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CodeTracked since May 20, 2026

Add mandatory in-chat progress breadcrumb to every AI-DLC response

This PR adds a required `Workflow Progress Trail` rule to core AI-DLC workflow guidance so each assistant reply in an active session ends with a one-line status breadcrumb showing stage and unit progress, visibility of active/skipped/pending steps, and no-guess placeholders for unknown construction counts.

core-workflow.mdAI-DLC Progress trailaidlc-state.mdexecution-plan.md

What Happened

  • This PR adds a required `Workflow Progress Trail` rule to core AI-DLC workflow guidance so each assistant reply in an active session ends with a one-line status breadcrumb showing stage and unit progress, visibility of active/skipped/pending steps, and no-guess placeholders for unknown construction counts.
  • This PR adds a required `Workflow Progress Trail` rule to core AI-DLC workflow guidance so each assistant reply in an active session ends with a one-line status breadcrumb showing stage and unit progress, visibility of active/skipped/pending steps, and no-guess placeholders for unknown construction counts.
  • 1 evidence item attached for review.

What is Different

Before

Scattered source updates, isolated context, and manual follow-up across multiple feeds.

Now

Introduced a mandatory workflow-output contract in `core-workflow.md` that appends a standardized breadcrumb line (`AI-DLC Progress: ...`) at the end of each user-facing assistant response, with uniform collapsing and active-next expansion rules across 13 response points (7 Inception stages, each Construction stage, and Build and Test).

Why Track This

Why It Matters

In active AI-DLC projects, users and operators will now get a real-time, in-chat progress marker on every assistant turn, so they can understand what is currently running and what is next without opening state files or interrupting workflow to regain context. This is implemented by deriving the trail from `aidlc-state.md` and forcing the emission step in every response-producing stage, while limiting verbosity with a collapsed/unit-aware display that still expands the current unit and stage. Watch for breadcrumb accuracy when state files update concurrently with responses, and for any custom integrations that skip the mandatory emission blocks because missing trails would reintroduce context-switch failures.

Impact

In active AI-DLC projects, users and operators will now get a real-time, in-chat progress marker on every assistant turn, so they can understand what is currently running and what is next without opening state files or interrupting workflow to regain context. This is implemented by deriving the trail from `aidlc-state.md` and forcing the emission step in every response-producing stage, while limiting verbosity with a collapsed/unit-aware display that still expands the current unit and stage. Watch for breadcrumb accuracy when state files update concurrently with responses, and for any custom integrations that skip the mandatory emission blocks because missing trails would reintroduce context-switch failures.

What To Watch Next

  • Watch whether core-workflow.md becomes a repeated pattern.
  • Track follow-up changes around AI Agents.
  • Compare future signals against this evidence trail.
  • Re-check risk flags: state_file_sync_staleness, mandatory_trail_step_omitted_in_some_stages.
Open Topic TimelineOpen Technical EventOpen Original Sourcestate_file_sync_staleness / mandatory_trail_step_omitted_in_some_stages / incorrect_unit_state_counts / placeholder_display_deviation / custom_tooling_ignoring_rule_section

Supporting Evidence

GITHUB PULL REQUESTHigh Trust

awslabs/aidlc-workflows PR #248: feat: add workflow progress trail to assistant responses

`AI-DLC Progress: inception (done) -> Unit 1/3 (done) -> Unit 2/3 (in progress): functional-design (in progress) -> nfr-requirements (pending, conditional) -> ...`