This guide covers migrating from AI-DLC to H·AI·K·U. Most migration is automatic, but some manual steps may be needed for CI scripts, team documentation, and custom configurations.

Terminology Map

AI-DLC Term	H·AI·K·U Term	Notes
AI-DLC	H·AI·K·U	The methodology and plugin name
Workflow	Studio	Named lifecycle templates (default, adversarial, etc. → software, ideation, custom)
Pass	Stage	Typed disciplinary phases (design, product, dev → inception, design, product, development, etc.)
Standalone hats	Stage-scoped hats	Hats are now per-stage files in `stages/{stage}/hats/{hat}.md`
`.ai-dlc/`	`.haiku/`	Project directory
`/ai-dlc:*`	`/haiku:*`	Command prefix

Unchanged concepts: Intent, Unit, Bolt, Completion Criteria, Backpressure, Operating Modes (HITL/OHOTL/AHOTL), Quality Gates, Providers.

Command Map

Old Command	New Command
`/ai-dlc:elaborate`	`/haiku:new` + `/haiku:run`
`/ai-dlc:execute`	`/haiku:run`
`/ai-dlc:review`	`/haiku:review`
`/ai-dlc:autopilot`	`/haiku:autopilot`
`/ai-dlc:quick`	`/haiku:quick`
`/ai-dlc:operate`	`/haiku:operate`
`/ai-dlc:resume`	`/haiku:resume`
`/ai-dlc:reset`	`/haiku:reset`
`/ai-dlc:refine`	`/haiku:refine`
`/ai-dlc:followup`	`/haiku:followup`
`/ai-dlc:compound`	`/haiku:compound`
`/ai-dlc:adopt`	`/haiku:adopt`
`/ai-dlc:reflect`	`/haiku:reflect`
`/ai-dlc:setup`	`.haiku/settings.yml` (direct edit)

Directory Map

Old Path	New Path
`.ai-dlc/`	`.haiku/`
`.ai-dlc/settings.yml`	`.haiku/settings.yml`
`.ai-dlc/providers/`	`.haiku/providers/`
`.ai-dlc/knowledge/`	`.haiku/knowledge/`
`.ai-dlc/{intent}/`	`.haiku/intents/{intent}/`
`.ai-dlc/{intent}/operations/`	`.haiku/intents/{intent}/operations/`
`.ai-dlc/workflows.yml`	`.haiku/studios/` (directory with STUDIO.md files)
`.ai-dlc/passes/{name}.md`	`.haiku/studios/{studio}/stages/{name}/STAGE.md`

Concept Map

Workflows → Studios

AI-DLC's named workflows (default, adversarial, design, hypothesis, TDD) defined hat sequences. H·AI·K·U replaces these with studios — lifecycle templates that define stages, each with their own per-stage hat files.

Old Workflow	New Approach
`default`	Software studio, development stage (planner → builder → reviewer)
`adversarial`	Software studio, security stage (threat-modeler → red-team → blue-team → security-reviewer)
`design`	Software studio, design stage (designer → design-reviewer)
`hypothesis`	Not a separate workflow; use the ideation studio or define a custom stage
`tdd`	A custom stage or configuration within the development stage

Passes → Stages

AI-DLC's passes (design, product, dev) were typed iterations through the full loop. H·AI·K·U replaces these with stages — discrete phases that each define their own hats, review mode, and completion signals.

The multi-pass configuration:

# Old: .ai-dlc intent frontmatter
passes: [design, product, dev]
active_pass: "design"

Becomes stage configuration in the studio:

# New: STUDIO.md
stages: [inception, design, product, development, operations, security]

Custom Workflows → Custom Studios

# Old: .ai-dlc/workflows.yml
research-first:
  hats: [researcher, planner, builder, reviewer]

Becomes a custom studio with stages:

# New: .haiku/studios/research-first/STUDIO.md
# with stages defined in .haiku/studios/research-first/stages/

Automatic Migration

On first load, H·AI·K·U automatically migrates project configuration:

Settings — .ai-dlc/settings.yml is copied to .haiku/settings.yml
Providers — .ai-dlc/providers/ is copied to .haiku/providers/
Knowledge — .ai-dlc/knowledge/ is copied to .haiku/knowledge/
Backward-compat symlinks — Old paths get symlinks pointing to the new locations

All migrations are idempotent — re-running is a no-op if the new path already exists.

Note: Intent directory migration (.ai-dlc/{intent}/ → .haiku/intents/{intent}/) is handled separately and may require manual intervention for in-progress intents.

Manual Steps

Update .gitignore

If you have .ai-dlc/ in your .gitignore, add .haiku/:

# H·AI·K·U artifacts
.haiku/

# Legacy (can be removed after full migration)
.ai-dlc/

Update CI Scripts

Search your CI configuration for references to .ai-dlc/ and update:

# Find references
grep -r '\.ai-dlc' .github/ Makefile Dockerfile
grep -r 'ai-dlc' .github/ Makefile Dockerfile

Update Team Documentation

Search team docs, READMEs, and wikis for:

AI-DLC → H·AI·K·U
/ai-dlc: → /haiku:
.ai-dlc/ → .haiku/

Remove Backward-Compat Symlinks

After confirming everything works with the new paths, you can remove the symlinks:

# Only after verifying the migration is complete
rm -f .ai-dlc/settings.yml  # if it's a symlink
rm -rf .ai-dlc/providers     # if it's a symlink
rm -rf .ai-dlc/knowledge     # if it's a symlink

Existing Intents

Intents that were in progress during the migration continue to work:

Completed intents — No action needed. Artifacts remain in .ai-dlc/ as historical records.
In-progress intents — Continue using /haiku:resume which reads from both old and new paths.
New intents — Created in .haiku/intents/ using the new studio/stage model.

Breaking Changes

Standalone hat files — plugin/hats/*.md are no longer the primary hat definitions. Hats are now defined as files in stages/{stage}/hats/.
Workflow selection during elaboration — Replaced by studio selection during /haiku:new.
/ai-dlc:elaborate — Deprecated. Use /haiku:new to create intents, then /haiku:run to execute stages.
Pass-specific workflow constraints — Replaced by stage-level hat definitions.
Custom workflow files (.ai-dlc/workflows.yml) — Replaced by custom studio directories.

Next Steps

Getting Started — Tutorial with the new commands
Studios — Understanding lifecycle templates
Stages — The stage-based model
CLI Reference — Complete command reference