Internal Engine (Trajectory)

Predict likely next features from recent development patterns. Archobs exposes per-cluster velocity, edge relationships, and commit activity natively — use these as the primary data source.

The data is deterministic and structured. Feature adjacency reasoning ("export features suggest reports are coming next") is your job as the LLM — the tools give you the evidence.

Same-session fast path

When running in the same session as archobs (data already loaded):

1. archobs show velocity --window 30 --compare --format json — includes added_paths, external_inbound_weight, recent_file_changes_30d, recent_file_changes_90d, and is_emerging (when --compare is used).
2. archobs show edges --top-active 3 --max-neighbors 10 --format json — auto-selects top-3 clusters by file_change_count.
3. git branch -r --sort=-committerdate | head -20
4. git log --since="30 days ago" --format="%s" --no-merges | head -40
5. Theme extraction + feature adjacency reasoning (see below)

Run commands 1-2 in parallel (independent artifacts). Then 3-4 in parallel (independent git queries).

Primary path: archobs-native queries

1. Get velocity data — per-cluster commit activity with growth/churn ratios:

   archobs show velocity --window 30 --compare --format json
   

   Recently added file paths (added_paths) are included by default in JSON output — they are the highest-signal data for feature prediction. Use --compare to get acceleration relative to the prior window.

2. Inspect cluster relationships — which clusters are connected and how strongly:

   archobs show edges <cluster_id> --format json
   

3. Get full context — run individual queries in parallel:

   archobs show files --format json
   archobs show clusters --format json
   archobs show drift --format json
   archobs show risks --top 10 --format json
   

4. Collect branch signals — active branches are the highest-confidence trajectory signal:

   git branch -r --sort=-committerdate | head -20
   

   Branch names are direct feature declarations. Extract ticket ID prefixes (e.g. OIQ-516, CR-02) and cross-reference with commit message prefixes to group related branches into feature initiatives.

Ticket series grouping: When 3+ branches share a numeric prefix series or a domain keyword appears in both branch names and commit messages, group them as a single initiative. Report the initiative name, branch count, and combined cluster footprint.

4b. Collect commit message themes:

git log --since="30 days ago" --format="%s" --no-merges | head -40

Parse conventional commit prefixes to identify which domains are receiving feature work vs maintenance.

1. Interpret velocity signals:

Signal	Suggests
High growth_ratio	New capability being built
High churn_ratio	Feature refinement/iteration
High acceleration (with --compare)	Active development push
Low acceleration	Work winding down
High recent_file_changes_30d in cluster	Focused sprint in one area
Cross-cluster edges (show edges)	Feature adjacency — what depends on what
High external_inbound_weight	Gravitational center — other clusters pull toward this one

For detailed interpretation rules (compound velocity matrix, per-file intensity, convergent hub pattern, is_emerging, test-only clusters, cross-cluster initiative detection), see velocity-interpretation.md.

1. Reason about feature adjacency using the patterns in feature-adjacency.md and your domain knowledge.

Manual fallback: When archobs artifacts are not available, see manual-fallback.md for git-only trajectory extraction.

Combined archobs + trajectory workflow

When running both archobs and trajectory in the same session (the most common case):

1. archobs report (blocking — wait for completion)
2. Parallel: all archobs show commands + trajectory git commands:

   # Archobs queries (parallel):
   archobs show risks --top 10 --format json
   archobs show clusters --sort leakage --format json
   archobs show drift --format json
   archobs show summary --format json
   archobs show velocity --window 30 --compare --format json
   archobs show edges --top-active 3 --max-neighbors 10 --format json
   archobs show suggestions --format json
   # Git queries (parallel with above):
   git branch -r --sort=-committerdate | head -20
   git log --since="30 days ago" --format="%s" --no-merges | head -40
   

3. Synthesize into a combined report.