bitwarden · withinfocus · May 8, 2026 · May 7, 2026 · May 7, 2026
@@ -67,8 +67,8 @@
     {
       "name": "bitwarden-tech-lead",
       "source": "./plugins/bitwarden-tech-lead",
-      "version": "2.0.0",
-      "description": "Software architect agent for planning features across any Bitwarden repository. Discovers platform context dynamically via CLAUDE.md and repo-local planning skills."
+      "version": "2.1.0",
+      "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-delivery-tools",

@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@
     "startswith",
     "stride",
     "structurizr",
+    "touchpoints",
     "triaging",
     "unresponded",
     "unsanitized",

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ A curated collection of plugins for AI-assisted development at Bitwarden. Enable
 
 | Plugin                                                              | Version | Description                                                                                                         |
 | ------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
-| [bitwarden-tech-lead](plugins/bitwarden-tech-lead/)                 | 2.0.0   | Software architect for technical planning, architecture reviews, and implementation phasing                         |
+| [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-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/)             | 1.10.0  | 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 |

@@ -1,19 +1,19 @@
 {
   "name": "bitwarden-tech-lead",
-  "version": "2.0.0",
-  "description": "Software architect agent for planning features across any Bitwarden repository. Discovers platform context dynamically via CLAUDE.md and repo-local planning skills.",
+  "version": "2.1.0",
+  "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.",
   "author": {
     "name": "Bitwarden",
     "url": "https://github.com/bitwarden"
   },
   "homepage": "https://github.com/bitwarden/ai-plugins/tree/main/plugins/bitwarden-tech-lead",
   "repository": "https://github.com/bitwarden/ai-plugins",
   "keywords": [
-    "architect",
-    "planning",
-    "implementation-plan",
-    "requirements",
-    "work-breakdown"
+    "tech-lead",
+    "architecture",
+    "technical-strategy",
+    "epic-breakdown",
+    "planning"
   ],
   "agents": "./agents/AGENT.md"
 }
@@ -5,6 +5,19 @@ All notable changes to the `bitwarden-tech-lead` plugin will be documented in th
 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).
 
+## [2.1.0] - 2026-05-07
+
+### Added
+
+- `contributing-to-technical-strategy` skill — guides the path from Technical Strategy Ideas through BW Initiatives down to team-level epic and story breakdown.
+- `architecting-solutions` gains _Working with the Architecture Group (Holistic Coherence)_ and _Working with the Initiative Shepherd_ sections.
+
+### Changed
+
+- Reframed `AGENT.md` from "senior software architect" to a tech lead embedded in a product team. Adds a scope-based decision tree for when to operate alongside a shepherd vs. take on the shepherd role.
+- Agent dispatches to `Skill(navigating-the-initiative-funnel)` and `Skill(running-work-transitions)` from `bitwarden-delivery-tools` (1.1.0+).
+- Plugin description and keywords updated to reflect the holistic-architecture and technical-strategy framing.
+
 ## [2.0.0] - 2026-04-24
 
 ### Changed

@@ -8,24 +8,26 @@ The tech lead represents a team inside Bitwarden's architecture process — arch
 
 ## Agent
 
-| Agent                 | What It Does                               |
-| --------------------- | ------------------------------------------ |
-| `bitwarden-tech-lead` | Plans and architects inside a team's scope |
+| Agent                 | What It Does                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
+| --------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
+| `bitwarden-tech-lead` | Plans and architects inside a team's scope, works alongside initiative shepherds (or shepherds smaller-scope initiatives directly), runs work transitions in either direction, breaks down initiative epics, and surfaces ideas to architecture |
 
 ## Skills
 
-| Skill                    | What It Does                                                                                        |
-| ------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
-| `architecting-solutions` | Tech lead's architectural judgment framework: security mindset, blast radius, Bitwarden constraints |
+| Skill                                | What It Does                                                                                                                                          |
+| ------------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
+| `architecting-solutions`             | Architectural judgment framework: security mindset, blast radius, Bitwarden constraints, working with the architecture group and initiative shepherds |
+| `contributing-to-technical-strategy` | Full vertical from Technical Strategy Ideas through BW Initiatives to team epics and stories — recognizing, framing, tracing, breaking down           |
 
 ## Cross-Plugin Integration
 
-| Plugin                        | How It's Used                                                            |
-| ----------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
-| `bitwarden-security-engineer` | Security context (P01-P06), architecture pattern review, threat modeling |
-| `bitwarden-product-analyst`   | Consumes requirements documents as upstream input                        |
-| `bitwarden-software-engineer` | Implementation conventions for server, client, and database decisions    |
-| `bitwarden-atlassian-tools`   | Jira issue research and Confluence page access                           |
+| Plugin                        | How It's Used                                                                                                                                               |
+| ----------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
+| `bitwarden-delivery-tools`    | Delivery lifecycle skills — `navigating-the-initiative-funnel` for funnel phase mechanics, `running-work-transitions` for ownership transitions either side |
+| `bitwarden-security-engineer` | Security context (P01-P06), architecture pattern review, threat modeling                                                                                    |
+| `bitwarden-product-analyst`   | Consumes requirements documents as upstream input                                                                                                           |
+| `bitwarden-software-engineer` | Implementation conventions for server, client, and database decisions                                                                                       |
+| `bitwarden-atlassian-tools`   | Jira issue research and Confluence page access for the funnel, operating model, and TSI documents this plugin's skills reference                            |
 
 All cross-plugin skills are required because we rely upon each of them for a rich, complete workflow.
 
@@ -44,22 +46,28 @@ This plugin was previously named `bitwarden-architect`. The rename reflects Bitw
 /plugin install bitwarden-tech-lead@bitwarden-marketplace
 ```
 
+The `architecting-solutions` skill is retained (refactored around the holistic-architecture framing). A new `contributing-to-technical-strategy` skill is added. The funnel-mechanics and work-transition skills live in `bitwarden-delivery-tools` so multiple agents can compose them — install delivery-tools alongside this plugin to access them.
+
 ## Usage
 
-The tech lead agent activates when you're working inside your team's scope:
+The tech lead agent activates when planning work inside a team's scope, receiving an initiative epic, preparing to break it down, running a work transition (in either direction), shepherding a smaller-scope initiative, or evaluating whether a team-level pattern of pain belongs upstream in the funnel:
 
 ```
 Plan the implementation for PM-12345 within our team
 ```
 
 ```
-Break down the epic BW-123456 into stories for our team
+Break down the epic BW-123 into stories for our team
 ```
 
 ```
 We're receiving a framework transition from the Platform team. Help me prepare.
 ```
 
+```
+Is this pain we keep hitting something that belongs in Architecture's idea backlog?
+```
+
 ## References
 
 - [Software Initiative Funnel](https://bitwarden.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/EN/pages/584515614)

@@ -1,28 +1,45 @@
 ---
 name: bitwarden-tech-lead
-description: "Tech lead for a Bitwarden product team. Architects solutions inside the team's domain while staying coherent with Bitwarden's holistic architecture. Use when planning work inside a team's scope, receiving a work transition, breaking down an initiative epic, and choosing between approaches within a team."
+description: "Tech lead for a Bitwarden product team. Architects solutions inside the team's domain while staying coherent with Bitwarden's holistic architecture, works alongside initiative shepherds inside the Software Initiative Funnel (or fills the shepherd role for smaller-scope initiatives), runs work transitions in either direction, breaks initiative epics down into stories, and surfaces team-level patterns to the Technical Strategy Ideas backlog. Use when planning work inside a team's scope, running or receiving a work transition, breaking down an initiative epic, choosing between approaches within a team, or evaluating whether a team-level problem belongs upstream in the funnel."
 model: opus
 tools: Read, Write, Glob, Grep, Skill
 skills:
   - architecting-solutions
+  - contributing-to-technical-strategy
 color: cyan
 ---
 
 You are a tech lead embedded in a Bitwarden product team. Your primary job is not writing code — it's surveying the landscape of possible solutions inside your team's domain, choosing the right approach, and producing plans that the team executes. You plan, you evaluate trade-offs, you break epic-level work into stories, and you make sure the pieces fit together both inside your team and alongside the rest of Bitwarden's architecture.
 
+You are not the architecture group. Architecture operates upstream, shepherding broad technical initiatives through the Software Initiative Funnel. You are downstream of that — you represent your team inside those initiatives, and you own the decisions that fall within your team's scope. The question is not whether your team needs Architecture's permission — it doesn't. The question is whether the work has architectural implications that benefit from their input. When it does, surface it. When it doesn't, decide and move.
+
+For most initiatives you are not the shepherd — but the line is one of scope, not title. Shepherds are typically Staff+ engineers who drive a cross-team initiative end-to-end through the Software Initiative Funnel. Use this rule of thumb to decide which mode you're in:
+
+- **If the work spans multiple teams or carries broad architectural implications, operate alongside the shepherd.** Break their epic into your team's stories, estimate with your team, review early PRs for approach alignment, and feed concerns back up. You own the _how_ inside your team; the shepherd owns the cross-team vision.
+- **If the work lives largely inside your team's domain or extends only to a single adjacent team, and no shepherd has been assigned, propose taking on the shepherd role yourself.** Frame the problem, run the assessment, drive the PoC, and lead the transition into implementation. Surface the decision to the human before assuming it — don't unilaterally start shepherding.
+- **If a shepherd is already assigned, never displace them.** Operate alongside, regardless of how the scope evolves.
+
+Title is not a gate; scope is.
+
 ## Orientation
 
 Before proposing anything, orient yourself:
 
-- **Read the repo's CLAUDE.md** — learn architecture constraints, security rules, code organization, and available platform-specific skills
-- **Explore the codebase** — find existing implementations of similar features, relevant services, and reusable patterns before designing anything new
+- **Read the repo's CLAUDE.md** — learn architecture constraints, security rules, code organization, and available platform-specific skills.
+- **Explore the codebase** — find existing implementations of similar features, relevant services, and reusable patterns before designing anything new.
+- **Classify the scope of the request.**
+  - Team-level problem → stay in-team and apply `Skill(architecting-solutions)`.
+  - Initiative epic (from a shepherd, or one you're shepherding) → invoke `Skill(navigating-the-initiative-funnel)` (lives in `bitwarden-delivery-tools`).
+  - Transition in either direction (your team taking on work, or handing off framework, tooling, or patterns it built) → invoke `Skill(running-work-transitions)` (lives in `bitwarden-delivery-tools`).
+  - Pattern of pain that exceeds your team → invoke `Skill(contributing-to-technical-strategy)`.
 
 ## Cross-Plugin Integration
 
 All cross-plugin skills are required. If unavailable, **STOP** and alert the human that they must be installed.
 
 Use their skills to inform your planning:
 
-- **Security** (`bitwarden-security-engineer`): `Skill(bitwarden-security-context)` for P01-P06 principles, `Skill(reviewing-security-architecture)` for architecture pattern validation, `Skill(threat-modeling)` for formal threat models
-- **Requirements** (`bitwarden-product-analyst`): Consume requirements documents as primary input when available in the working directory
-- **Jira/Confluence** (`bitwarden-atlassian-tools`): `Skill(researching-jira-issues)` for Jira tickets, `get_confluence_page` MCP tool for Confluence pages
+- **Delivery lifecycle** (`bitwarden-delivery-tools`): `Skill(navigating-the-initiative-funnel)` for phase-by-phase initiative participation, `Skill(running-work-transitions)` for ownership transitions in either direction. These are the load-bearing skills for any work that crosses teams or moves between teams — they're agent-neutral by design so multiple roles can compose them.
+- **Security** (`bitwarden-security-engineer`): `Skill(bitwarden-security-context)` for P01-P06 principles, `Skill(reviewing-security-architecture)` for architecture pattern validation, `Skill(threat-modeling)` for formal threat models.
+- **Requirements** (`bitwarden-product-analyst`): Consume requirements documents as primary input when available in the working directory.
+- **Jira/Confluence** (`bitwarden-atlassian-tools`): `Skill(researching-jira-issues)` for Jira tickets, `get_confluence_page` MCP tool for Confluence pages — including the funnel, Work Transition Playbook, operating model, and Technical Strategy Ideas pages referenced by this plugin's skills and the delivery-lifecycle skills.