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Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 a12cca62fa wayfinder: use placeholders in Handoff example, drop no-op
Cut the "(trailing name orients you; it's ignored on paste)" gloss —
a # comment is self-evident. Replace the arbitrary "Briefing pipeline"
map name and specific ticket names with <map name>/<ticket name>
placeholders, consistent with the surrounding <map-url>/<issue-url>
style so nothing reads as a real referent.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-02 11:28:42 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 eb63f6e92c wayfinder: dedup identity claim in Refer-by-name
"id stays the identity" duplicated the Tickets section's "issue id is
its identity" — single source of truth belongs there (co-located with
the wiring/blocking mechanics that depend on ids). Reword to state the
pasteable-handle exception (link target, Handoff URL) without
re-defining identity. Trim redundant rationale wording.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-02 11:26:41 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 ee014fa8b1 wayfinder: refer to maps and tickets by name, not id
Add a "Refer by name" convention so Wayfinder surfaces maps and
tickets by their human-friendly title in everything the human reads
(narration, Decisions-so-far, Handoff) rather than bare ids, numbers,
or slugs — a wall of #42, #43, #44 is illegible; names read at a
glance. The id/URL stays the identity and pasteable handle, riding
inside the name's link.

Update the Handoff example to demonstrate it: name the map in the
header and annotate each parallel command with its ticket name.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-02 11:23:55 +01:00
Matt Pocock a5c124ef9c Made wayfinder model-invocable 2026-07-02 11:01:48 +01:00
Matt PocockandGitHub c6b033e93a Merge pull request #420 from mattpocock/wayfinder-branch-terminology
fix(wayfinder): rename "Two branches" to "Two modes"
2026-07-02 09:57:03 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 cb51924fbe fix(wayfinder): rename "Two branches" to "Two modes"
The word "branch" in the Invocation section primes git-aware agents
(Sonnet, GPT-5.5) to create git branches when running the skill,
littering established environments with per-session branches that then
have to be merged. Nothing here refers to git — the two "branches" are
the two invocation modes (chart the map / work through it). Rename to
"modes" to remove the false cue.

Fixes #418

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-02 09:51:01 +01:00
Matt PocockandGitHub ab6ef44652 Merge pull request #419 from mattpocock/wayfinder-map-is-index
refactor(wayfinder): make the map an index, not a store
2026-07-02 09:47:36 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 927293589b refactor(wayfinder): make the map an index, not a store
State the no-duplication contract up front with a leading word: the map
indexes decisions and points at the tickets that hold them; a decision
lives in exactly one place — its ticket — so the map only gists and links.

Also close a fog-vs-ticket duplication: graduating fog into a ticket now
clears the graduated patch from the Fog.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-02 09:45:58 +01:00
Matt PocockandGitHub 7687025249 Merge pull request #413 from mattpocock/wayfinder-collaborative-tracker
feat(wayfinder): make the map collaborative via the issue tracker
2026-07-02 09:39:26 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 2ba3bd848f refactor(wayfinder): fog-vs-ticket test as a list
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-02 09:38:48 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 198efb1958 refactor(wayfinder): clarify fog-vs-ticket boundary
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-02 09:36:40 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 039820a47d refactor(wayfinder): loosen fog length, dedup fog guidance
Drop the "one-liner" constraint — fog entries can be as loose or full as
the view allows. Point the map template's Fog comment at the Fog-of-war
section instead of restating it, and remove the duplicated "not a ticket"
now that the keep-out clause covers it.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-02 09:32:17 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 d49cd08a11 docs(wayfinder): spell out what goes in the map's Fog section
The Fog-of-war section explained the loop but not the content. Add
explicit inclusion/exclusion guidance: dim decisions/investigations
coming but not yet specifiable, as rough one-liners — not what's already
decided (Decisions so far) or actionable now (a ticket).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-02 09:30:26 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 46be3d60a0 feat(wayfinder): add explicit map and ticket body templates
Show the map body (Notes / Decisions so far / Fog) and the ticket body
(Question) as literal markdown templates instead of describing them in
prose, so a charting session reproduces the same shape every run. The
template carries the structure; surrounding prose trimmed to avoid
restating the zone list.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-02 09:27:46 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 e2d606b9fc refactor(wayfinder): aggressive duplication pass
Single-source the frontier and fog definitions. The Tickets section owns
"frontier"; Fog-of-war owns the loop and terminal condition. Remove the
frontier re-definition and fog-nature restatement from Fog-of-war, the
duplicated frontier criteria from the work sequence, the repeated "way to
the goal is clear" from the intro, the "low resolution" restatement, and
the clear-context prose that its own example already shows.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-02 09:22:47 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 1e5074a1e2 refactor(wayfinder): pruning pass — cut no-ops and duplication
Drop the "shared artifact, not a private file" sentence and the "one URL
the whole team reads" restatement (no-ops the agent obeys by default).
Fold Chart step 4 into step 3 — "don't chart what you can't see" already
lives in the Fog of war section (single source of truth).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-02 09:18:54 +01:00
2 changed files with 64 additions and 24 deletions
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---
"mattpocock-skills": minor
---
Make **`wayfinder`**'s no-duplication contract explicit: the map is an **index**, not a store.
Adopting "index" as the leading word for the map's role fixes two duplication risks. The map now states up front that a decision lives in exactly one place — its ticket — so it only ever gists and links, never restates the answer (previously this rule was implied inside an HTML comment in the map-body template). And graduating fog into a ticket now clears the graduated patch from the Fog, so a suspected question can't linger in both places at once.
+57 -24
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---
name: wayfinder
description: Chart a route through a foggy problem — turn a loose idea into a shared map of investigation tickets on your issue tracker, and resolve them one at a time until the way to the goal is clear.
disable-model-invocation: true
---
A loose idea has arrived — too big for one agent session, and wrapped in fog: the route from here to a plan isn't visible yet. This skill charts it as a **shared map** on the repo's issue tracker, then works its tickets one at a time until the way to the goal is clear. Because the map lives on the tracker, multiple people can watch it, comment on tickets, and pick up the frontier — the chart is a shared artifact, not a private file. The map is domain-agnostic — engineering work, course content, whatever fits the shape.
A loose idea has arrived — too big for one agent session, and wrapped in fog: the route from here to a plan isn't visible yet. This skill charts it as a **shared map** on the repo's issue tracker, then works its tickets one at a time. The map is domain-agnostic — engineering work, course content, whatever fits the shape.
## Refer by name
Every map and ticket is an issue, so it has a **name** — its title. In everything the human reads — narration, the map's Decisions-so-far, the Handoff — refer to it by that name, never by a bare id, number, or slug. A wall of `#42, #43, #44` is illegible; names read at a glance. The id and URL don't vanish — a name wraps its link, and Handoff commands still paste the URL — but they ride *inside* the name, never stand in for it.
## The Map
The map is a single issue on this repo's issue tracker: one shared object — one URL — that the whole team reads and comments on. It is labelled `wayfinder:map`, and it is the canonical artifact. Its tickets are child issues of the map.
The map is a single issue on this repo's issue tracker, labelled `wayfinder:map` the canonical artifact. Its tickets are child issues of the map.
**Where the map, its child tickets, blocking, and frontier queries physically live is tracker-specific.** Consult `docs/agents/issue-tracker.md` (the "Wayfinding operations" section) for how *this* repo expresses them. If that doc is absent, default to the local-markdown tracker.
The map is an **index**, not a store. It lists the decisions made and points at the tickets that hold their detail; a decision lives in exactly one place — its ticket — so the map never restates it, only gists it and links.
**Where the map, its child tickets, blocking, and frontier queries physically live is tracker-specific.** Consult `docs/agents/issue-tracker.md` (the "Wayfinding operations" section) for how _this_ repo expresses them. If that doc is absent, default to the local-markdown tracker.
### The map body
Three compact zones — this is the whole map at low resolution, loaded once per session:
The whole map at low resolution, loaded once per session. Open tickets are **not** listed — they are open child issues, found by query.
- **Notes** — the domain, any skills every session should consult, and freeform standing preferences for this effort.
- **Decisions so far** — one *context pointer* per closed ticket: a short gist plus a link to the closed issue where the full answer lives. Enough to judge relevance; zoom through the link for detail.
- **Fog** — terse prose naming what's dimly visible beyond the frontier. Not tickets yet.
```markdown
## Notes
Open tickets are **not** listed here — they are open child issues, found by query.
<domain; skills every session should consult; standing preferences for this effort>
## Decisions so far
<!-- the index — one line per closed ticket: enough to judge relevance, then zoom the link for the detail the ticket holds -->
- [<closed ticket title>](link) — <one-line gist of the answer>
## Fog
<!-- see "Fog of war" for what belongs here -->
```
### Tickets
Each ticket is a **child issue** of the map; the tracker's issue id is its identity. Its body holds the **question**. Two label families:
Each ticket is a **child issue** of the map; the tracker's issue id is its identity. Its body is the question, sized to one 100K token agent session:
```markdown
## Question
<the decision or investigation this ticket resolves>
```
Two label families:
- `wayfinder:<type>` — one of `research`, `prototype`, `grilling`, `task` (see [Ticket Types](#ticket-types)).
- `wayfinder:claimed` — a session sets this **first**, before any work, so concurrent sessions skip it.
Blocking uses the tracker's native semantics. A ticket is **unblocked** when every ticket blocking it is closed. The **frontier** is the open, unblocked, unclaimed children — the edge of the known.
Each ticket must be sized to one 100K token agent session. Assets created while resolving a ticket are linked from the issue, not pasted into it.
The answer isn't part of the body — it's recorded on resolution (see [Work through the map](#work-through-the-map)). Assets created while resolving a ticket are linked from the issue, not pasted in.
## Ticket Types
@@ -42,11 +65,20 @@ Each ticket must be sized to one 100K token agent session. Assets created while
## Fog of war
The map is _deliberately_ incomplete beyond the frontier — don't chart what you can't yet see. What is dimly visible but not yet actionable lives as **Fog** prose in the map body, never as speculative tickets; only the frontier becomes real issues. The frontier is the unblocked tickets at the edge of the known; resolve them to push it forward, graduating fog into fresh tickets as it comes into focus. Push back the fog of war one ticket at a time, until the way to the goal is clear and no tickets remain.
The map is _deliberately_ incomplete: don't chart what you can't yet see. Beyond the tickets lies fog — the dim view of decisions and investigations you can tell are coming but can't yet pin down, because they hang on questions still open. Resolving a ticket clears the fog ahead of it, graduating whatever's now specifiable into fresh tickets — one at a time, until the way to the goal is clear and no tickets remain.
The map's **Fog** section is where that dim view is written down: the suspected question, the area to revisit later, the risk you're deferring. Write as loosely or as fully as the view allows; it doubles as a signpost for collaborators reading where the effort is headed.
**Fog or ticket?** The test is whether you can state the question precisely now — _not_ whether you can answer it now.
- **Ticket when** the question is already sharp — even if it's blocked and you can't act on it yet.
- **Fog when** you can't yet phrase it that sharply. Don't pre-slice fog into ticket-sized pieces: it's coarser than a ticket, and one patch may graduate into several tickets, or none, once the frontier reaches it.
Fog excludes only what's already decided (that's Decisions so far) and what's already a ticket.
## Invocation
Two branches. Either way, **every session ends with a [Handoff](#handoff)** — never resolve more than one ticket per session.
Two modes. Either way, **every session ends with a [Handoff](#handoff)** — never resolve more than one ticket per session.
### Chart the map
@@ -54,41 +86,42 @@ User invokes with a loose idea.
1. Run a `/grilling` and `/domain-modeling` session to surface the open decisions.
2. **Create the map** (label `wayfinder:map`): Notes filled in, Decisions-so-far empty, Fog sketched.
3. **Create the frontier tickets** as child issues of the map — then wire blocking edges in a **second pass** (issues need ids before they can reference each other).
4. Leave everything past the frontier as fog — don't chart what you can't see.
5. Handoff. Charting the map is one session's work; do not also resolve tickets.
3. **Create the tickets you can specify now** as child issues of the map — then wire blocking edges in a **second pass** (issues need ids before they can reference each other). Wiring sorts them into the frontier and the blocked; everything you can't yet specify stays in the Fog.
4. Handoff. Charting the map is one session's work; do not also resolve tickets.
### Work through the map
User invokes with a map (URL or number). A ticket is **optional** — without one, you pick the next decision, not the user.
1. Load the **map** — the low-res view (Notes, decision pointers, fog). Not every ticket body.
2. Choose the ticket. If the user named one, use it. Otherwise query the frontier and take the first open, unblocked, unclaimed child in order. **Claim it**: set `wayfinder:claimed` and save before any work.
1. Load the **map** — the low-res view, not every ticket body.
2. Choose the ticket. If the user named one, use it. Otherwise take the first frontier ticket in order. **Claim it**: set `wayfinder:claimed` and save before any work.
3. Resolve it — **zoom as needed**: fetch the full body of any related or closed ticket on demand; invoke the skills the `## Notes` block names. If in doubt, use `/grilling` and `/domain-modeling`.
4. Record the resolution: post the answer as a **resolution comment**, **close** the issue, and **append a context pointer** to the map's Decisions-so-far.
5. Add newly-surfaced frontier tickets (create-then-wire); graduate fog that's now actionable. If the decision invalidates other parts of the map, update or delete those tickets.
5. Add newly-surfaced tickets (create-then-wire); graduate any fog the answer has made specifiable, clearing each graduated patch from the Fog so it lives only as its new ticket. If the decision invalidates other parts of the map, update or delete those tickets.
6. Handoff.
The user may run unblocked tickets in parallel, so expect other sessions to be editing the tracker concurrently.
## Handoff
End every session by clearing the context and opening one or more fresh sessions. Close with a **Next steps** block the user can copy-paste. Two cases:
End every session with a **Next steps** block the user can copy-paste. Two cases:
**Open tickets remain.** Query the map for the currently-unblocked children, then give two copy-paste options: a bare command for one session (you pick the next ticket), and one pinned command per unblocked ticket for running them in parallel. Paste one line per fresh window — opening one, some, or all of them.
> **Next steps** — 3 tickets unblocked. Clear the context, then open fresh sessions.
> **Next steps** — *<map name>*: 3 tickets unblocked. Clear the context, then open fresh sessions.
>
> **One session** — resolves the next unblocked ticket:
>
> ```
> Invoke /wayfinder with the map <map-url>.
> ```
>
> **Parallel** — paste one line per window, up to all 3:
>
> ```
> Invoke /wayfinder with the map <map-url>, ticket <issue-url>.
> Invoke /wayfinder with the map <map-url>, ticket <issue-url>.
> Invoke /wayfinder with the map <map-url>, ticket <issue-url>.
> Invoke /wayfinder with the map <map-url>, ticket <issue-url>. # <ticket name>
> Invoke /wayfinder with the map <map-url>, ticket <issue-url>. # <ticket name>
> Invoke /wayfinder with the map <map-url>, ticket <issue-url>. # <ticket name>
> ```
**No open tickets remain.** The fog is pushed back far enough that the way to the goal is clear — the map is done. (The initial grilling may also surface no fog at all, in which case there was never a map to chart.) Recommend implementing directly, or using `/to-prd` to schedule a multi-session implementation.