Adopting Cloverleaf in a real team

A practical walkthrough for setting up a Cloverleaf-shaped team. Adapt liberally — the methodology binds at phase contracts, not at staffing.

1. Pick the agents

The 7 default agents are a recommended split, not a mandate. A solo developer can run all 7 in a single Claude session by switching personas; a 50-person engineering org can map them to teams. Start by reading Chapter 7 of the guide.

2. Define the gates

For each gate (Strategy, Task Batch, Final Approval), decide who staffs it. Use path → reviewer mappings (e.g., changes under auth/ request a Security Reviewer) to route Tasks automatically.

3. Author the schemas

Cloverleaf binds at artifact contracts. The Standard at standard/ ships canonical JSON Schemas for RFC, Spike, Plan, and Task. Use them as-is, or extend them via the extensions field.

4. Run a pilot

Pick one feature. Run it end-to-end through Discovery and Delivery with the agents you defined. Iterate on the path → reviewer mappings as you learn what your codebase actually needs.

See the repository for the full Standard and schema definitions.