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Forgeplan

forgeplan activate

forgeplan activate moves an artifact from draft to active. This is the most frequent lifecycle transition: it marks the point at which a PRD, RFC, ADR, Epic or Spec is considered live, ready to be referenced by other artifacts, and expected to be backed by evidence. For structured artifacts, activation runs the validation gate — all MUST rules must pass. For lightweight artifacts (Note, Problem), activation is unguarded and happens immediately.

When to use

Section titled “When to use”
  • You just finished implementing a PRD: all FRs are checked off, an EvidencePack is linked, and forgeplan score PRD-001 returns R_eff > 0.
  • An ADR has been reviewed with the team and the decision is final — time to make it authoritative.
  • An RFC has passed a verification gate and its implementation phases have started producing evidence.

When NOT to use

Section titled “When NOT to use”
  • The artifact still has MUST validation errors — fix them first with forgeplan validate <id> instead of reaching for --force.
  • There is no code, test, or measurement behind the decision yet. Activating without evidence creates a blind spot in forgeplan health.

Usage

Section titled “Usage”
forgeplan activate [OPTIONS] <ID>

Arguments

Section titled “Arguments”
  <ID>  Artifact ID

Options

Section titled “Options”
      --force    Force activation even if validation has MUST errors
  -h, --help     Print help
  -V, --version  Print version

Examples

Section titled “Examples”

Example 1: Activate a fully-validated PRD

Section titled “Example 1: Activate a fully-validated PRD”
Terminal window
forgeplan validate PRD-001
forgeplan score PRD-001
forgeplan activate PRD-001

Run validate and score first to confirm the MUST gate passes and R_eff is non-zero, then activate.

Example 2: Activate an ADR after review

Section titled “Example 2: Activate an ADR after review”
Terminal window
forgeplan review ADR-005
forgeplan activate ADR-005

review runs the same checks activate uses but without changing state — useful as a dry run before flipping the switch.

Example 3: Force activation despite validation errors

Section titled “Example 3: Force activation despite validation errors”
Terminal window
forgeplan activate RFC-012 --force

Use only in exceptional cases (e.g. migrating brownfield artifacts). Prefer fixing the gaps.

How it fits the workflow

Section titled “How it fits the workflow”

This command belongs in the full artifact lifecycle — see the tutorial for the end-to-end flow. Activation is how Forgeplan distinguishes “in progress” work from “live” decisions that other artifacts are allowed to depend on.

Common errors

Section titled “Common errors”
ErrorCauseFix
MUST rule failed: Problem section missingRequired frontmatter or section is emptyEdit the artifact file, then re-run forgeplan validate <id>
Artifact already in state: activeAlready activated in a previous sessionNo action needed; inspect with forgeplan show <id>
R_eff = 0 after activationNo EvidencePack linkedCreate evidence with forgeplan new evidence, then forgeplan link + forgeplan score
Cannot activate from terminal stateArtifact is superseded or deprecatedTerminal states never re-activate — create a new draft instead

See also

Section titled “See also”