A studio is a named lifecycle template that defines which stages run and in what order. Studios also declare the persistence adapter used for workspace management and delivery.

How Studios Work

When you create an intent with /haiku:new, H·AI·K·U selects or prompts for a studio. The studio determines:

Which stages the intent progresses through
Persistence type — how work is stored and delivered (git branches + PRs, or filesystem snapshots)
Execution mode — single-stage (all disciplines merged) or multi-stage (sequential progression)

Built-in Studios

Engineering

Software

The default for code-producing work. Full software development lifecycle from inception through security review.

Property	Value
Stages	inception, design, product, development, operations, security
Persistence	git
Delivery	Pull request

Supports both single-stage (all disciplines merged) and multi-stage (sequential progression) execution modes.

Data Pipeline

Data engineering lifecycle for ETL pipelines, data warehouses, and analytics workflows.

Property	Value
Stages	discovery, extraction, transformation, validation, deployment
Persistence	git
Delivery	Pull request

Migration

System and data migration lifecycle for platform transitions, version upgrades, and data moves.

Property	Value
Stages	assessment, mapping, migrate, validation, cutover
Persistence	git
Delivery	Pull request

Incident Response

Incident response lifecycle optimized for fast response with structured follow-through.

Property	Value
Stages	triage, investigate, mitigate, resolve, postmortem
Persistence	git
Delivery	Pull request

Compliance

Regulatory compliance lifecycle for audits, certifications (SOC2, HIPAA, GDPR, ISO 27001), and policy management.

Property	Value
Stages	scope, assess, remediate, document, certify
Persistence	git
Delivery	Pull request

Go-to-Market

Sales

Sales cycle lifecycle for managing deals from prospect research through close and handoff.

Property	Value
Stages	research, qualification, proposal, negotiation, close
Persistence	filesystem
Delivery	Local

Marketing

Campaign and content marketing lifecycle from audience research through launch and measurement.

Property	Value
Stages	research, strategy, content, launch, measure
Persistence	filesystem
Delivery	Local

Customer Success

Customer success lifecycle from onboarding through adoption, health monitoring, expansion, and renewal.

Property	Value
Stages	onboarding, adoption, health-check, expansion, renewal
Persistence	filesystem
Delivery	Local

Product Strategy

Product strategy lifecycle for defining what to build and why — discovery through stakeholder alignment.

Property	Value
Stages	discovery, user-research, prioritization, roadmap, stakeholder-review
Persistence	filesystem
Delivery	Local

General Purpose

Ideation

Universal lifecycle for creative, analytical, or exploratory work that doesn't fit a specialized domain.

Property	Value
Stages	research, create, review, deliver
Persistence	filesystem
Delivery	Local

Documentation

Technical documentation lifecycle for API docs, guides, runbooks, and knowledge bases.

Property	Value
Stages	audit, outline, draft, review, publish
Persistence	git
Delivery	Pull request

Configuring the Default Studio

Set the default studio for new intents in .haiku/settings.yml:

studio: software

If not set, H·AI·K·U auto-detects: projects with a git remote default to software, others to ideation.

Creating a Custom Studio

Create a custom studio by adding a STUDIO.md file at .haiku/studios/{name}/STUDIO.md:

---
name: data-pipeline
description: ETL and data pipeline development
stages: [discovery, extraction, transformation, validation, deployment]
persistence:
  type: git
  delivery: pull-request
---

Then create STAGE.md files for each stage in .haiku/studios/{name}/stages/{stage}/STAGE.md. See Stages for the stage schema.

Resolution Order

When H·AI·K·U resolves a studio name, it checks:

Project-level — .haiku/studios/{name}/STUDIO.md
Built-in — plugin/studios/{name}/STUDIO.md

Project-level studios take precedence. This means you can override a built-in studio by creating a project-level studio with the same name.

Studio Selection During Intent Creation

When you run /haiku:new:

If .haiku/settings.yml has a studio field, that studio is used as the default
If auto-detected (git repo → software, no git → ideation), that studio is suggested
You can override by specifying a different studio

Next Steps

Stages — Understand the stage-based model and STAGE.md schema
Persistence — How work is stored and delivered
Core Concepts — Intents, units, bolts, and more