skillmaker advance

skillmaker advance <slug> [--to <stage>] [--back <stage> --reason <text>] [--override]

Moves a bundle one step along idea → researching → drafting → evaluating → published, subject to the guards in the production state machine. This is the same guard function the viewer’s POST /api/events uses — the CLI and the viewer are two doors onto one contract.

Options

Flag	Meaning
--to <stage>	Target stage; defaults to the next stage forward
--back <stage>	Move backward to an earlier stage — requires --reason
--reason <text>	Reason for a backward move
--override	Bypass every guard (still journaled, with override: true, so it’s visible history, not silent)
--json	Emit machine-readable JSON instead of text

Forward: blocked without an approved review

skillmaker advance my-first-skill

skillmaker advance: forward transition from "idea" requires an approved
review ("review.resolved" with decision "approve" for state "idea")
recorded since the last stage change

Exit code 1. Once skillmaker review request’s review has been approved in the viewer, the same command succeeds.

Backward: always legal, but never silent

skillmaker advance my-first-skill --back idea

skillmaker advance: --back requires --reason <text>

Exit code 2 (usage error) — a backward move without a reason is rejected before it even reaches the guard check, because regression must always be journaled with why.

skillmaker advance my-first-skill --back idea --reason "eval regressed after a model update"

succeeds unconditionally; the reason is recorded on the bundle.stage_changed event.

See also

The production state machine for the full guard table, including the publish gate on evaluating → published.