Artifact Index

You manage the AIWG artifact index — building or rebuilding the searchable index of all SDLC artifacts in .aiwg/, querying it by text, inspecting dependency graphs, and reporting index statistics.

Scope: the JSON artifact graph AND research-corpus markdown views. This skill manages the JSON artifact graph under .aiwg/.index/* (nodes, edges, checksums). As of #1490, aiwg index build also renders research-corpus markdown views (indices/by-topic.md, indices/by-year.md, indices/authors.md, citation-network, …) natively, in the same process — one command produces both from one config (.aiwg/aiwg.config index.graphs, #1491). The former standalone corpus-index-build build.py is retired; that skill now points back to aiwg index build. Markdown views render only when the project has a documentation/references/ corpus, so this is a no-op in ordinary SDLC projects.

Triggers

Alternate expressions and non-obvious activations (primary phrases are matched automatically from the skill description):

• "index my artifacts" → build
• "find requirements about authentication" → query "authentication"
• "what depends on UC-001" → deps .aiwg/requirements/UC-001.md
• "how many artifacts are indexed" → stats
• "refresh the index" → build --force

Trigger Patterns Reference

Pattern	Example	Action
Build index	"build the artifact index"	Run aiwg index build
Post-clone bootstrap	"I just cloned this, queries return nothing" / "the index is missing"	Run aiwg index build --all (the index is gitignored, not committed — see note below)
Force rebuild	"rebuild the index from scratch"	Run aiwg index build --force --verbose
Text search	"search artifacts for authentication"	Run aiwg index query "authentication"
Dependency graph	"show dependencies for the SAD"	Run aiwg index deps .aiwg/architecture/software-architecture-doc.md
Statistics	"how many artifacts are indexed?"	Run aiwg index stats
JSON output	"get index stats as JSON"	Run aiwg index stats --json

.aiwg/.index/ is a regenerable build artifact, not committed. It is gitignored by default (aiwg use / aiwg regenerate / scaffolding add it to .gitignore), so a fresh clone has no index — aiwg index build --all is the standard bootstrap. aiwg doctor flags a missing index (info, when an index block is declared in .aiwg/aiwg.config — the canonical home as of #1491 — or legacy .aiwg/config.yaml) or a stale one (warn, when recorded source files changed) and points back to aiwg index build.

Behavior

When triggered:

1. Identify the subcommand:

   • Is the user building, searching, inspecting dependencies, or checking stats?
   • Is a specific artifact path or query mentioned?
   • Is --force, --verbose, or --json appropriate?

2. Run the appropriate command:

   # Build or rebuild the index
   aiwg index build
   
   # Full rebuild with progress output
   aiwg index build --force --verbose
   
   # Semantic search across all artifacts
   aiwg index query "<text>"
   
   # Machine-readable search results
   aiwg index query "<text>" --json
   
   # Show dependency graph for an artifact
   aiwg index deps <artifact-path>
   
   # Machine-readable dependency graph
   aiwg index deps <artifact-path> --json
   
   # Show index statistics
   aiwg index stats
   
   # Machine-readable statistics
   aiwg index stats --json
   

3. Report the result — surface the relevant matches, dependencies, or counts.

Examples

Example 1: Build the index

User: "Build the artifact index"

Extraction: Build subcommand, no flags

Action:

aiwg index build

Response: "Index built. Indexed 47 artifacts across 8 categories in .aiwg/. Run aiwg index query to search."

Example 2: Force rebuild with progress

User: "Rebuild the index from scratch"

Extraction: Build subcommand, --force --verbose

Action:

aiwg index build --force --verbose

Response: "Full rebuild complete. Scanned 52 files, indexed 47 artifacts (5 skipped: working/). Categories: requirements (12), architecture (8), testing (7), security (5), deployment (4), planning (6), risks (5)."

Example 3: Text search

User: "Search artifacts for anything about authentication"

Extraction: Query subcommand, text = authentication

Action:

aiwg index query "authentication"

Response: "5 artifacts match 'authentication': UC-003-user-authentication.md (requirements), SAD section 4.2 (architecture), threat-model-v1.md (security), test-plan-auth.md (testing), deployment-runbook.md (deployment)."

Example 4: Dependency inspection

User: "What does UC-001 depend on, and what depends on it?"

Extraction: Deps subcommand, artifact = .aiwg/requirements/UC-001.md

Action:

aiwg index deps .aiwg/requirements/UC-001.md

Response: "UC-001 (User Registration) dependencies: none (root artifact). Dependents: UC-003-user-authentication.md, test-plan-registration.md, SAD section 3.1, deployment-runbook.md."

Example 5: Index statistics

User: "How many artifacts are indexed?"

Extraction: Stats subcommand

Action:

aiwg index stats

Response: "Index contains 47 artifacts. Coverage: 90% (5 unindexed files in working/). Last built: 2026-04-01T14:22:00Z. Categories with highest artifact count: requirements (12), architecture (8), testing (7)."

Clarification Prompts

If the user's intent is ambiguous:

• "Are you looking to search for existing artifacts, or rebuild the index so new artifacts are discoverable?"
• "Do you want to see what an artifact depends on, or what other artifacts depend on it? (I can show both)"

References

• @$AIWG_ROOT/src/cli/handlers/subcommands.ts — Index subcommand handler
• @$AIWG_ROOT/docs/cli-reference.md — CLI reference (index section)
• @$AIWG_ROOT/agentic/code/frameworks/sdlc-complete/README.md — SDLC artifact structure