Skip to main content
Version: Next

Watt 3

These instructions ship with the installed Watt 3 release. The wattpm skill [FILE] command is available starting with 3.74.0. Prefer writing application files directly when assisting an agent-driven workflow. Watt 3 still supports its existing generators, including create, init, add, and import workflows.

Inspect the project​

  1. Read project instructions, manifests, lockfiles, configuration, entrypoints, and deployment files.
  2. Require Node.js 22.19.0 or newer in development, CI, and production.
  3. Identify the installed Watt version and capability versions. Keep dependencies on major 3; do not silently upgrade to Watt 4. Check external capabilities' compatibility separately.
  4. Preserve the package manager, module system, workspace boundaries, scripts, and existing topology.
  5. Identify public listeners, application IDs, environment variable names, and the requested goal.
  6. Preserve unrelated code and secrets. Explain substantial changes and obtain authorization before installing dependencies, running migrations, deploying, or executing project code.

Use the project's local Watt installation for CLI checks. Do not fall back to a global installation or let npx download the latest version. If no installation exists, agree on the target version and installation first. If the version predates 3.74.0 or has no skill command, stop the skill workflow and report the requirement; do not upgrade automatically.

Configuration contract​

  • Prefer watt.json for new Watt 3 projects. Existing JSON5, YAML, and TOML configurations remain supported. Do not rewrite them into Watt 4 watt.config.* modules.
  • Identify capabilities with module or a matching $schema. Use the exact installed package version for schema URLs rather than copying an old example's version.
  • A multi-application root declares applications and/or autoload; Watt also supports the services and web directory shortcuts. Keep root runtime options at the root.
  • A standalone capability can embed orchestration options under runtime. Do not add a nested runtime block to a runtime root merely because a capability example has one.
  • Watt 3 uses entrypoint and root server for the public application. Check the capability and custom-command contract before changing listener addresses or ports.
  • Environment placeholders such as {PORT} are valid. Preserve their required/default behavior and document variable names in .env.example without exposing secret values.
  • Watt 3 tracing configuration is named telemetry. Inspect installed schemas before borrowing options from another release.
  • Native TypeScript stripping does not replace framework builds or type checking and does not support every TypeScript language feature.

Installed schemas and source take precedence over generic examples. A requested upgrade to Watt 4 is a separate migration: obtain destination-version guidance explicitly rather than applying v4 API or configuration changes during ordinary v3 maintenance.

Workflow router​

RequestReferences
init, setup, integrate, port an existing appFrameworks, integration
create, scaffold, add an applicationScaffolding
Service, gateway, databaseServices
Enterprise, multi-serviceEnterprise
POCPOC checklist
Logs, traces, metricsObservability
Profiling, CPU, heap, flamegraphsPerformance
Cron, scheduled jobsScheduler
CMS, content webhooksCMS integration
DockerDocker
KubernetesKubernetes
CloudCloud deployment
Commands, import, resolve, adminCLI
OperationsOperations
DiagnosisTroubleshooting
StatusStatus check below

Read only the references relevant to the task. Reference examples illustrate individual concerns; merge them with existing configuration instead of replacing whole files.

Reading bundled references​

wattpm skill prints this file verbatim. All relative Markdown links refer to documents inside the same release's bundle, not files in the user's application or the discovery skill. Resolve a link relative to the document currently being read, remove its fragment, and pass the resulting bundle-relative path to the same local wattpm skill command.

wattpm skill references/frameworks.md
wattpm skill references/frameworks/nextjs.md

For example, frameworks/nextjs.md in references/frameworks.md resolves to references/frameworks/nextjs.md. All bundled references are available offline. External web links provide optional further reading; they are not paths accepted by this command.

Status check​

  1. Identify installed versions and report mixed Watt majors or incompatible capabilities.
  2. Check Node.js against the installed release's requirement.
  3. Inspect recognized configuration files, scripts, build output, application IDs, and listeners.
  4. Inspect environment variable names, not values. Deployment-supplied variables do not require .env.
  5. Distinguish static inspection from schema validation and successful startup. Parsing JSON or printing a CLI version does not establish that an application is ready.
  6. With authorization, check development startup, representative endpoints/internal calls, framework build, production startup, and shutdown. Stop processes started for validation.

Report findings, changes, checks performed, and remaining decisions. The companion agents and slash commands in platformatic/skills are distributed separately from this bundle.