§ 04 · Workflow

# Spec to ship,
with rigor.

Every task moves through four steps — spec, develop, review, ship — plus a fifth that most tools forget: measure. Grove makes each step first-class, and connects them so you never lose context between writing intent and reading diffs.

$ install grove → Next: Extend →
FIG. 01 Five steps. Every merge, a decision.
§ 01 SPEC
Spec first

### Write it down,
then let AI loose.

Every Grove task opens with a Notes editor. What you type there gets injected into the agent's `CLAUDE.md` / `AGENTS.md` at worktree creation, plus `GROVE_*` environment variables in the tmux session. Clear intent in → focused output out.

- Task Notes markdown editor, auto-saved on navigation
- `GROVE_PROJECT`, `GROVE_TASK_ID`, `GROVE_BRANCH` + friends exported into the tmux/Zellij session
- MCP tools `grove_read_notes` / `grove_edit_note` let agents read and update their own spec mid-task
- Agents discover their context by calling `grove_status` — no ambient `GROVE.md` file magic

FIG. 02 Spec → agent context, automatically.
§ 02 DEVELOP
FIG. 03 Chat or CLI — the same agent, the same worktree.
Two modes

### Chat or CLI.
Your call.

Every agent can run two ways in Grove. Chat mode gives every agent the same friendly UI — cards, plans, inline tool calls. CLI mode drops you into the agent's native terminal experience, the way it was originally designed.

- Chat mode — unified ACP UI, plan + todo panels, streaming
- CLI mode — xterm.js terminal, native agent experience
- Shell mode (`!` prefix) — escape to shell without leaving chat
- @-mentions, multimedia drops, agent picker per chat

§ 03 REVIEW

## Every merge,
a decision.

Review panels in Grove aren't just a diff. They're a threaded, resolvable, AI-assisted workspace. Comment on any line, discuss, ask the AI to fix what you flagged, and move on.

Code review

### Inline. Threaded. Fixable.

Click any line to comment. Comments thread. Use `@` to pull in files. Let the AI fixer resolve your comments in a batch. Bulk resolve with status and author filters when you're wrapping up.

- Line-level comments with threaded replies
- @-mentions inside comments with file autocomplete
- AI fixer — turn a list of comments into a diff
- Bulk resolve with status + author filters
- All Files mode with VSCode-style file icons and cross-file navigation

FIG. 04 Review like it's a conversation, not paperwork.
§ 04 SHIP

## Ship without
the git gymnastics.

Click complete. Grove commits, rebases, merges, and archives. Cross-branch? Grove checks out the target, merges, and returns. Squash detection is built in — a task that was already squashed won't try to merge again.

one step

### Commit → rebase → merge → archive

A single button that runs the whole chain. Any step fails, Grove surfaces the error and rolls back cleanly.

cross-branch

### Auto checkout, merge, return

Shipping to a branch that isn't your current checkout? Grove parks your work, switches, merges, returns you home.

smart

### Squash detection

If a task was already squash-merged upstream, Grove recognizes it via diff fallback and skips the merge instead of failing.

Branch drawer

Every worktree shows up with one-click actions — Go To, Rebase, Archive, Clean, Recover. Orchestrator agents can call `grove_complete_task` themselves, so shipping is a tool, not a keyboard shortcut.

§ 05 MEASURE

## What actually
shipped.

Grove captures a code snapshot on every archive and builds real statistics on top — what percent of AI-authored lines survived review, which agent needed the fewest fix rounds, where your spec length correlates with intervention count.

Statistics (beta)

### Know what AI did.

The Statistics page breaks down AI work, review intelligence, and an agent leaderboard across your chosen time range. Backed by a real API, not a dashboard bolt-on.

- AI Work Breakdown — tool calls / task, plans / task, spec-length vs interventions scatter
- Review Intelligence — AI adoption rate, hit rate, rounds-per-fix
- Agent Leaderboard — canonical-name aggregation across all projects
- Flexible time range picker, per-project aggregation

FIG. 06 Make the invisible work visible.

## Ship fast.
Ship on purpose.

AI ships fast by default. The rigor is yours to add — Grove just makes it easy.