Interview Template

The interview-v1 workflow template: composing the research→backlog-writer stages for interview-submitted specs.

The interview-v1 template is a standalone workflow template that handles the pipeline side of interactive interviews. It connects the User-Spec emitted by a completed interview to the research → backlog-writer stage chain, producing a well-formed backlog item from the participant's answers.

The interview-v1 template is independent of the default SDLC template. Installing it does not change or replace sdlc-v2. The two templates can coexist on the same project: sdlc-v2 handles developer-driven work; interview-v1 handles interview-sourced work.

What the template does

When a participant clicks Send to Rensei at the end of an interview, the platform creates a new issue in the project's tracker and sets it to Icebox (Linear) or applies sdlc/icebox (GitHub Issues). The interview-v1 template fires on this state transition and runs:

Receive the spec - the trigger reads the User-Spec from the issue body and validates it against the expected format (six-phase structure, MoSCoW table present).

Research stage - dispatches a research agent with the User-Spec as the primary input. The agent investigates existing codebase patterns, prior art, and constraints described in the spec, producing a research brief.

Backlog-writer stage - dispatches a backlog-writer agent with both the User-Spec and the research brief as input. The agent produces a fully formed backlog item: acceptance criteria, sizing, dependencies, and a definition of done.

Issue update - the backlog-writer's output replaces the issue body. The issue advances to Triage (Linear) or sdlc/triage (GitHub Issues). From here the standard SDLC pipeline takes over if sdlc-v2 is active.

How it differs from the default SDLC

The default SDLC template (sdlc-v2) also runs research and backlog-writer stages - but it activates on issues that reach Icebox regardless of their source. The interview-v1 template adds a filter: it only fires when the issue body contains a valid User-Spec (six-phase format marker). This prevents the two templates from double-dispatching on the same issue.

Behavior	`sdlc-v2`	`interview-v1`
Trigger event	Issue → Icebox (any source)	Issue → Icebox with User-Spec marker
Research stage	Yes	Yes
Backlog-writer stage	Yes	Yes
Development, QA, acceptance	Yes	No (handed off to `sdlc-v2`)
Modifies default SDLC	No	No

If you install interview-v1 without the default sdlc-v2 active, the issue stalls at Triage after the backlog item is written - nothing will pick it up for development. The recommended setup is both templates active on the same project.

Template identifiers

Property	Value
Slug	`interview-v1`
Template label	`interview-v1`
Version	`1.0.0`
Workflow name	`Rensei Interview Pipeline (v1)`
Supported trackers	`linear`, `github_issues`
Default model	Inherits from the org interview model profile

Installing the template

The interview-v1 template is not auto-installed on new projects. An operator installs it explicitly from a platform checkout:

# Dry-run first
DRY_RUN=true pnpm tsx scripts/install-authored-interview-v1.ts --org my-org --project my-project

# Install
pnpm tsx scripts/install-authored-interview-v1.ts --org my-org --project my-project

The installer materializes the project-scoped workflow at published status, activates the trigger subscriptions derived from the template's trigger nodes, and registers the project_template_subscriptions row - the template starts firing immediately.

There is no self-serve install button or rensei CLI command for template installs today. Templates published to the marketplace catalog (templates + template_versions rows) can also be installed via POST /api/templates/{slug}/install/{version} with a { "projectId": "..." } body.

Verifying the installation

After installing, check that the subscription is active: open the project's Workflows page - the System Templates panel lists interview-v1 with a Published toggle. Or via the API:

curl https://rensei.ai/api/projects/{projectId}/workflow-subscriptions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer rsk_live_..."

You should see interview-v1 with status published.

To confirm the trigger is wired correctly, submit a test interview on the project and watch the issue advance from Icebox to Triage after the backlog-writer stage completes.

Capability matrix

The template uses the same capability nodes as sdlc-v2 for the research and backlog-writer stages:

Stage	memory	architecture	code-intel
research	Yes	Yes
backlog-writer	Yes	Yes

The template sources capability configuration from the project's shared foundational nodes if present. If the project does not have foundational nodes yet (e.g. a fresh project), the template provisions its own minimal set.

Canvas customization

The template is editable on the workflow canvas after installation. Common customizations:

Override the research model - select the foundational model-provider node and change model to any catalog entry.
Add a review gate - insert a gate.human_query node between the research and backlog-writer dispatch leaves to require a human to review the research brief before backlog writing starts.
Adjust the Icebox filter - if you want the template to fire on all Icebox issues (not just interview-sourced ones), remove the User-Spec marker condition node.

See Workflow Canvas for the full editor reference.

Uninstalling the template

Toggle the subscription to Unpublished in the project's Workflows → System Templates panel, or via the API:

curl -X PATCH https://rensei.ai/api/projects/{projectId}/workflow-subscriptions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer rsk_live_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "subscriptionId": "pts_...", "status": "unpublished" }'

Setting the subscription to unpublished stops the template from firing without deleting the workflow. To remove it entirely, archive the workflow from the canvas.

Overview - the end-to-end picture
Template Subscriptions - how subscriptions control template activation per project
Default SDLC Template - the sdlc-v2 template that takes over after the backlog item is written
Work Types - the research and backlog-writer stage semantics

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