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Move ROADMAP.md updates from merge-time to release-time #170

@MScottAdams

Description

@MScottAdams

Problem

The current AGENTS.md convention says:

ROADMAP.md updates happen on merge (don't move issues to Completed prematurely)

In practice, this is routinely skipped — especially during multi-agent swarm runs where N agents merge N PRs in rapid succession. After the first full 4-agent swarm (PRs #154#157, 14 issues closed), ROADMAP.md was never updated. The roadmap still shows those issues as open despite being merged and released as v0.10.1.

Analysis

Three options were considered:

Option 1: Update at merge time (current convention)

Each PR's agent moves its issues to Completed before merging.

  • ✅ Roadmap stays accurate between releases
  • ❌ Agents edit a shared file → more merge conflicts during swarms
  • ❌ Frequently skipped in practice (agents stop after PR creation or review cycle)
  • ❌ During swarms, N agents touching ROADMAP.md violates the file-overlap audit

Option 2: Update in the release commit (recommended)

Batch-move all merged issues to Completed during the CHANGELOG promotion commit.

  • ✅ One person (monitor or release manager) does it once
  • ✅ Eliminates ROADMAP.md as a merge-conflict source during swarms
  • ✅ Release becomes a single checkpoint where CHANGELOG + ROADMAP are synchronized
  • ❌ Roadmap is stale between merges — but this already happens in practice

Option 3: Update as post-release housekeeping

Separate commit after the tag.

  • ❌ Most likely to be forgotten
  • ❌ Roadmap stale until someone remembers
  • ❌ No natural trigger

Recommendation

Option 2 — move ROADMAP.md updates to the release commit. Update the AGENTS.md convention from:

ROADMAP.md updates happen on merge

To:

ROADMAP.md updates happen at release time — batch-move merged issues to Completed during the CHANGELOG promotion commit

This also means:

  • Remove ROADMAP.md from the swarm file-overlap audit exceptions (agents no longer touch it)
  • Add a release checklist step: "Move closed issues to Completed in ROADMAP.md"
  • The deft-swarm skill's Phase 6 (Close) should reference this convention

Immediate action needed

Regardless of which option is chosen, ROADMAP.md currently needs updating — 14 issues from v0.10.1 are shown as open but are actually closed. This should be addressed during the next triage/roadmap refresh.

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