@heihei0299/matt-skills 1.3.1 → 1.3.2

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  1. package/.agents/skills/ask-matt/PHASE-BOUNDARIES.md +55 -0
  2. package/.agents/skills/ask-matt/SKILL.md +37 -25
  3. package/.agents/skills/code-review/SKILL.md +28 -35
  4. package/.agents/skills/codebase-design/DEEPENING.md +4 -4
  5. package/.agents/skills/codebase-design/DESIGN-IT-TWICE.md +10 -10
  6. package/.agents/skills/codebase-design/SKILL.md +13 -13
  7. package/.agents/skills/diagnosing-bugs/SKILL.md +34 -30
  8. package/.agents/skills/diagnosing-bugs/scripts/hitl-loop.template.sh +3 -0
  9. package/.agents/skills/domain-modeling/ADR-FORMAT.md +11 -11
  10. package/.agents/skills/domain-modeling/CONTEXT-FORMAT.md +3 -3
  11. package/.agents/skills/domain-modeling/SKILL.md +10 -10
  12. package/.agents/skills/grill-me/SKILL.md +1 -1
  13. package/.agents/skills/grill-with-docs/SKILL.md +1 -1
  14. package/.agents/skills/grilling/SKILL.md +20 -4
  15. package/.agents/skills/grilling/agents/openai.yaml +1 -1
  16. package/.agents/skills/handoff/SKILL.md +1 -1
  17. package/.agents/skills/improve-codebase-architecture/HTML-REPORT.md +19 -19
  18. package/.agents/skills/improve-codebase-architecture/SKILL.md +21 -21
  19. package/.agents/skills/prototype/LOGIC.md +30 -42
  20. package/.agents/skills/prototype/SKILL.md +7 -7
  21. package/.agents/skills/prototype/UI.md +23 -23
  22. package/.agents/skills/research/SKILL.md +1 -1
  23. package/.agents/skills/resolving-merge-conflicts/SKILL.md +1 -1
  24. package/.agents/skills/setup-matt-pocock-skills/SKILL.md +30 -30
  25. package/.agents/skills/setup-matt-pocock-skills/domain.md +4 -4
  26. package/.agents/skills/setup-matt-pocock-skills/issue-tracker-github.md +5 -5
  27. package/.agents/skills/setup-matt-pocock-skills/issue-tracker-gitlab.md +6 -6
  28. package/.agents/skills/setup-matt-pocock-skills/issue-tracker-local.md +3 -3
  29. package/.agents/skills/tdd/SKILL.md +9 -7
  30. package/.agents/skills/teach/GLOSSARY-FORMAT.md +3 -3
  31. package/.agents/skills/teach/LEARNING-RECORD-FORMAT.md +10 -10
  32. package/.agents/skills/teach/MISSION-FORMAT.md +4 -4
  33. package/.agents/skills/teach/RESOURCES-FORMAT.md +2 -2
  34. package/.agents/skills/teach/SKILL.md +4 -4
  35. package/.agents/skills/to-questionnaire/SKILL.md +54 -0
  36. package/.agents/skills/to-questionnaire/agents/openai.yaml +5 -0
  37. package/.agents/skills/to-spec/SKILL.md +4 -4
  38. package/.agents/skills/to-tickets/SKILL.md +16 -16
  39. package/.agents/skills/triage/AGENT-BRIEF.md +9 -9
  40. package/.agents/skills/triage/OUT-OF-SCOPE.md +15 -15
  41. package/.agents/skills/triage/SKILL.md +29 -29
  42. package/.agents/skills/wait-what/SKILL.md +7 -0
  43. package/.agents/skills/wait-what/agents/openai.yaml +5 -0
  44. package/.agents/skills/wayfinder/SKILL.md +37 -37
  45. package/.agents/skills/wizard/SKILL.md +44 -0
  46. package/.agents/skills/wizard/agents/openai.yaml +3 -0
  47. package/.agents/skills/wizard/template.sh +204 -0
  48. package/.agents/skills/writing-for-agents/SKILL-MECHANICS.md +22 -0
  49. package/.agents/skills/writing-for-agents/SKILL.md +81 -0
  50. package/.agents/skills/writing-for-agents/agents/openai.yaml +3 -0
  51. package/README.md +1 -1
  52. package/package.json +1 -1
  53. package/template/.opencode/commands/{writing-great-skills.md → writing-for-agents.md} +1 -1
  54. package/template/.opencode/docs/agents/skill-design.md +3 -3
  55. package/template/.pi/CONTEXT.md +55 -0
  56. package/template/.pi/docs/agents/runtime-discipline.md +3 -2
  57. package/template/.pi/docs/agents/skill-design.md +10 -5
  58. package/template/AGENTS.md +2 -2
  59. package/.agents/skills/writing-great-skills/GLOSSARY.md +0 -201
  60. package/.agents/skills/writing-great-skills/SKILL.md +0 -83
  61. package/.agents/skills/writing-great-skills/agents/openai.yaml +0 -5
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+ # Phase boundaries
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+
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+ A **phase** is a chunk of work inside a session: the grilling, the implementation, the QA. The definition is fuzzy on purpose: a phase ends when you think *"ok, we're done with that"*.
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+ The **phase boundary** is the gap between two phases, and it is the only place this decision belongs. Mid-phase there is no decision to make: continue, or split the work that's left into subagents. Compacting mid-phase makes the agent lose the thread.
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+
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+ ## The five options
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+
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+ | Option | What it does |
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+ | ------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------- |
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+ | **Continue** | Stay in the session. No context switch at all. |
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+ | **`/clear`** | Empty the context window and start from nothing. |
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+ | **`/handoff`** | Write a portable markdown file and seed a session anywhere with it. |
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+ | **Subagent** | Send the task to its own context window and get a report back. |
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+ | **`/compact`** | Compress this context and seed a fresh session with the summary. |
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+
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+ ## The tree
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+
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+ Work top to bottom at the boundary. The first **yes** wins.
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+ **1. Can you continue in this session?** Two things make the answer yes: the next phase needs this phase as a **primary source**, or you have enough [smart zone](https://www.aihero.dev/ai-coding-dictionary/smart-zone) left (~150k tokens) for the next phase to fit. Grilling → implementation is the standard yes: the implementation wants the reasoning verbatim, not a summary of it. Continue costs nothing and loses nothing, so rule it out before anything else.
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+
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+ **2. Is the context irrelevant to what comes next?** Is everything in this session (the exploration, the decisions, the dead ends) disposable? If so, **`/clear`**. It is the cheapest move on the board: it takes no time and hands back the whole window. `/clear` also isn't terminal: the old session stays resumable.
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+ The cost of getting this wrong is one-way. Clear a *relevant* context and you lose the **why** behind what you built, and no amount of reading the diff back gets it returned.
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+ **3. Do you need to hand off?** `/handoff` is narrow. You need it only when you are:
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+ - swapping to a **new harness** (Claude → Codex),
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+ - moving to a **new directory** or repo,
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+ - sending the work to a **colleague**,
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+ - or forking a side task you found **mid-phase** without derailing what you're doing.
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+ That list is the whole clause. What `/handoff` buys is **portability**: a file that travels. If nothing is travelling, you don't need it.
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+ **4. Can the task be done AFK?** Is it scoped tightly enough to run with you away from the keyboard, no steering? Then send it to a **subagent** and leave this session untouched. Automated review is the standard case: the agent reads the diff and reports, and you aren't needed while it does.
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+
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+ **5. Otherwise, `/compact`.** Relevant context, same harness, same directory, and you need to stay in the loop: this is where the tree lands, and it lands here often. Pass it an instruction (`/compact we're going to QA this area`) so the summary keeps what the next phase needs.
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+ `/compact` is the **default, not the first reach**. It sits at the bottom because the four questions above it are all cheaper or more precise. The failure mode when people start here is a fresh session that is confidently wrong about a decision the summary flattened.
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+ ## Primary and secondary sources
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+ Every move except **Continue** turns a **primary source** into a **secondary source**: the session as it happened, replaced by a summary of it. The trade is always the same shape:
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+ | Source | Information | Noise | Room to move |
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+ | --------------------------------- | ----------- | ----- | ------------ |
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+ | Primary (Continue) | Full | Lots | Little |
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+ | Secondary (`/compact`, `/handoff`) | Lossy | Less | Lots |
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+
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+ This is why question 1 comes first. You only pay the lossiness when staying costs more than it saves.
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+ ## These are judgement calls
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+ The questions are not objective: each has taste in it, and the same boundary can go two ways on two days. The value is in asking them **in order**, at the boundary rather than in the middle of the work.
@@ -14,22 +14,22 @@ A **flow** is a path through the skills. Most paths run along one **main flow**,
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  The route most work travels. You have an idea and want it built.
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- 1. **`/grill-with-docs`** sharpen the idea by interview. Start here when you **have a codebase**: it's stateful, retaining what it learns in `CONTEXT.md` and ADRs. (No codebase? Use `/grill-me` see Standalone. Both run the same `/grilling` primitive; `grill-with-docs` is the one that leaves a paper trail.)
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- 2. **Branch can you settle every question in conversation?** If a question needs a runnable answer (state, business logic, a UI you have to see), detour through a prototype, bridged by **`/handoff`** in both directions (see Crossing sessions):
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+ 1. **`/grill-with-docs`** sharpens the idea by interview. Start here whenever you are **working in a working directory**: it's stateful, retaining what it learns in `CONTEXT.md` and ADRs. (No working directory? Use `/grill-me` instead, covered under Standalone. Both run the same `/grilling` primitive; `grill-with-docs` is the one that leaves a paper trail, which makes it the better of the two whenever a repo is there to leave it in.)
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+ 2. **Branch: can you settle every question in conversation?** If a question needs a runnable answer (state, business logic, a UI you have to see), detour through a prototype, bridged by **`/handoff`** in both directions (a prototype lives in its own directory, which is exactly what `/handoff` is for; see Phase boundaries):
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  - **`/handoff`** out, then open a fresh session against that file,
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  - **`/prototype`** to answer the question with throwaway code,
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  - **`/handoff`** back what you learned, and reference it from the original idea thread.
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- 3. **Branch is this a multi-session build?**
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- - **Yes** → **`/to-spec`** (turn the thread into a spec), then **`/to-tickets`** to split it into tracer-bullet tickets, each declaring its **blocking edges**. On a local tracker that's one file per ticket under `.scratch/<feature>/issues/`, worked blockers-first by hand; on a real tracker the edges become native blocking links, so any ticket whose blockers are done can be grabbed kick off **`/implement`** per ticket, **clearing context between each one**.
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+ 3. **Branch: is this a multi-session build?**
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+ - **Yes** → **`/to-spec`** (turn the thread into a spec), then **`/to-tickets`** to split it into tracer-bullet tickets, each declaring its **blocking edges**. On a local tracker that's one file per ticket under `.scratch/<feature>/issues/`, worked blockers-first by hand; on a real tracker the edges become native blocking links, so any ticket whose blockers are done can be grabbed: kick off **`/implement`** per ticket, **`/clear`ing context between each one**. Each ticket is self-contained, so the last one's context is disposable.
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  - **No** → **`/implement`** right here, in the same context window.
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- Either way, **`/implement`** builds each issue by driving **`/tdd`** internally one red-green slice at a time then closes out by running **`/code-review`**, a two-axis review (Standards + Spec) of the diff, before committing. Reach for **`/tdd`** on its own when you just want to build a concrete behaviour test-first without a full spec, and **`/code-review`** on its own whenever you want to review a branch or PR against a fixed point.
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+ Either way, **`/implement`** builds each issue by driving **`/tdd`** internally (one red-green slice at a time), then closes out by running **`/code-review`**, a two-axis review (Standards + Spec) of the diff, before committing. Reach for **`/tdd`** on its own when you just want to build a concrete behaviour test-first without a full spec, and **`/code-review`** on its own whenever you want to review a branch or PR against a fixed point.
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  ### Context hygiene
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- Keep steps 1–3 in **one unbroken context window** don't compact or clear until after `/to-tickets` so the grilling, spec, and tickets all build on the same thinking. Each `/implement` then starts fresh, working from the ticket.
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+ Keep steps 1–3 in **one unbroken context window** (don't compact or clear until after `/to-tickets`) so the grilling, spec, and tickets all build on the same thinking. Each `/implement` then starts fresh, working from the ticket.
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- The limit on this is the **[smart zone](https://www.aihero.dev/ai-coding-dictionary/smart-zone)**: the window (~120k tokens on state-of-the-art models) within which the model still reasons sharply. If a session approaches it before `/to-tickets`, don't push on degraded `/handoff` and continue in a fresh thread.
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+ The limit on this is the **[smart zone](https://www.aihero.dev/ai-coding-dictionary/smart-zone)**: the window (~150k tokens on state-of-the-art models) within which the model still reasons sharply. If a session approaches it before `/to-tickets`, don't push on degraded; `/compact` at the nearest phase boundary and carry on (see Phase boundaries).
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  ## On-ramps
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@@ -37,42 +37,54 @@ A starting situation that generates work, then merges onto the main flow.
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  - **Bugs and requests piling up** → **`/triage`**. It moves issues through triage roles and produces agent-ready issues, which **`/implement`** later picks up.
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- Triage is only for issues **you didn't create** bug reports, incoming feature requests, anything that arrives raw. Tickets that `/to-tickets` produced are already agent-ready, so **don't triage them**.
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+ Triage is only for issues **you didn't create**: bug reports, incoming feature requests, anything that arrives raw. Tickets that `/to-tickets` produced are already agent-ready, so **don't triage them**.
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- - **Something's broken** → **`/diagnosing-bugs`**. For the hard ones: the bug that resists a first glance, the intermittent flake, the regression that crept in between two known-good states. It refuses to theorise until it has a **tight feedback loop** one command that already goes red on *this* bug then fixes with a regression test. Its post-mortem hands off to **`/improve-codebase-architecture`** when the real finding is that there's no good seam to lock the bug down.
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+ - **Something's broken** → **`/diagnosing-bugs`**. For the hard ones: the bug that resists a first glance, the intermittent flake, the regression that crept in between two known-good states. It refuses to theorise until it has a **tight feedback loop** (one command that already goes red on *this* bug), then fixes with a regression test. Its post-mortem hands off to **`/improve-codebase-architecture`** when the real finding is that there's no good seam to lock the bug down.
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- - **A huge, foggy effort a greenfield project or a huge feature build, too big for one session** → **`/wayfinder`**, the most cognitively demanding flow here. When the way from here to the destination isn't visible yet, it charts a **shared map** of **decision tickets** on the issue tracker and resolves them one at a time producing **decisions, not deliverables** until the fog is pushed back and the way is clear. Where **`/grill-with-docs`** sharpens an idea you can hold in one session, wayfinder is for the idea you can't and it's slower and denser, so save it for exactly that, never a well-scoped feature.
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+ - **A huge, foggy effort: a greenfield project or a huge feature build, too big for one session** → **`/wayfinder`**, the most cognitively demanding flow here. When the way from here to the destination isn't visible yet, it charts a **shared map** of **decision tickets** on the issue tracker and resolves them one at a time, producing **decisions, not deliverables**, until the fog is pushed back and the way is clear. Where **`/grill-with-docs`** sharpens an idea you can hold in one session, wayfinder is for the idea you can't, and it's slower and denser, so save it for exactly that, never a well-scoped feature.
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- When the map clears, **it hands off, it doesn't build**: merge onto the main flow at **`/to-spec`**, which collapses the map's linked decisions into a buildable plan, then `/to-tickets` and `/implement` as usual. Looping the map straight into `/implement` skips that collapse and throws the linked detail away go straight to `/implement` only when the effort turned out genuinely small.
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+ When the map clears, **it hands off, it doesn't build**: merge onto the main flow at **`/to-spec`**, which collapses the map's linked decisions into a buildable plan, then `/to-tickets` and `/implement` as usual. Looping the map straight into `/implement` skips that collapse and throws the linked detail away, so go straight to `/implement` only when the effort turned out genuinely small.
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  ## Codebase health
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- Not feature work upkeep.
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+ Not feature work, just upkeep.
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- - **`/improve-codebase-architecture`** run whenever you have a spare moment to keep the codebase good for agents to operate in. It surfaces **deepening opportunities**; picking one _generates an idea_ you can take into the main flow at `/grill-with-docs`. It's the survey that finds the candidates; **`/codebase-design`** (below) is the bench you design the chosen one on.
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+ - **`/improve-codebase-architecture`** runs whenever you have a spare moment to keep the codebase good for agents to operate in. It surfaces **deepening opportunities**; picking one _generates an idea_ you can take into the main flow at `/grill-with-docs`. It's the survey that finds the candidates; **`/codebase-design`** (below) is the bench you design the chosen one on.
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  ## Vocabulary underneath
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- Two model-invoked references that run *beneath* the other skills each the single source of truth for its vocabulary. Reach for them directly when the **words**, not the process, are the problem; or let the skills above pull them in.
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+ Two model-invoked references that run *beneath* the other skills, each the single source of truth for its vocabulary. Reach for them directly when the **words**, not the process, are the problem; or let the skills above pull them in.
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- - **`/domain-modeling`** sharpen the project's *domain* language: challenge a fuzzy term, resolve an overloaded word ("account" doing three jobs), record a hard-to-reverse decision as an ADR. It's the active discipline `/grill-with-docs` drives to keep `CONTEXT.md` a clean glossary.
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- - **`/codebase-design`** the deep-module vocabulary (module, interface, depth, seam, adapter, leverage, locality) for designing a module's *shape*: a lot of behaviour behind a small interface at a clean seam. `/tdd` and `/improve-codebase-architecture` both speak it.
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+ - **`/domain-modeling`**: sharpen the project's *domain* language: challenge a fuzzy term, resolve an overloaded word ("account" doing three jobs), record a hard-to-reverse decision as an ADR. It's the active discipline `/grill-with-docs` drives to keep `CONTEXT.md` a clean glossary.
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+ - **`/codebase-design`** is the deep-module vocabulary (module, interface, depth, seam, adapter, leverage, locality) for designing a module's *shape*: a lot of behaviour behind a small interface at a clean seam. `/tdd` and `/improve-codebase-architecture` both speak it.
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- ## Crossing sessions
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+ ## Phase boundaries
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- - **`/handoff`** when a thread is full or you need to branch off (e.g. into a `/prototype` session), this compacts the conversation into a markdown file. You don't continue in place you **open a new session and reference that file** to carry the context across. It's the bridge between context windows, in either direction. Use it when you want a **fresh session** but need the **current conversation preserved**.
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- - **`/compact`** (built-in) — stay in the **same conversation**, letting the earlier turns be summarized. Use it at **intentional breaks between phases**, when you don't mind losing the verbatim history. Don't compact mid-phase — the agent can lose its way. `/handoff` forks; `/compact` continues.
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+ A **phase** is a chunk of work inside a session: the grilling, the implementation, the QA. At the **boundary** between two of them you have five options, and picking between them is the fuzziest decision in this whole map:
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+ - **Continue**: stay put. Costs nothing, loses nothing.
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+ - **`/clear`**: empty the window, when nothing here matters to what's next.
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+ - **`/handoff`** writes a portable markdown file. Narrow: only for a **new harness**, a **new directory**, a **colleague**, or forking a side task **mid-phase**. What it buys is portability.
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+ - **Subagent**: send a tightly-scoped task to its own window and get a report back.
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+ - **`/compact`** compresses this context and seeds a fresh session with it. The **default**, at the bottom of the tree rather than the first reach.
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+ Read [PHASE-BOUNDARIES.md](PHASE-BOUNDARIES.md) for the ordered tree: the five questions, the reasoning behind each branch, and why the primary-source cost makes **Continue** the one to rule out first. Make the decision **at** a boundary; mid-phase, continue or split the rest into subagents.
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  ## Standalone
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  Off the main flow entirely.
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- - **`/grill-me`** the same relentless interview as `/grill-with-docs`, but for when you have **no codebase**. Stateless: it saves nothing locally, builds no `CONTEXT.md`. Reach for it to sharpen any plan or design that doesn't live in a repo.
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- - **`/prototype`** a small, throwaway program that answers one design question: does this state model feel right, or what should this UI look like. Throwaway from day one — keep the answer, delete the code. It's the detour in step 2 of the main flow, but reach for it any time a design question is hard to settle on paper.
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- - **`/research`** delegate reading legwork to a **background agent**: it investigates a question against **primary sources**, then leaves a cited Markdown file in the repo. Keep working while it reads. The file it produces is something to take *into* the main flow at `/grill-with-docs` research feeds the thinking, it doesn't replace it.
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- - **`/teach`** learn a concept over multiple sessions, using the current directory as a stateful workspace.
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- - **`/writing-great-skills`** reference for writing and editing skills well.
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+ - **`/grill-me`**: the same relentless interview as `/grill-with-docs`, but **stateless**: it saves nothing locally and builds no `CONTEXT.md`. Reach for it when you are **not working in a working directory** (sharpening a plan, a design, a piece of writing, anything with no repo under it). If you are in a working directory, use `/grill-with-docs` instead: it runs the same interview and leaves a paper trail, so it is strictly the better one.
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+ - **`/grilling`** is the interview primitive itself: rounds, the frontier, facts are the agent's job and decisions are yours. `/grill-me` and `/grill-with-docs` are the two named ways in, and `/triage`, `/wayfinder` and `/improve-codebase-architecture` all run it internally. Reach for it directly only when you want the interview with no wrapper around it.
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+ - **`/resolving-merge-conflicts`** works an in-progress merge or rebase conflict hunk by hunk, resolving by **intent** traced to each side's primary source rather than by picking lines, then finishes the operation. It never runs `--abort`. Standalone and off every flow: reach for it when you are already mid-conflict.
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+ - **`/prototype`** is a small, throwaway program that answers one design question: does this state model feel right, or what should this UI look like. Throwaway is a constraint on how the code is written, not a promise to destroy it: the answer folds into the real code, and the prototype itself is kept as a **primary source** on a `prototype/<name>` branch out of main, pointed at from the implementation issue. It's the detour in step 2 of the main flow, but reach for it any time a design question is hard to settle on paper.
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+ - **`/research`**: delegate reading legwork to a **background agent**: it investigates a question against **primary sources**, then leaves a cited Markdown file in the repo. Keep working while it reads. The file it produces is something to take *into* the main flow at `/grill-with-docs`, since research feeds the thinking rather than replacing it.
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+ - **`/to-questionnaire`** comes in when the thing blocking you isn't in your head or the codebase but in **someone else's**, and it writes them a questionnaire to fill in. It's the inverse of `/grill-me`: instead of interviewing you about the subject, it interviews you about the **send** (who it's going to, what you need back) and aims the questions at the gap. What comes back is material for `/grill-with-docs` or `/to-spec`.
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+ - **`/wizard`** is for the steps only a **human** can take: provisioning infrastructure, setting up credentials or CI secrets, clicking through an unfamiliar third-party dashboard, running a one-off migration or cutover. It generates an interactive bash script that opens each URL, captures each value, and writes it into `.env` and GitHub secrets, so the procedure stops being something you re-explain to an agent every time. Model-invoked, so the agent reaches for it the moment it hits a wall only you can pass. If the agent could just do it itself, it should; this is for where a human is genuinely in the loop.
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+ - **`/wait-what`** is the corrective for a message that didn't land. Use it mid-conversation, inside any other skill, and the agent re-pitches what it just said with the context you were missing, in plain English, using the `CONTEXT.md` vocabulary. It works after the fact; `/grill-with-docs` is the upfront cure, because a shared language agreed early is what stops the jargon arriving at all.
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+ - **`/teach`**: learn a concept over multiple sessions, using the current directory as a stateful workspace.
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+ - **`/writing-for-agents`** is the reference for writing documents agents consume: skills, AGENTS.md, pointed-at docs.
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  ## Precondition
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- **`/setup-matt-pocock-skills`** run before your first engineering flow to configure the issue tracker, triage labels, and doc layout the other skills assume. Custom issue trackers also work.
90
+ **`/setup-matt-pocock-skills`**: run before your first engineering flow to configure the issue tracker, triage labels, and doc layout the other skills assume. Custom issue trackers also work.
@@ -1,71 +1,69 @@
1
1
  ---
2
2
  name: code-review
3
- description: Review the changes since a fixed point (commit, branch, tag, or merge-base) along two axes Standards (does the code follow this repo's documented coding standards?) and Spec (does the code match what the originating issue/PRD asked for?). Runs both reviews in parallel sub-agents and reports them side by side. Use when the user wants to review a branch, a PR, work-in-progress changes, or asks to "review since X".
3
+ description: "Review the changes since a fixed point (commit, branch, tag, or merge-base) along two axes: Standards (does the code follow this repo's documented coding standards?) and Spec (does the code match what the originating issue/spec asked for?). Runs both reviews in parallel sub-agents and reports them side by side. Use when the user wants to review a branch, a PR, work-in-progress changes, or asks to \"review since X\"."
4
4
  ---
5
5
 
6
6
  Two-axis review of the diff between `HEAD` and a fixed point the user supplies:
7
7
 
8
- - **Standards** does the code conform to this repo's documented coding standards?
9
- - **Spec** does the code faithfully implement the originating issue / PRD / spec?
8
+ - **Standards**: does the code conform to this repo's documented coding standards?
9
+ - **Spec**: does the code faithfully implement the originating issue / spec?
10
10
 
11
11
  Both axes run as **parallel sub-agents** so they don't pollute each other's context, then this skill aggregates their findings.
12
12
 
13
- The issue tracker should have been provided to you run `/setup-matt-pocock-skills` if `docs/agents/issue-tracker.md` is missing.
13
+ The issue tracker should have been provided to you. If `docs/agents/issue-tracker.md` is missing, tell the user to run `/setup-matt-pocock-skills`.
14
14
 
15
15
  ## Process
16
16
 
17
17
  ### 1. Pin the fixed point
18
18
 
19
- Whatever the user said is the fixed point a commit SHA, branch name, tag, `main`, `HEAD~5`, etc. If they didn't specify one, ask for it.
19
+ Whatever the user said is the fixed point (a commit SHA, branch name, tag, `main`, `HEAD~5`, etc.). If they didn't specify one, ask for it.
20
20
 
21
21
  Capture the diff command once: `git diff <fixed-point>...HEAD` (three-dot, so the comparison is against the merge-base). Also note the list of commits via `git log <fixed-point>..HEAD --oneline`.
22
22
 
23
- Before going further, confirm the fixed point resolves (`git rev-parse <fixed-point>`) and the diff is non-empty. A bad ref or empty diff should fail here not inside two parallel sub-agents.
23
+ Before going further, confirm the fixed point resolves (`git rev-parse <fixed-point>`) and the diff is non-empty. A bad ref or empty diff should fail here, not inside two parallel sub-agents.
24
24
 
25
25
  ### 2. Identify the spec source
26
26
 
27
27
  Look for the originating spec, in this order:
28
28
 
29
- 1. Issue references in the commit messages (`#123`, `Closes #45`, GitLab `!67`, etc.) fetch via the workflow in `docs/agents/issue-tracker.md`.
29
+ 1. Issue references in the commit messages (`#123`, `Closes #45`, GitLab `!67`, etc.), fetched via the workflow in `docs/agents/issue-tracker.md`.
30
30
  2. A path the user passed as an argument.
31
- 3. A PRD/spec file under `docs/`, `specs/`, or `.scratch/` matching the branch name or feature.
31
+ 3. A spec file under `docs/`, `specs/`, or `.scratch/` matching the branch name or feature.
32
32
  4. If nothing is found, ask the user where the spec is. If they say there isn't one, the **Spec** sub-agent will skip and report "no spec available".
33
33
 
34
34
  ### 3. Identify the standards sources
35
35
 
36
36
  Anything in the repo that documents how code should be written, such as `CODING_STANDARDS.md` or `CONTRIBUTING.md`.
37
37
 
38
- On top of whatever the repo documents, the Standards axis always carries the **smell baseline** below a fixed set of Fowler code smells (_Refactoring_, ch.3) that applies even when a repo documents nothing. Two rules bind it:
38
+ On top of whatever the repo documents, the Standards axis always carries the **smell baseline** below: a fixed set of Fowler code smells (_Refactoring_, ch.3) that applies even when a repo documents nothing. Two rules bind it:
39
39
 
40
40
  - **The repo overrides.** A documented repo standard always wins; where it endorses something the baseline would flag, suppress the smell.
41
- - **Always a judgement call.** Each smell is a labelled heuristic ("possible Feature Envy"), never a hard violation and, like any standard here, skip anything tooling already enforces.
41
+ - **Always a judgement call.** Each smell is a labelled heuristic ("possible Feature Envy"), never a hard violation. Like any standard here, skip anything tooling already enforces.
42
42
 
43
43
  Each smell reads *what it is* → *how to fix*; match it against the diff:
44
44
 
45
- - **Mysterious Name** a function, variable, or type whose name doesn't reveal what it does or holds. → rename it; if no honest name comes, the design's murky.
46
- - **Duplicated Code** the same logic shape appears in more than one hunk or file in the change. → extract the shared shape, call it from both.
47
- - **Feature Envy** a method that reaches into another object's data more than its own. → move the method onto the data it envies.
48
- - **Data Clumps** the same few fields or params keep travelling together (a type wanting to be born). → bundle them into one type, pass that.
49
- - **Primitive Obsession** a primitive or string standing in for a domain concept that deserves its own type. → give the concept its own small type.
50
- - **Repeated Switches** the same `switch`/`if`-cascade on the same type recurs across the change. → replace with polymorphism, or one map both sites share.
51
- - **Shotgun Surgery** one logical change forces scattered edits across many files in the diff. → gather what changes together into one module.
52
- - **Divergent Change** one file or module is edited for several unrelated reasons. → split so each module changes for one reason.
53
- - **Speculative Generality** abstraction, parameters, or hooks added for needs the spec doesn't have. → delete it; inline back until a real need shows.
54
- - **Message Chains** long `a.b().c().d()` navigation the caller shouldn't depend on. → hide the walk behind one method on the first object.
55
- - **Middle Man** a class or function that mostly just delegates onward. → cut it, call the real target direct.
56
- - **Refused Bequest** a subclass or implementer that ignores or overrides most of what it inherits. → drop the inheritance, use composition.
45
+ - **Mysterious Name**: a function, variable, or type whose name doesn't reveal what it does or holds. → rename it; if no honest name comes, the design's murky.
46
+ - **Duplicated Code**: the same logic shape appears in more than one hunk or file in the change. → extract the shared shape, call it from both.
47
+ - **Feature Envy**: a method that reaches into another object's data more than its own. → move the method onto the data it envies.
48
+ - **Data Clumps**: the same few fields or params keep travelling together (a type wanting to be born). → bundle them into one type, pass that.
49
+ - **Primitive Obsession**: a primitive or string standing in for a domain concept that deserves its own type. → give the concept its own small type.
50
+ - **Repeated Switches**: the same `switch`/`if`-cascade on the same type recurs across the change. → replace with polymorphism, or one map both sites share.
51
+ - **Shotgun Surgery**: one logical change forces scattered edits across many files in the diff. → gather what changes together into one module.
52
+ - **Divergent Change**: one file or module is edited for several unrelated reasons. → split so each module changes for one reason.
53
+ - **Speculative Generality**: abstraction, parameters, or hooks added for needs the spec doesn't have. → delete it; inline back until a real need shows.
54
+ - **Message Chains**: long `a.b().c().d()` navigation the caller shouldn't depend on. → hide the walk behind one method on the first object.
55
+ - **Middle Man**: a class or function that mostly just delegates onward. → cut it, call the real target direct.
56
+ - **Refused Bequest**: a subclass or implementer that ignores or overrides most of what it inherits. → drop the inheritance, use composition.
57
57
 
58
58
  ### 4. Spawn both sub-agents in parallel
59
59
 
60
- Send a single message with two `Agent` tool calls. Use the `general-purpose` subagent for both.
61
-
62
- **Standards sub-agent prompt** — include:
60
+ **Standards sub-agent prompt** should include:
63
61
 
64
62
  - The full diff command and commit list.
65
- - The list of standards-source files you found in step 3, **plus the smell baseline from step 3** pasted in full the sub-agent has no other access to it.
66
- - The brief: "Report per file/hunk where relevant (a) every place the diff violates a documented standard: cite the standard (file + the rule); and (b) any baseline smell you spot: name it and quote the hunk. Distinguish hard violations from judgement calls documented-standard breaches can be hard, but baseline smells are always judgement calls, and a documented repo standard overrides the baseline. Skip anything tooling enforces. Under 400 words."
63
+ - The list of standards-source files you found in step 3, **plus the smell baseline from step 3** pasted in full (the sub-agent has no other access to it).
64
+ - The brief: "Report, per file/hunk where relevant, (a) every place the diff violates a documented standard: cite the standard (file + the rule); and (b) any baseline smell you spot: name it and quote the hunk. Distinguish hard violations from judgement calls: documented-standard breaches can be hard, but baseline smells are always judgement calls, and a documented repo standard overrides the baseline. Skip anything tooling enforces. Under 400 words."
67
65
 
68
- **Spec sub-agent prompt** include:
66
+ **Spec sub-agent prompt** should include:
69
67
 
70
68
  - The diff command and commit list.
71
69
  - The path or fetched contents of the spec.
@@ -75,14 +73,9 @@ If the spec is missing, skip the Spec sub-agent and note this in the final repor
75
73
 
76
74
  ### 5. Aggregate
77
75
 
78
- Present the two reports under `## Standards` and `## Spec` headings, verbatim or lightly cleaned. Do **not** merge or rerank findings the two axes are deliberately separate (see _Why two axes_).
79
-
80
- End with a one-line summary: total findings per axis, and the worst issue _within each axis_ (if any). Don't pick a single winner across axes — that's the reranking the separation exists to prevent.
81
-
82
- ### 6. 输出形式
76
+ Present the two reports under `## Standards` and `## Spec` headings, verbatim or lightly cleaned. Do **not** merge or rerank findings, because the two axes are deliberately separate (see _Why two axes_).
83
77
 
84
- - 审查结论**只在对话输出**,不生成任何书面报告文件(不落盘 `review-spec.md`、`review-standards.md`、`review-*.md` 类文件)
85
- - 被 tdd-implement 阶段⑤编排时同样适用
78
+ End with a one-line summary: total findings per axis, and the worst issue _within each axis_ (if any). Don't pick a single winner across axes: that's the reranking the separation exists to prevent.
86
79
 
87
80
  ## Why two axes
88
81
 
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
1
1
  # Deepening
2
2
 
3
- How to deepen a cluster of shallow modules safely, given its dependencies. Assumes the vocabulary in [SKILL.md](SKILL.md) **module**, **interface**, **seam**, **adapter**.
3
+ How to deepen a cluster of shallow modules safely, given its dependencies. Assumes the vocabulary in [SKILL.md](SKILL.md): **module**, **interface**, **seam**, **adapter**.
4
4
 
5
5
  ## Dependency categories
6
6
 
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ When assessing a candidate for deepening, classify its dependencies. The categor
8
8
 
9
9
  ### 1. In-process
10
10
 
11
- Pure computation, in-memory state, no I/O. Always deepenable merge the modules and test through the new interface directly. No adapter needed.
11
+ Pure computation, in-memory state, no I/O. Always deepenable: merge the modules and test through the new interface directly. No adapter needed.
12
12
 
13
13
  ### 2. Local-substitutable
14
14
 
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ Third-party services (Stripe, Twilio, etc.) you don't control. The deepened modu
31
31
 
32
32
  ## Testing strategy: replace, don't layer
33
33
 
34
- - Old unit tests on shallow modules become waste once tests at the deepened module's interface exist delete them.
34
+ - Old unit tests on shallow modules become waste once tests at the deepened module's interface exist; delete them.
35
35
  - Write new tests at the deepened module's interface. The **interface is the test surface**.
36
36
  - Tests assert on observable outcomes through the interface, not internal state.
37
- - Tests should survive internal refactors they describe behaviour, not implementation. If a test has to change when the implementation changes, it's testing past the interface.
37
+ - Tests should survive internal refactors, since they describe behaviour, not implementation. If a test has to change when the implementation changes, it's testing past the interface.
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
1
1
  # Design It Twice
2
2
 
3
- When the user wants to explore alternative interfaces for a chosen deepening candidate, use this parallel sub-agent pattern. Based on "Design It Twice" (Ousterhout) your first idea is unlikely to be the best.
3
+ When the user wants to explore alternative interfaces for a chosen deepening candidate, use this parallel sub-agent pattern. Based on "Design It Twice" (Ousterhout): your first idea is unlikely to be the best.
4
4
 
5
- Uses the vocabulary in [SKILL.md](SKILL.md) **module**, **interface**, **seam**, **adapter**, **leverage**.
5
+ Uses the vocabulary in [SKILL.md](SKILL.md): **module**, **interface**, **seam**, **adapter**, **leverage**.
6
6
 
7
7
  ## Process
8
8
 
@@ -12,33 +12,33 @@ Before spawning sub-agents, write a user-facing explanation of the problem space
12
12
 
13
13
  - The constraints any new interface would need to satisfy
14
14
  - The dependencies it would rely on, and which category they fall into (see [DEEPENING.md](DEEPENING.md))
15
- - A rough illustrative code sketch to ground the constraints not a proposal, just a way to make the constraints concrete
15
+ - A rough illustrative code sketch to ground the constraints, not a proposal, just a way to make the constraints concrete
16
16
 
17
17
  Show this to the user, then immediately proceed to Step 2. The user reads and thinks while the sub-agents work in parallel.
18
18
 
19
19
  ### 2. Spawn sub-agents
20
20
 
21
- Spawn 3+ sub-agents in parallel using the Agent tool. Each must produce a **radically different** interface for the deepened module.
21
+ Spawn 3+ sub-agents in parallel. Each must produce a **radically different** interface for the deepened module.
22
22
 
23
23
  Prompt each sub-agent with a separate technical brief (file paths, coupling details, dependency category from [DEEPENING.md](DEEPENING.md), what sits behind the seam). The brief is independent of the user-facing problem-space explanation in Step 1. Give each agent a different design constraint:
24
24
 
25
- - Agent 1: "Minimize the interface aim for 1–3 entry points max. Maximise leverage per entry point."
26
- - Agent 2: "Maximise flexibility support many use cases and extension."
27
- - Agent 3: "Optimise for the most common caller make the default case trivial."
25
+ - Agent 1: "Minimize the interface: aim for 1–3 entry points max. Maximise leverage per entry point."
26
+ - Agent 2: "Maximise flexibility: support many use cases and extension."
27
+ - Agent 3: "Optimise for the most common caller: make the default case trivial."
28
28
  - Agent 4 (if applicable): "Design around ports & adapters for cross-seam dependencies."
29
29
 
30
30
  Include both [SKILL.md](SKILL.md) vocabulary and CONTEXT.md vocabulary in the brief so each sub-agent names things consistently with the architecture language and the project's domain language.
31
31
 
32
32
  Each sub-agent outputs:
33
33
 
34
- 1. Interface (types, methods, params plus invariants, ordering, error modes)
34
+ 1. Interface (types, methods, params, plus invariants, ordering, error modes)
35
35
  2. Usage example showing how callers use it
36
36
  3. What the implementation hides behind the seam
37
37
  4. Dependency strategy and adapters (see [DEEPENING.md](DEEPENING.md))
38
- 5. Trade-offs where leverage is high, where it's thin
38
+ 5. Trade-offs: where leverage is high, where it's thin
39
39
 
40
40
  ### 3. Present and compare
41
41
 
42
42
  Present designs sequentially so the user can absorb each one, then compare them in prose. Contrast by **depth** (leverage at the interface), **locality** (where change concentrates), and **seam placement**.
43
43
 
44
- After comparing, give your own recommendation: which design you think is strongest and why. If elements from different designs would combine well, propose a hybrid. Be opinionated the user wants a strong read, not a menu.
44
+ After comparing, give your own recommendation: which design you think is strongest and why. If elements from different designs would combine well, propose a hybrid. Be opinionated: the user wants a strong read, not a menu.
@@ -9,23 +9,23 @@ Design **deep modules**: a lot of behaviour behind a small interface, placed at
9
9
 
10
10
  ## Glossary
11
11
 
12
- Use these terms exactly don't substitute "component," "service," "API," or "boundary." Consistent language is the whole point.
12
+ Use these terms exactly: don't substitute "component," "service," "API," or "boundary." Consistent language is the whole point.
13
13
 
14
- **Module** anything with an interface and an implementation. Deliberately scale-agnostic: a function, class, package, or tier-spanning slice. _Avoid_: unit, component, service.
14
+ **Module**: anything with an interface and an implementation. Deliberately scale-agnostic: a function, class, package, or tier-spanning slice. _Avoid_: unit, component, service.
15
15
 
16
- **Interface** everything a caller must know to use the module correctly: the type signature, but also invariants, ordering constraints, error modes, required configuration, and performance characteristics. _Avoid_: API, signature (too narrow they refer only to the type-level surface).
16
+ **Interface**: everything a caller must know to use the module correctly: the type signature, but also invariants, ordering constraints, error modes, required configuration, and performance characteristics. _Avoid_: API, signature (too narrow, they refer only to the type-level surface).
17
17
 
18
- **Implementation** what's inside a module, its body of code. Distinct from **Adapter**: a thing can be a small adapter with a large implementation (a Postgres repo) or a large adapter with a small implementation (an in-memory fake). Reach for "adapter" when the seam is the topic; "implementation" otherwise.
18
+ **Implementation**: what's inside a module, its body of code. Distinct from **Adapter**: a thing can be a small adapter with a large implementation (a Postgres repo) or a large adapter with a small implementation (an in-memory fake). Reach for "adapter" when the seam is the topic; "implementation" otherwise.
19
19
 
20
- **Depth** leverage at the interface: the amount of behaviour a caller (or test) can exercise per unit of interface they have to learn. A module is **deep** when a large amount of behaviour sits behind a small interface, **shallow** when the interface is nearly as complex as the implementation.
20
+ **Depth**: leverage at the interface. The amount of behaviour a caller (or test) can exercise per unit of interface they have to learn. A module is **deep** when a large amount of behaviour sits behind a small interface, **shallow** when the interface is nearly as complex as the implementation.
21
21
 
22
- **Seam** _(Michael Feathers)_ a place where you can alter behaviour without editing in that place; the *location* at which a module's interface lives. Where to put the seam is its own design decision, distinct from what goes behind it. _Avoid_: boundary (overloaded with DDD's bounded context).
22
+ **Seam** _(Michael Feathers)_: a place where you can alter behaviour without editing in that place; the *location* at which a module's interface lives. Where to put the seam is its own design decision, distinct from what goes behind it. _Avoid_: boundary (overloaded with DDD's bounded context).
23
23
 
24
- **Adapter** a concrete thing that satisfies an interface at a seam. Describes *role* (what slot it fills), not substance (what's inside).
24
+ **Adapter**: a concrete thing that satisfies an interface at a seam. Describes *role* (what slot it fills), not substance (what's inside).
25
25
 
26
- **Leverage** what callers get from depth: more capability per unit of interface they learn. One implementation pays back across N call sites and M tests.
26
+ **Leverage**: what callers get from depth. More capability per unit of interface they learn. One implementation pays back across N call sites and M tests.
27
27
 
28
- **Locality** what maintainers get from depth: change, bugs, knowledge, and verification concentrate in one place rather than spreading across callers. Fix once, fixed everywhere.
28
+ **Locality**: what maintainers get from depth. Change, bugs, knowledge, and verification concentrate in one place rather than spreading across callers. Fix once, fixed everywhere.
29
29
 
30
30
  ## Deep vs shallow
31
31
 
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ When designing an interface, ask:
59
59
 
60
60
  ## Principles
61
61
 
62
- - **Depth is a property of the interface, not the implementation.** A deep module can be internally composed of small, mockable, swappable parts they just aren't part of the interface. A module can have **internal seams** (private to its implementation, used by its own tests) as well as the **external seam** at its interface.
62
+ - **Depth is a property of the interface, not the implementation.** A deep module can be internally composed of small, mockable, swappable parts; they just aren't part of the interface. A module can have **internal seams** (private to its implementation, used by its own tests) as well as the **external seam** at its interface.
63
63
  - **The deletion test.** Imagine deleting the module. If complexity vanishes, it was a pass-through. If complexity reappears across N callers, it was earning its keep.
64
64
  - **The interface is the test surface.** Callers and tests cross the same seam. If you want to test *past* the interface, the module is probably the wrong shape.
65
65
  - **One adapter means a hypothetical seam. Two adapters means a real one.** Don't introduce a seam unless something actually varies across it.
@@ -105,10 +105,10 @@ Good interfaces make testing natural:
105
105
  ## Rejected framings
106
106
 
107
107
  - **Depth as ratio of implementation-lines to interface-lines** (Ousterhout): rewards padding the implementation. We use depth-as-leverage instead.
108
- - **"Interface" as the TypeScript `interface` keyword or a class's public methods**: too narrow interface here includes every fact a caller must know.
108
+ - **"Interface" as the TypeScript `interface` keyword or a class's public methods**: too narrow: interface here includes every fact a caller must know.
109
109
  - **"Boundary"**: overloaded with DDD's bounded context. Say **seam** or **interface**.
110
110
 
111
111
  ## Going deeper
112
112
 
113
- - **Deepening a cluster given its dependencies** see [DEEPENING.md](DEEPENING.md): dependency categories, seam discipline, and replace-don't-layer testing.
114
- - **Exploring alternative interfaces** see [DESIGN-IT-TWICE.md](DESIGN-IT-TWICE.md): spin up parallel sub-agents to design the interface several radically different ways, then compare on depth, locality, and seam placement.
113
+ - **Deepening a cluster given its dependencies**, see [DEEPENING.md](DEEPENING.md): dependency categories, seam discipline, and replace-don't-layer testing.
114
+ - **Exploring alternative interfaces**, see [DESIGN-IT-TWICE.md](DESIGN-IT-TWICE.md): spin up parallel sub-agents to design the interface several radically different ways, then compare on depth, locality, and seam placement.
@@ -9,18 +9,24 @@ A discipline for hard bugs. Skip phases only when explicitly justified.
9
9
 
10
10
  When exploring the codebase, read `CONTEXT.md` (if it exists) to get a clear mental model of the relevant modules, and check ADRs in the area you're touching.
11
11
 
12
- ## Phase 1 — Build a feedback loop
12
+ ## Redact
13
13
 
14
- **This is the skill.** Everything else is mechanical. If you have a **tight** pass/fail signal for the bug one that goes red on _this_ bug you will find the cause; bisection, hypothesis-testing, and instrumentation all just consume it. If you don't have one, no amount of staring at code will save you.
14
+ This skill has you show commands, outputs and captured artifacts. **Redact every secret first**: write `<REDACTED>` in its place. Build loops against env vars, so the credential stays in the environment rather than in what you show. Captured artifacts carry auth headers: quote only the lines that carry the signal.
15
+
16
+ If the redacted output is not enough to diagnose the bug, say so and ask the user.
17
+
18
+ ## Phase 1: Build a feedback loop
19
+
20
+ **This is the skill.** Everything else is mechanical. If you have a **tight** pass/fail signal for the bug (one that goes red on _this_ bug), you will find the cause; bisection, hypothesis-testing, and instrumentation all just consume it. If you don't have one, no amount of staring at code will save you.
15
21
 
16
22
  Spend disproportionate effort here. **Be aggressive. Be creative. Refuse to give up.**
17
23
 
18
- ### Ways to construct one — try them in roughly this order
24
+ ### Ways to construct one, in roughly this order
19
25
 
20
- 1. **Failing test** at whatever seam reaches the bug unit, integration, e2e.
26
+ 1. **Failing test** at whatever seam reaches the bug: unit, integration, e2e.
21
27
  2. **Curl / HTTP script** against a running dev server.
22
28
  3. **CLI invocation** with a fixture input, diffing stdout against a known-good snapshot.
23
- 4. **Headless browser script** (Playwright / Puppeteer) drives the UI, asserts on DOM/console/network.
29
+ 4. **Headless browser script** (Playwright / Puppeteer) that drives the UI and asserts on DOM/console/network.
24
30
  5. **Replay a captured trace.** Save a real network request / payload / event log to disk; replay it through the code path in isolation.
25
31
  6. **Throwaway harness.** Spin up a minimal subset of the system (one service, mocked deps) that exercises the bug code path with a single function call.
26
32
  7. **Property / fuzz loop.** If the bug is "sometimes wrong output", run 1000 random inputs and look for the failure mode.
@@ -38,48 +44,48 @@ Treat the loop as a product. Once you have _a_ loop, **tighten** it:
38
44
  - Can I make the signal sharper? (Assert on the specific symptom, not "didn't crash".)
39
45
  - Can I make it more deterministic? (Pin time, seed RNG, isolate filesystem, freeze network.)
40
46
 
41
- A 30-second flaky loop is barely better than no loop; a 2-second deterministic one is tight a debugging superpower.
47
+ A 30-second flaky loop is barely better than no loop; a 2-second deterministic one is tight, a debugging superpower.
42
48
 
43
49
  ### Non-deterministic bugs
44
50
 
45
- The goal is not a clean repro but a **higher reproduction rate**. Loop the trigger 100×, parallelise, add stress, narrow timing windows, inject sleeps. A 50%-flake bug is debuggable; 1% is not keep raising the rate until it's debuggable.
51
+ The goal is not a clean repro but a **higher reproduction rate**. Loop the trigger 100×, parallelise, add stress, narrow timing windows, inject sleeps. A 50%-flake bug is debuggable; 1% is not, so keep raising the rate until it's debuggable.
46
52
 
47
53
  ### When you genuinely cannot build a loop
48
54
 
49
- Stop and say so explicitly. List what you tried. Ask the user for: (a) access to whatever environment reproduces it, (b) a captured artifact (HAR file, log dump, core dump, screen recording with timestamps), or (c) permission to add temporary production instrumentation. Do **not** proceed to hypothesise without a loop.
55
+ Stop and say so explicitly. List what you tried. Ask the user for: (a) access to whatever environment reproduces it, (b) a redacted captured artifact (HAR file, log dump, core dump, screen recording with timestamps), or (c) permission to add temporary production instrumentation. Do **not** proceed to hypothesise without a loop.
50
56
 
51
- ### Completion criterion a tight loop that goes red
57
+ ### Completion criterion: a tight loop that goes red
52
58
 
53
- Phase 1 is done when the loop is **tight** and **red-capable**: you can name **one command** a script path, a test invocation, a curl that you have **already run at least once** (paste the invocation and its output), and that is:
59
+ Phase 1 is done when the loop is **tight** and **red-capable**: you can name **one command** (a script path, a test invocation, a curl) that you have **already run at least once** (show the invocation and its output, redacted), and that is:
54
60
 
55
- - [ ] **Red-capable** it drives the actual bug code path and asserts the **user's exact symptom**, so it can go red on this bug and green once fixed. Not "runs without erroring" it must be able to _catch this specific bug_.
56
- - [ ] **Deterministic** same verdict every run (flaky bugs: a pinned, high reproduction rate, per above).
57
- - [ ] **Fast** seconds, not minutes.
58
- - [ ] **Agent-runnable** you can run it unattended; a human in the loop only via `scripts/hitl-loop.template.sh`.
61
+ - [ ] **Red-capable**: it drives the actual bug code path and asserts the **user's exact symptom**, so it can go red on this bug and green once fixed. Not "runs without erroring"; it must be able to _catch this specific bug_.
62
+ - [ ] **Deterministic**: same verdict every run (flaky bugs: a pinned, high reproduction rate, per above).
63
+ - [ ] **Fast**: seconds, not minutes.
64
+ - [ ] **Agent-runnable**: you can run it unattended; a human in the loop only via `scripts/hitl-loop.template.sh`.
59
65
 
60
- If you catch yourself reading code to build a theory before this command exists, **stop jumping straight to a hypothesis is the exact failure this skill prevents.** No red-capable command, no Phase 2.
66
+ If you catch yourself reading code to build a theory before this command exists, **stop: jumping straight to a hypothesis is the exact failure this skill prevents.** No red-capable command, no Phase 2.
61
67
 
62
- ## Phase 2 Reproduce + minimise
68
+ ## Phase 2: Reproduce + minimise
63
69
 
64
- Run the loop. Watch it go red the bug appears.
70
+ Run the loop. Watch it go red as the bug appears.
65
71
 
66
72
  Confirm:
67
73
 
68
- - [ ] The loop produces the failure mode the **user** described not a different failure that happens to be nearby. Wrong bug = wrong fix.
74
+ - [ ] The loop produces the failure mode the **user** described, not a different failure that happens to be nearby. Wrong bug = wrong fix.
69
75
  - [ ] The failure is reproducible across multiple runs (or, for non-deterministic bugs, reproducible at a high enough rate to debug against).
70
76
  - [ ] You have captured the exact symptom (error message, wrong output, slow timing) so later phases can verify the fix actually addresses it.
71
77
 
72
78
  ### Minimise
73
79
 
74
- Once it's red, shrink the repro to the **smallest scenario that still goes red**. Cut inputs, callers, config, data, and steps **one at a time**, re-running the loop after each cut keep only what's load-bearing for the failure.
80
+ Once it's red, shrink the repro to the **smallest scenario that still goes red**. Cut inputs, callers, config, data, and steps **one at a time**, re-running the loop after each cut, and keep only what's load-bearing for the failure.
75
81
 
76
82
  Why bother: a minimal repro shrinks the hypothesis space in Phase 3 (fewer moving parts left to suspect) and becomes the clean regression test in Phase 5.
77
83
 
78
- Done when **every remaining element is load-bearing** removing any one of them makes the loop go green.
84
+ Done when **every remaining element is load-bearing**: removing any one of them makes the loop go green.
79
85
 
80
86
  Do not proceed until you have reproduced **and** minimised.
81
87
 
82
- ## Phase 3 Hypothesise
88
+ ## Phase 3: Hypothesise
83
89
 
84
90
  Generate **3–5 ranked hypotheses** before testing any of them. Single-hypothesis generation anchors on the first plausible idea.
85
91
 
@@ -87,11 +93,11 @@ Each hypothesis must be **falsifiable**: state the prediction it makes.
87
93
 
88
94
  > Format: "If <X> is the cause, then <changing Y> will make the bug disappear / <changing Z> will make it worse."
89
95
 
90
- If you cannot state the prediction, the hypothesis is a vibe discard or sharpen it.
96
+ If you cannot state the prediction, the hypothesis is a vibe: discard or sharpen it.
91
97
 
92
- **Show the ranked list to the user before testing.** They often have domain knowledge that re-ranks instantly ("we just deployed a change to #3"), or know hypotheses they've already ruled out. Cheap checkpoint, big time saver. Don't block on it proceed with your ranking if the user is AFK.
98
+ **Show the ranked list to the user before testing.** They often have domain knowledge that re-ranks instantly ("we just deployed a change to #3"), or know hypotheses they've already ruled out. Cheap checkpoint, big time saver. Don't block on it; proceed with your ranking if the user is AFK.
93
99
 
94
- ## Phase 4 Instrument
100
+ ## Phase 4: Instrument
95
101
 
96
102
  Each probe must map to a specific prediction from Phase 3. **Change one variable at a time.**
97
103
 
@@ -105,9 +111,9 @@ Tool preference:
105
111
 
106
112
  **Perf branch.** For performance regressions, logs are usually wrong. Instead: establish a baseline measurement (timing harness, `performance.now()`, profiler, query plan), then bisect. Measure first, fix second.
107
113
 
108
- ## Phase 5 Fix + regression test
114
+ ## Phase 5: Fix + regression test
109
115
 
110
- Write the regression test **before the fix** but only if there is a **correct seam** for it.
116
+ Write the regression test **before the fix**, but only if there is a **correct seam** for it.
111
117
 
112
118
  A correct seam is one where the test exercises the **real bug pattern** as it occurs at the call site. If the only available seam is too shallow (single-caller test when the bug needs multiple callers, unit test that can't replicate the chain that triggered the bug), a regression test there gives false confidence.
113
119
 
@@ -121,7 +127,7 @@ If a correct seam exists:
121
127
  4. Watch it pass.
122
128
  5. Re-run the Phase 1 feedback loop against the original (un-minimised) scenario.
123
129
 
124
- ## Phase 6 Cleanup + post-mortem
130
+ ## Phase 6: Cleanup
125
131
 
126
132
  Required before declaring done:
127
133
 
@@ -129,6 +135,4 @@ Required before declaring done:
129
135
  - [ ] Regression test passes (or absence of seam is documented)
130
136
  - [ ] All `[DEBUG-...]` instrumentation removed (`grep` the prefix)
131
137
  - [ ] Throwaway prototypes deleted (or moved to a clearly-marked debug location)
132
- - [ ] The hypothesis that turned out correct is stated in the commit / PR message so the next debugger learns
133
-
134
- **Then ask: what would have prevented this bug?** If the answer involves architectural change (no good test seam, tangled callers, hidden coupling) hand off to the `/improve-codebase-architecture` skill with the specifics. Make the recommendation **after** the fix is in, not before — you have more information now than when you started.
138
+ - [ ] The hypothesis that turned out correct is stated in the commit / PR message, so the next debugger learns
@@ -11,6 +11,9 @@
11
11
  # capture VAR "<question>" → show question, read response into VAR
12
12
  #
13
13
  # At the end, captured values are printed as KEY=VALUE for the agent to parse.
14
+ #
15
+ # `capture` prints its value back to the terminal, where the agent reads it,
16
+ # so capture observations, and leave signing in to the user as a `step`.
14
17
 
15
18
  set -euo pipefail
16
19