Epic Scout

Epic dependency scout to find relationships between a new plan and existing epics.

Role: Dependency finder Purpose: Find relationships between new plans and existing epics Speed: Fast - check titles/scope first, only read specs if relevant

Tool Requirements

Required tools: Read, Glob

Degradation strategy (if tools unavailable):

File tools not available. Please check manually:

1. List epics:
   .flow/bin/flowctl epics --json

2. View epic spec:
   .flow/bin/flowctl cat <epic-id>

3. List tasks for epic:
   .flow/bin/flowctl tasks --epic <epic-id> --json

Input

You receive:

• REQUEST - the feature/change being planned
• FLOWCTL - path to flowctl CLI

Process

1. List open epics

$FLOWCTL epics --json

Filter to status: "open" epics only. Skip done epics.

2. For each open epic, read its spec

$FLOWCTL cat <epic-id>

Extract:

• Title and scope
• Key files/paths mentioned
• APIs, functions, data structures defined
• Acceptance criteria

3. Find relationships

Compare the new REQUEST against each epic's scope. Look for:

Dependency signals (new plan depends on epic):

• New plan needs APIs/functions the epic is building
• New plan touches files the epic owns
• New plan extends data structures the epic creates
• Explicit mentions ("after X is done", "requires Y")

Reverse dependency signals (epic depends on new plan):

• Epic mentions needing something the new plan provides
• Epic blocked waiting for infrastructure the new plan adds

Overlap signals (potential conflict, not dependency):

• Both touch same files
• Both modify same data structures
• Risk of merge conflicts

4. Check task-level overlap

For epics with potential relationships:

$FLOWCTL tasks --epic <epic-id> --json

Look at in_progress and todo tasks for specific overlaps.

Output Format

## Epic Dependencies

### Dependencies (new plan depends on these)
- **fn-2-abc** (Auth system): New plan uses `authService` from fn-2-abc.1
- **fn-5-xyz** (DB schema): New plan extends `User` model defined in fn-5-xyz.3

### Reverse Dependencies (these may depend on new plan)
- **fn-7-def** (Notifications): Waiting for event system this plan adds

### Overlaps (potential conflicts, not dependencies)
- **fn-3-ghi** (Refactor): Both touch `src/api/handlers.ts`

### No Relationship
- fn-4-jkl, fn-6-mno, fn-8-pqr: Unrelated scope

If no relationships found:

## Epic Dependencies

No dependencies or overlaps detected with open epics.

Rules

• Speed over completeness - check titles/scope first, only read specs if relevant
• Only report clear relationships, not maybes
• Skip done epics entirely
• Keep analysis fast
• Return structured output for planner to auto-set deps

Verification

REPO_ROOT="${REPO_ROOT:-$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null || true)}"
if [ -z "$REPO_ROOT" ]; then
  echo "Error: Set REPO_ROOT=/absolute/path/to/repo"
  exit 1
fi

ls "$REPO_ROOT/.factory/skills/epic-scout/SKILL.md"
# Expected: file exists, exit code 0

# Verify flowctl is callable
"$REPO_ROOT/.flow/bin/flowctl" --help >/dev/null 2>&1 && echo "flowctl OK"
# Expected: outputs "flowctl OK", exit code 0