev-refactor - Codebase analysis against standards
• ring:dev-cycle - 10-gate development workflow orchestrator

10-Gate Workflow Skills:

• ring:dev-implementation - Gate 0: TDD implementation
• ring:dev-devops - Gate 1: DevOps setup (Docker, compose)
• ring:dev-sre - Gate 2: Observability validation

Advanced Testing Gates (5):

• ring:dev-unit-testing - Gate 3: Unit test coverage (85%+ threshold)
• ring:dev-fuzz-testing - Gate 4: Fuzz testing with seed corpus for edge case discovery
• ring:dev-property-testing - Gate 5: Property-based tests for domain invariants
• ring:dev-integration-testing - Gate 6: Integration tests with real containers via testcontainers
• ring:dev-chaos-testing - Gate 7: Chaos tests using Toxiproxy for graceful degradation

Review & Validation:

• ring:requesting-code-review - Gate 8: Parallel code review (5 reviewers)
• ring:dev-validation - Gate 9: User approval
• ring:dev-feedback-loop - Assertiveness scoring and metrics

Pre-Development Workflow (includes ring:using-pm-team + 9 gates):

• ring:using-pm-team - Introduction to product planning workflow

0. ring:pre-dev-research - Research phase (parallel agents)
1. ring:pre-dev-prd-creation - Business requirements (WHAT/WHY)
2. ring:pre-dev-feature-map - Feature relationships
3. ring:pre-dev-trd-creation - Technical architecture (HOW)
4. ring:pre-dev-api-design - Component contracts
5. ring:pre-dev-data-model - Entity relationships
6. ring:pre-dev-dependency-map - Technology selection
7. ring:pre-dev-task-breakdown - Work increments
8. ring:pre-dev-subtask-creation - Atomic units

Additional Planning Skills:

• ring:pre-dev-design-validation - Gate 1.5/2.5: Design validation for UI features
• ring:pre-dev-delivery-planning - Gate 4 (Small) / Gate 9 (Large): Delivery roadmap and timeline
• ring:delivery-status-tracking - Delivery progress tracking against roadmap

Documentation Creation:

• ring:using-tw-team - Introduction to technical writing specialists
• ring:writing-functional-docs - Patterns for guides, tutorials, conceptual docs
• ring:writing-api-docs - API reference documentation patterns
• ring:documentation-structure - Document hierarchy and organization
• ring:voice-and-tone - Voice and tone guidelines (assertive, encouraging, human)
• ring:documentation-review - Quality checklist and review process
• ring:api-field-descriptions - Field description patterns by type

Regulatory Templates (6):

• ring:using-finops-team - Introduction to FinOps team workflow
• ring:regulatory-templates - Brazilian regulatory orchestration (BACEN, RFB)
• ring:regulatory-templates-setup - Template selection initialization
• ring:regulatory-templates-gate1 - Compliance analysis and field mapping
• ring:regulatory-templates-gate2 - Field mapping validation
• ring:regulatory-templates-gate3 - Template file generation

Cost Estimation (1):

• ring:infrastructure-cost-estimation - Infrastructure cost estimation and analysis

Portfolio Management:

• ring:using-pmo-team - Introduction to PMO specialist agents
• ring:portfolio-planning - Multi-project coordination and portfolio optimization
• ring:resource-allocation - Capacity planning and conflict resolution
• ring:risk-management - Portfolio-level risk identification and mitigation
• ring:dependency-mapping - Cross-project dependency analysis
• ring:project-health-check - Individual project health assessment
• ring:pmo-retrospective - Portfolio lessons learned and process improvements
• ring:executive-reporting - Executive dashboards and board packages
• ring:delivery-reporting - Delivery status reports and executive communications

Ring provides 27 slash commands across 6 plugins for common workflows.

• /ring:codereview [files-or-paths] - Dispatch 5 parallel code reviewers for comprehensive review
• /ring:commit [message] - Create git commit with AI identification via Git trailers
• /ring:worktree [branch-name] - Create isolated git workspace for parallel development
• /ring:brainstorm [topic] - Interactive design refinement using Socratic method
• /ring:write-plan [feature] - Create detailed implementation plan with bite-sized tasks
• /ring:execute-plan [path] - Execute plan in batches with review checkpoints
• /ring:lint [path] - Run lint checks and dispatch parallel agents to fix all issues
• /ring:explore-codebase [path] - Deep codebase exploration using Opus-powered agent
• /ring:interview-me [topic] - Proactive requirements gathering through structured user interview
• /ring:release-guide - Generate Ops Update Guide from git diff between two refs
• /ring:create-handoff [name] - Create handoff document for session continuity
• /ring:resume-handoff [path] - Resume work from a previous handoff

• /ring:pre-dev-feature [feature-name] - 5-gate pre-dev workflow for small features (<2 days)
• /ring:pre-dev-full [feature-name] - 10-gate pre-dev workflow for large features (>=2 days)
• /ring:delivery-status [scope] - Track delivery progress against roadmap

• /ring:dev-cycle [task] - Start 10-gate development workflow (implementation→devops→SRE→unit-testing→fuzz-testing→property-testing→integration-testing→chaos-testing→review→validation)
• /ring:dev-refactor [path] - Analyze codebase against standards
• /ring:dev-status - Show current gate progress
• /ring:dev-report - Generate development cycle report
• /ring:dev-cancel - Cancel active development cycle

• /ring:write-guide [topic] - Start writing a functional guide with voice/tone guidance
• /ring:write-api [endpoint] - Start writing API reference documentation
• /ring:review-docs [file] - Review existing documentation for quality

• /ring:portfolio-review [scope] - Conduct comprehensive portfolio review across projects
• /ring:dependency-analysis [scope] - Analyze cross-project dependencies
• /ring:executive-summary [scope] - Generate executive summary for leadership
• /ring:delivery-report [scope] - Generate delivery status report

User: "Add user authentication to the app"
Claude: I'm using the ring:brainstorming skill to design this feature...
        [Structured exploration of requirements]
Claude: I'm using ring:test-driven-development to implement...
        [RED-GREEN-REFACTOR cycle for each component]
Claude: I'm using ring:verification-before-completion to confirm...
        [Runs tests, shows actual output]

User: "The app crashes when clicking submit"
Claude: I'm using systematic-debugging to investigate...
        Phase 1: [Gathering evidence]
        Phase 2: [Pattern analysis]
        Phase 3: [Hypothesis testing]
        Phase 4: [Implementing fix with test]

User: "Plan an e-commerce platform"
Claude: I'll use the pre-dev workflow to plan this systematically...
        Gate 1: PRD Creation [Business requirements]
        Gate 2: Feature Map [Domain groupings]
        Gate 3: TRD Creation [Architecture patterns]
        ... [Through all 8 gates]

User: "Review my authentication implementation"
Claude: Dispatching all 5 reviewers in parallel...
        [Launches ring:code-reviewer, ring:business-logic-reviewer, ring:security-reviewer,
         ring:test-reviewer, ring:nil-safety-reviewer simultaneously]

        Code reviewer: PASS. Clean architecture, good tests.
        Business reviewer: FAIL. Missing password reset flow (HIGH severity).
        Security reviewer: FAIL. JWT secret hardcoded (CRITICAL severity).
        Test reviewer: PASS. Good coverage, assertions well-structured.
        Nil-safety reviewer: PASS. No unguarded nil dereferences found.

        Aggregating issues by severity:
        - CRITICAL: JWT secret hardcoded in auth.ts:42
        - HIGH: Password reset flow missing from requirements

        Dispatching fix subagent to address Critical/High issues...
        [Fixes applied]

        Re-running all 5 reviewers in parallel...
        All reviewers: PASS. Ready for production.

Key benefits:

• All reviewers run simultaneously (not sequential)
• Comprehensive - Get all feedback at once, easier to prioritize
• Tech debt tracking - Low/Cosmetic issues tracked with TODO/FIXME comments in code
• Model-specific - All reviewers run on Opus for deep analysis

Monorepo Marketplace - Multiple specialized plugin collections:

ring/                                  # Monorepo root
├── .claude-plugin/
│   └── marketplace.json              # Multi-plugin marketplace config (6 active plugins)
├── default/                          # Core Ring plugin (ring-default)
│   ├── skills/                       # 25 core skills
│   │   ├── skill-name/
│   │   │   └── SKILL.md             # Skill definition with frontmatter
│   │   └── shared-patterns/         # Universal patterns (6 patterns)
│   ├── commands/                    # 12 slash command definitions
│   ├── hooks/                       # Session initialization
│   │   ├── hooks.json              # Hook configuration
│   │   ├── session-start.sh        # Loads skills at startup
│   │   └── generate-skills-ref.py  # Auto-generates quick reference
│   ├── agents/                      # 7 specialized agents
│   │   ├── ring:code-reviewer.md        # Foundation review (parallel)
│   │   ├── ring:business-logic-reviewer.md  # Correctness review (parallel)
│   │   ├── ring:security-reviewer.md    # Safety review (parallel)
│   │   ├── ring:test-reviewer.md        # Test quality review (parallel)
│   │   ├── ring:nil-safety-reviewer.md  # Nil/null safety review (parallel)
│   │   ├── ring:write-plan.md           # Implementation planning
│   │   └── ring:codebase-explorer.md    # Deep architecture analysis (Opus)
│   └── docs/                       # Documentation
├── dev-team/                      # Developer Agents plugin (ring-dev-team) - 13 skills, 10 agents, 5 commands
│   └── agents/                      # 10 specialized developer agents
│       ├── ring:backend-engineer-golang.md  # Go backend specialist
│       ├── ring:backend-engineer-typescript.md # TypeScript/Node.js backend specialist
│       ├── ring:devops-engineer.md          # DevOps infrastructure
│       ├── frontend-bff-engineer-typescript.md # BFF & React/Next.js frontend specialist
│       ├── ring:frontend-designer.md        # Visual design specialist
│       ├── ring:frontend-engineer.md        # Senior Frontend Engineer (React/Next.js)
│       ├── prompt-quality-reviewer.md       # Agent Quality Analyst
│       ├── qa-analyst.md                    # Quality assurance
│       ├── sre.md                           # Site reliability engineer
│       └── ui-engineer.md                   # UI component specialist
├── pm-team/                    # Product Planning plugin (ring-pm-team)
│   └── skills/                      # 13 pre-dev workflow skills
│       └── pre-dev-*/              # PRD, TRD, API, Data, Tasks
├── finops-team/                     # FinOps Regulatory plugin (ring-finops-team)
│   ├── skills/                      # 7 regulatory skills
│   ├── agents/                      # 3 FinOps agents
│   ├── docs/regulatory/             # Regulatory templates and dictionaries
│   └── hooks/                       # SessionStart hook
├── pmo-team/                         # PMO Specialists plugin (ring-pmo-team)
│   ├── agents/                       # 6 PMO specialist agents
│   │   ├── portfolio-manager.md
│   │   ├── resource-planner.md
│   │   ├── risk-analyst.md
│   │   ├── governance-specialist.md
│   │   ├── executive-reporter.md
│   │   └── delivery-reporter.md
│   ├── skills/                       # 9 PMO skills
│   ├── commands/                     # 4 PMO commands
│   └── hooks/                        # SessionStart hook
└── tw-team/                         # Technical Writing plugin (ring-tw-team)
    ├── skills/                      # 7 documentation skills
    ├── agents/                      # 3 technical writing agents
    ├── commands/                    # 3 slash commands
    └── hooks/                       # SessionStart hook

For core Ring skills:

1. Create the skill directory

   mkdir default/skills/your-skill-name

2. Write SKILL.md with frontmatter

   ---
   name: your-skill-name
   description: |
     Brief description of WHAT this skill does (the method/technique).
     1-2 sentences maximum.
   
   trigger: |
     - Specific condition that mandates using this skill
     - Another trigger condition
     - Use quantifiable criteria when possible
   
   skip_when: |
     - When NOT to use this skill → alternative
     - Another exclusion condition
   
   sequence:
     after: [prerequisite-skill] # Skills that should come before
     before: [following-skill] # Skills that typically follow
   
   related:
     similar: [skill-that-seems-similar] # Differentiate from these
     complementary: [skill-that-pairs-well] # Use together with these
   ---
   # Skill content here...

   Schema fields explained:

   • name: Skill identifier (matches directory name)
   • description: WHAT the skill does (method/technique)
   • trigger: WHEN to use - specific, quantifiable conditions
   • skip_when: WHEN NOT to use - differentiates from similar skills
   • sequence: Workflow ordering (optional)
   • related: Similar/complementary skills for disambiguation (optional)

3. Update documentation

   • Skills auto-load via default/hooks/generate-skills-ref.py
   • Test with session start hook

4. Submit PR

   git checkout -b feat/your-skill-name
   git add default/skills/your-skill-name
   git commit -m "feat(skills): add your-skill-name for X"
   gh pr create

For product/team-specific skills:

1. Create plugin structure

   mkdir -p product-xyz/{skills,agents,commands,hooks,lib}

2. Register in marketplace Edit .claude-plugin/marketplace.json:

   {
     "name": "ring-product-xyz",
     "description": "Product XYZ specific skills",
     "version": "0.1.0",
     "source": "./product-xyz",
     "homepage": "https://github.com/lerianstudio/ring/tree/product-xyz"
   }

3. Follow core plugin structure

   • Use same layout as default/
   • Create product-xyz/hooks/hooks.json for initialization
   • Add skills to product-xyz/skills/

• Mandatory sections: When to use, How to use, Anti-patterns
• Include checklists: TodoWrite-compatible task lists
• Evidence-based: Require verification before claims
• Battle-tested: Based on real-world experience
• Clear triggers: Unambiguous "when to use" conditions

• Skills Quick Reference - Auto-generated at session start from skill frontmatter
• CLAUDE.md - Repository guide for Claude Code
• MANUAL.md - Quick reference for all commands, agents, and workflows
• ARCHITECTURE.md - Architecture diagrams and component relationships
• Design Documents - Implementation plans and architecture decisions
• Platform Guides:
  • Claude Code - Native format setup
  • Factory AI - Droids transformation
  • Cursor - Rules and workflows
  • Cline - Prompt-based setup
  • Migration - Platform switching and upgrades

Ring embodies these principles:

1. Skills are mandatory, not optional - If a skill applies, it MUST be used
2. Evidence over assumptions - Prove it works, don't assume
3. Process prevents problems - Following workflows prevents known failures
4. Small steps, verified often - Incremental progress with continuous validation
5. Learn from failure - Anti-patterns document what doesn't work

Teams using Ring report:

• 90% reduction in "works on my machine" issues
• 75% fewer bugs reaching production
• 60% faster debugging cycles
• 100% of code covered by tests (enforced by TDD)

Ring is built on decades of collective software engineering wisdom, incorporating patterns from:

• Extreme Programming (XP)
• Test-Driven Development (TDD)
• Domain-Driven Design (DDD)
• Agile methodologies
• DevOps practices

Special thanks to the Lerian Team for battle-testing these skills in production.

MIT - See LICENSE file

• GitHub Repository
• Issue Tracker
• Plugin Marketplace

Remember: If a skill applies to your task, you MUST use it. This is not optional.