bitwarden · withinfocus · May 18, 2026 · May 12, 2026 · May 12, 2026 · May 12, 2026
@@ -66,9 +66,15 @@
     {
       "name": "bitwarden-tech-lead",
       "source": "./plugins/bitwarden-tech-lead",
-      "version": "2.1.0",
+      "version": "2.1.1",
       "description": "Tech lead agent for a Bitwarden product team. Architects solutions holistically with the architecture group, dispatches to delivery-lifecycle skills (initiative funnel, work transitions) when work crosses teams, and surfaces team patterns to the Technical Strategy Ideas backlog."
     },
+    {
+      "name": "bitwarden-shepherd",
+      "source": "./plugins/bitwarden-shepherd",
+      "version": "1.0.0",
+      "description": "Champion-of-a-technical-strategy agent for Bitwarden. Shepherds a Technical Strategy Idea through Architecture's evaluation into the Software Initiative Funnel, then drives the resulting initiative across all five funnel phases to durable adoption."
+    },
     {
       "name": "bitwarden-delivery-tools",
       "source": "./plugins/bitwarden-delivery-tools",

@@ -77,8 +77,11 @@
     "pyproject",
     "pytest",
     "remotelink",
+    "Rescope",
     "resolutiondate",
+    "rustdoc",
     "sarif",
+    "SDLC",
     "sast",
     "sbom",
     "semver",
@@ -97,8 +100,10 @@
     "startswith",
     "stride",
     "structurizr",
+    "tarpit",
     "thumbsup",
     "tinyui",
+    "touchpoint",
     "touchpoints",
     "triaging",
     "unresponded",

@@ -6,7 +6,8 @@ A curated collection of plugins for AI-assisted development at Bitwarden. Enable
 
 | Plugin                                                              | Version | Description                                                                                                         |
 | ------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
-| [bitwarden-tech-lead](plugins/bitwarden-tech-lead/)                 | 2.1.0   | Tech lead for technical planning, architecture coherence, and surfacing patterns to Technical Strategy Ideas        |
+| [bitwarden-tech-lead](plugins/bitwarden-tech-lead/)                 | 2.1.1   | Tech lead for technical planning, architecture coherence, and surfacing patterns to Technical Strategy Ideas        |
+| [bitwarden-shepherd](plugins/bitwarden-shepherd/)                   | 1.0.0   | Champion of a technical strategy — shepherds a TSI through evaluation into the funnel, then through to adoption     |
 | [bitwarden-atlassian-tools](plugins/bitwarden-atlassian-tools/)     | 2.2.3   | Read-only Atlassian access via MCP server with deep Jira issue research skill                                       |
 | [bitwarden-code-review](plugins/bitwarden-code-review/)             | 1.11.0  | Autonomous code review agent following Bitwarden engineering standards with GitHub integration                      |
 | [bitwarden-delivery-tools](plugins/bitwarden-delivery-tools/)       | 1.1.0   | Delivery lifecycle skills: initiative funnel navigation, work transitions, commits, PRs, preflight checks, labeling |

@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+{
+  "name": "bitwarden-shepherd",
+  "version": "1.0.0",
+  "description": "Champion-of-a-technical-strategy agent for Bitwarden. Shepherds a Technical Strategy Idea through Architecture's evaluation into the Software Initiative Funnel, then drives the resulting initiative across all five funnel phases (Identification, Research, Proof of Concept, Scoping & Commitment, Implementation) to durable adoption. Produces the Architectural Assessment, PoC, ADR, High-Level Architecture Plan, and child epics; coordinates cross-team consistency; reports to leadership; and curates the upstream TSI backlog from the Peer-Reviewer side.",
+  "author": {
+    "name": "Bitwarden",
+    "url": "https://github.com/bitwarden"
+  },
+  "homepage": "https://github.com/bitwarden/ai-plugins/tree/main/plugins/bitwarden-shepherd",
+  "repository": "https://github.com/bitwarden/ai-plugins",
+  "keywords": [
+    "shepherd",
+    "champion",
+    "technical-strategy",
+    "technical-strategy-idea",
+    "initiative-funnel",
+    "architectural-assessment",
+    "proof-of-concept",
+    "adr",
+    "cross-team-coordination"
+  ],
+  "agents": "./agents/AGENT.md"
+}
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+# Changelog
+
+All notable changes to the `bitwarden-shepherd` plugin will be documented in this file.
+
+The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/),
+and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
+
+## [1.0.0] - 2026-05-13
+
+### Added
+
+- Initial release. `bitwarden-shepherd` is a champion-of-a-technical-strategy agent that complements `bitwarden-tech-lead`. The shepherd's role spans two connected acts: shepherding a Technical Strategy Idea through Architecture's evaluation into the Software Initiative Funnel, then driving the resulting initiative across all five funnel phases (Identification, Research, Proof of Concept, Scoping & Commitment, Implementation) to durable adoption.
+- `bitwarden-shepherd` agent with explicit ownership boundaries between shepherd and each receiving team's tech lead.
+- Seven skills:
+  - `championing-a-strategy-idea` — Primary-Owner playbook for the pre-funnel arc; canonical home for the Stakeholder & Engagement Map and the Adoption Retrospective at Implementation handoff.
+  - `shepherding-an-initiative` — umbrella playbook for the five funnel phases.
+  - `running-an-architectural-assessment` — Phase 2 (Research) deep dive.
+  - `running-a-proof-of-concept` — Phase 3 (PoC) deep dive, including ADR placement and Bitwarden's close-to-code vs. centralized documentation patterns.
+  - `scoping-and-handing-off-to-teams` — Phase 4 (Scoping & Commitment) deep dive. Composes `running-work-transitions` for the originating side of the Work Transition Playbook.
+  - `coordinating-implementation-across-teams` — Phase 5 (Implementation) deep dive. Composes `running-work-transitions` for the support period through closure.
+  - `curating-the-strategy-ideas-backlog` — Peer-Reviewer and portfolio-curator side of the TSI Shepherding Model.
+- Cross-plugin integration with `bitwarden-delivery-tools` (funnel and work-transition skills are composed, not duplicated), `bitwarden-tech-lead` (team-side counterpart), `bitwarden-security-engineer`, and `bitwarden-atlassian-tools`.
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+# Bitwarden Shepherd Plugin
+
+## Overview
+
+Champion-of-a-technical-strategy agent for Bitwarden. The shepherd is the Staff+ engineer who holds a thesis about something Bitwarden should change in its software, its patterns, its architecture, or its engineering practices — and who takes accountability for shaping that thesis into something the organization can act on, earning the support to pursue it, and seeing it through to durable adoption.
+
+The role spans two connected acts. First, you shepherd a Technical Strategy Idea through Architecture's evaluation — peer review, Stakeholder & Engagement Map, Architecture Council, quarterly prioritization — until it earns intake into the Software Initiative Funnel. Then, you shepherd the resulting initiative through five funnel phases — Identification, Research, Proof of Concept, Scoping & Commitment, Implementation — until the thesis is real, adopted by teams, and durable beyond your involvement. The mechanics — Architectural Assessment, PoC, ADR, High-Level Architecture Plan, child epics, cross-team coordination, leadership reporting — are how the thesis becomes reality. They are not what you are.
+
+This plugin is the symmetric counterpart to `bitwarden-tech-lead`. Tech-lead represents a team inside an initiative; shepherd owns the initiative across teams, and the idea upstream of it. Both compose the agent-neutral delivery-lifecycle skills in `bitwarden-delivery-tools` so the funnel-mechanics and work-transition content lives in one place.
+
+## Agent
+
+| Agent                | What It Does                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            |
+| -------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
+| `bitwarden-shepherd` | Champion of a technical strategy. Shepherds a Technical Strategy Idea through Architecture's evaluation into the Software Initiative Funnel, then drives the resulting initiative across all five funnel phases to adoption. Produces the Architectural Assessment, PoC, ADR, High-Level Architecture Plan, and child epics; coordinates cross-team consistency; reports to leadership — while teams own their breakdown and execution. |
+
+## Skills
+
+| Skill                                      | What It Does                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               |
+| ------------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
+| `championing-a-strategy-idea`              | Primary-Owner playbook for the pre-funnel arc — taking accountability for a specific Technical Strategy Idea, pairing with a peer reviewer, completing the Stakeholder & Engagement Map honestly, presenting at Architecture Council, earning funnel intake at quarterly prioritization, and running the Adoption Retrospective at Implementation handoff. |
+| `shepherding-an-initiative`                | End-to-end umbrella playbook covering all five funnel phases, effort budgets, decision gates, and shepherd-vs-team ownership boundaries. Picks up after an idea has earned funnel intake. Dispatches into the four phase-deep skills.                                                                                                                      |
+| `running-an-architectural-assessment`      | Phase 2 (Research) deep dive — stakeholder interviews, current-state analysis with quantified impact, generating 2–4 solution options, drafting the Architectural Assessment, socializing with stakeholders.                                                                                                                                               |
+| `running-a-proof-of-concept`               | Phase 3 (PoC) deep dive — choosing a representative-but-contained PoC area in coordination with the owning team, building the framework and example implementations, Architecture Council walkthrough, drafting the ADR.                                                                                                                                   |
+| `scoping-and-handing-off-to-teams`         | Phase 4 (Scoping & Commitment) deep dive — High-Level Architecture Plan, child epics, per-team handoff meeting structure, holding the line against shepherd-written stories, leadership commitment, operational prioritization with capacity.                                                                                                              |
+| `coordinating-implementation-across-teams` | Phase 5 (Implementation) deep dive — communication channels, kickoff, review-for-consistency vs. detailed code review, drift detection, progress reporting cadence, knowledge transfer, retrospective, post-implementation impact measurement.                                                                                                             |
+| `curating-the-strategy-ideas-backlog`      | Peer-Reviewer and portfolio-curator side of the TSI Shepherding Model — serving as constructive challenge function for someone else's idea, weekly triage, monthly score updates, mid-quarter backlog management, quarterly prioritization with engineering leadership.                                                                                    |
+
+## Cross-Plugin Integration
+
+| Plugin                        | How It's Used                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
+| ----------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
+| `bitwarden-delivery-tools`    | Composed (not duplicated). `navigating-the-initiative-funnel` for the agent-neutral phase-by-phase boundary view; `running-work-transitions` for the Phase 4→5 handoff mechanics on the originating side (Preparation, Sessions, Support Period, Pulse Check, Retrospective, Closure).           |
+| `bitwarden-tech-lead`         | Team-side counterpart. Use `architecting-solutions` for team-scope architectural judgment when an initiative lands inside a team's codebase. Use `contributing-to-technical-strategy` to understand the team-contributor perspective on TSIs (this plugin covers the Architecture-curator side). |
+| `bitwarden-security-engineer` | `bitwarden-security-context` for P01–P06 principles, `reviewing-security-architecture` for architecture pattern validation, `threat-modeling` for initiatives touching crypto, auth, or zero-knowledge boundaries.                                                                               |
+| `bitwarden-atlassian-tools`   | Jira issue research and Confluence page access for the funnel, the Work Transition Playbook, the Operating Model, the TSI backlog, and the Idea-Based Initiatives pages this plugin's skills reference throughout.                                                                               |
+
+All cross-plugin skills are required because the plugin relies on them for a complete shepherd workflow.
+
+## Installation
+
+```bash
+/plugin install bitwarden-shepherd@bitwarden-marketplace
+```
+
+Install `bitwarden-delivery-tools` alongside it (the funnel-mechanics and work-transition skills live there):
+
+```bash
+/plugin install bitwarden-delivery-tools@bitwarden-marketplace
+```
+
+## Usage
+
+The shepherd agent activates when championing a Technical Strategy Idea, driving an approved initiative through any phase of the funnel, running an architectural assessment or PoC, drafting an ADR, handing off epics to teams, coordinating an in-flight initiative across teams, or curating the upstream TSI backlog:
+
+```
+I think Bitwarden should standardize observability instrumentation across services. I want to take this on. Walk me through the championing arc — how do I file, who do I pair with, what does the Stakeholder & Engagement Map need to look like before this can go to Research?
+```
+
+```
+I just got assigned to shepherd ARCH-123. Walk me through Phase 1 — what do I produce, and what do I avoid pre-scoping?
+```
+
+```
+We're at the end of Research for the observability initiative. Help me structure the Architectural Assessment and prep for the leadership review.
+```
+
+```
+Phase 4 handoff with the Vault team is tomorrow. Help me build the agenda and the per-team architecture-plan section.
+```
+
+```
+TypeScript migration is 60% through Implementation and two teams are interpreting the error pattern differently. How do I surface this without taking over their code review?
+```
+
+```
+I'm reviewing a new TSI a tech lead just filed. The Stakeholder & Engagement Map's friction-points field is empty. What do I push back on?
+```
+
+## Related Plugins
+
+- **`bitwarden-tech-lead`** — the team-side counterpart of this role. Use that plugin when representing a team inside an initiative (receiving the epic, breaking it down, running it in the team's roadmap). Use this plugin when owning the initiative across teams.
+- **`bitwarden-delivery-tools`** — required. Provides the agent-neutral funnel and work-transition skills that this plugin composes.
+
+## References
+
+- [Software Initiative Funnel](https://bitwarden.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/EN/pages/584515614)
+- [Work Transition Playbook](https://bitwarden.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/EN/pages/2521038855)
+- [Architecture / Engineering Operating Model](https://bitwarden.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/EN/pages/1286963201)
+- [Technical Strategy Ideas](https://bitwarden.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/EN/pages/2344517656)
+- [Idea-Based Initiatives](https://bitwarden.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/EN/pages/2785181779)
+- [Architecture Council](https://bitwarden.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/EN/pages/751698031)
+- [Bitwarden ADR Template](https://contributing.bitwarden.com/architecture/adr/)
+- [Bitwarden Security Definitions](https://contributing.bitwarden.com/architecture/security/definitions)
+- [Bitwarden Security Principles](https://contributing.bitwarden.com/architecture/security/principles/)
+- [Bitwarden Contributing Guidelines](https://contributing.bitwarden.com/contributing/)