/ipa-help

Report IPA project state and suggest the next lifecycle skill to run.

Purpose

/ipa-help is a diagnostic skill that inspects the current project state — filesystem artifacts, .env variables, and deployed CloudFormation stacks — and reports a one-line status with a suggested next skill. It does not modify files, deploy infrastructure, or invoke other skills.

When to Use

Run /ipa-help when you are unsure where you are in the lifecycle or what to run next. It is particularly useful when returning to a project after time away or troubleshooting a deployment that stopped mid-pipeline.

How It Works

The skill checks three layers of state:

1. Filesystem — Does .env exist? Does it contain IPA variables? Do scripts/deploy.mk and scripts/prepare.mk exist?
2. Configuration — Is APP_BUILDER_ROLE_ARN set (security configured)?
3. AWS — Are the security, prepare, and deploy stacks in *_COMPLETE status?

Based on these checks, it maps the project to one of six states and suggests the appropriate next skill.

Decision Matrix

State	Detection	Suggestion
Not initialized	.env missing or APP_NAMESPACE absent	Run /ipa-init
Initialized, not composed	.env present, no scripts/deploy.mk	Run /ipa-compose <stacks>
Composed, security missing	scripts/deploy.mk present, APP_BUILDER_ROLE_ARN absent	Run /ipa-compose (triggers security phase)
Composed, not prepared	Prepare stacks defined but not deployed	Run /ipa-prepare
Prepared, not deployed	Prepare stacks active, deploy stacks missing	Run /ipa-deploy
Fully deployed	All stacks active	Deployment complete. Use /ipa-destroy to tear down.

Output Format

The skill produces a two-line response: one-line state summary, followed by a "Next:" line with the suggested command.

State: Initialized, not composed.
Next: Run `/ipa-compose frontend backend` to compose your infrastructure.

State: Fully deployed (all stacks active).
Next: Deployment complete. Use `/ipa-destroy` to tear down when done.

Graceful Degradation

If AWS credentials are unavailable or API calls fail, the skill reports filesystem state only and notes "AWS status unavailable." It never blocks or errors — state detection degrades from full (filesystem + AWS) to partial (filesystem only).

Scope

/ipa-help v1 reports state and suggests a single next skill. It does not:

• List individual stacks or their outputs
• Dump .env contents
• Offer troubleshooting guidance
• Auto-invoke any skill