This release introduces significant enhancements across multiple areas:
QA Agent Transformation:
- Transform QA agent into senior developer role with active code refactoring abilities
- Add review-story task enabling QA to review, refactor, and improve code directly
- Integrate QA review step into standard development workflow (SM → Dev → QA)
- QA can fix small issues directly and leave checklist for remaining items
- Updated dev agent to maintain File List for QA review focus
Knowledge Base Improvements:
- Add extensive brownfield development documentation and best practices
- Clarify Web UI vs IDE usage with cost optimization strategies
- Document PRD-first approach for large codebases/monorepos
- Add comprehensive expansion packs explanation
- Update IDE workflow to include QA review step
- Clarify agent usage (bmad-master vs specialized agents)
Brownfield Enhancements:
- Create comprehensive Working in the Brownfield guide
- Add document-project task to analyst agent capabilities
- Implement PRD-first workflow option for focused documentation
- Transform document-project to create practical brownfield architecture docs
- Document technical debt, workarounds, and real-world constraints
- Reference actual files instead of duplicating content
- Add impact analysis when PRD is provided
Documentation Task Improvements:
- Simplify to always create ONE unified architecture document
- Add deep codebase analysis phase with targeted questions
- Focus on documenting reality including technical debt
- Include Quick Reference section with key file paths
- Add practical sections: useful commands, debugging tips, known issues
Workflow Updates:
- Update all 6 workflow files with detailed IDE transition instructions
- Add clear SM → Dev → QA → Dev cycle explanation
- Emphasize Gemini Web for brownfield analysis (1M+ context advantage)
- Support both PRD-first and document-first approaches
This release significantly improves the brownfield development experience and introduces a powerful shift-left QA approach with senior developer mentoring.
- Added prominent section about updating existing installations
- Explains how npx bmad-method install detects and updates v4
- Highlights backup feature for custom modifications
- Makes it clear that updates are safe and preserve customizations
🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.ai/code)
Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Create comprehensive PR guide at docs/how-to-contribute-with-pull-requests.md
- Add prominent links in README.md and CONTRIBUTING.md
- Include step-by-step instructions for GitHub newcomers
- Explain what makes good vs bad PRs with examples
- Add Discord community as primary support channel
This addresses issues with inexperienced contributors submitting
poorly formatted PRs or code dumps instead of proper contributions.
🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.ai/code)
Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
### CHANGES
- Add newlines and spacing for improved readability
- Standardize instructional text for consistency
- Renumber lists within tasks for better clarity
- Add language identifiers to various code blocks
- Update placeholder text for improved consistency
- Adjust descriptions and wording in multiple files
- Update VS Code settings and dictionary words
* chore: add VSCode settings and update README for clarity**
### CHANGES
- Add recommended extensions for VSCode in `extensions.json`
- Create `settings.json` for custom spell-checker words
- Update README to specify plaintext in code block
* chore: add other technical words to cspell dictionary
---------
Co-authored-by: Brian <bmadcode@gmail.com>
- Added wrapper script (bmad.js) at root to handle npx execution context
- Fixed module resolution in tools/installer/bin/bmad.js for both local and npx contexts
- Updated package.json bin paths to use the wrapper script
- Handles temporary npx directories properly using execSync
This fixes the issue where `npx github:bmadcode/BMAD-METHOD#v4-alpha bmad`
was dropping into a shell instead of executing the command.
🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.ai/code)
Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
