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Author SHA1 Message Date
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 5 fa1e3227fb feat: give ask-matt the phase boundary decision tree
Replaces the two-bullet `Crossing sessions` section with all five options
at a phase boundary — continue, /clear, /handoff, subagent, /compact —
and discloses the ordered tree into a new PHASE-BOUNDARIES.md.

Corrections that come with it:

- /handoff was oversold as the general bridge between context windows.
  It is narrow: a new harness, a new directory, a colleague, or a side
  task forked mid-phase. What it buys is portability.
- /compact is the default at the bottom of the tree, not the first reach.
- Continue and subagent were missing branches entirely.

Context hygiene's escape hatch now says /compact rather than /handoff,
and the smart zone figure moves from ~120k to ~150k tokens.

Resolves the T5 grilling ticket on the v1.2 release map.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-08-05 10:10:33 +01:00
Matt Pocock a621cc4f75 Merge pull request #680 from mattpocock/graduate-wizard
Graduate wizard into the Engineering bucket
2026-08-05 08:29:51 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 5 b3376f8d39 feat: graduate wizard into the engineering bucket
Move `wizard` out of in-progress into `engineering/` and wire it up as a
promoted skill: plugin.json entry, top-level + Engineering READMEs under
User-invoked, a docs page at docs/engineering/wizard.md, and a Standalone
route in ask-matt for the steps only a human can take.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-08-05 08:29:37 +01:00
Matt Pocock b405fe0a2e Merge pull request #593 from mattpocock/release/v1.2
Release v1.2
2026-08-05 08:29:35 +01:00
Matt Pocock d53cabc383 Merge pull request #734 from mattpocock/chore/purge-prd-references
docs: finish the to-prd → to-spec rename in shipped text
2026-08-04 07:18:55 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 5 a2f9333669 docs: finish the to-prd → to-spec rename in shipped text
Drop the "you may know this document as a PRD" hedge from to-spec and
the local tracker template, switch code-review to issue/spec, bring the
GitHub and GitLab tracker templates in line with the local one, and fix
research.md's dead skills-to-prd link.

CHANGELOG and existing changesets keep the old term where they document
the rename itself.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-08-03 17:37:30 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 5 bfdaef8e98 docs: describe grilling as round-by-round everywhere
The round-by-round rework left the wrappers and callers still promising
a one-question-at-a-time interview. Sync grill-me, grill-with-docs and
triage (docs + skill step), plus grilling's Codex short_description and
the loop-me draft.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-31 18:04:40 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 5 1495d01430 feat(grilling): bold the question title
The title now carries its own bold alongside the bold Q-number, so the
question line reads as a heading. Sync the docs page and changeset.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-31 18:04:40 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 5 5626acd11a feat(grilling): lead each question with a question-mark emoji
Prefix the numbered question line with  so questions and their ➡️
recommendations are both scannable. Sync the docs page and changeset.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-31 18:04:40 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 5 32af39b277 docs(grilling): drop the Recommendation label from the question format
The recommendation now stands alone on its arrow line. Sync the docs
page and changeset to match.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-31 18:04:40 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 5 294a2c97c5 docs(grilling): pin the question format and document it
Add the fixed per-question shape (numbered title, body, recommendation
line) to grilling's SKILL.md, sync the docs page, and add a changeset.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-31 18:04:40 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 5 f054defc3f feat(writing-for-agents): add the cache leading word for environment truth
Single source of truth now reaches past the document into the environment.
package.json scripts, config files, directory layout and --help output are
authoritative already, so a doc restating them is a cache of a lookup that
earns its load only when the lookup is expensive.

Co-authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-31 18:04:40 +01:00
Matt Pocock 38d62e71ed fix: correct formatting in SKILL.md for clarity and consistency 2026-07-31 18:04:40 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 5 0f2bdbdb06 feat: graduate to-questionnaire into the productivity bucket
Move `to-questionnaire` out of in-progress into `productivity/` and wire
it up as a promoted skill: plugin.json entry, top-level + Productivity
READMEs under User-invoked, a docs page at
docs/productivity/to-questionnaire.md, and a Standalone route in
ask-matt framing it as the inverse of /grill-me.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-31 18:04:40 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 1fc6573e0e feat!: rename writing-great-skills to writing-for-agents and restructure
The reference now covers any document an agent consumes — skills,
AGENTS.md/CLAUDE.md, docs reached by a pointer. GLOSSARY.md merged into
SKILL.md as a dedup (Avoid-lists and the standalone Predictability
definition pruned); skill-only mechanics disclosed to SKILL-MECHANICS.md;
the skill is now model-invoked. Clean rename, no alias.

Spec: mattpocock/personal-wiki#187 · ships via mattpocock/personal-wiki#193

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-31 18:04:40 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 6bcbcb09e2 feat(prototype): logic branch produces a shareable HTML demo
Reshape the logic branch from a terminal app into a single
self-contained HTML file a non-developer can drive: a labelled
state panel, free-play buttons, and tabbed guided walkthroughs
(scenarios) with the ordered buttons to press underneath each.
The portable pure-logic module still lifts into the real code;
the HTML shell is the throwaway primary source.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-31 18:04:40 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 a4b2009a1a feat(grilling): round-by-round frontier interview
Rework grilling from one-question-at-a-time to asking the whole
frontier each round, with background sub-agents for fact-finding so
research never blocks the round. Fold the batch-grill-me experiment
into grilling and delete it. Re-sync the docs page, including how to
opt back into one-at-a-time via global CLAUDE.md.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-31 18:04:40 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 5 14b92236dd docs: describe grilling as round-by-round everywhere
The round-by-round rework left the wrappers and callers still promising
a one-question-at-a-time interview. Sync grill-me, grill-with-docs and
triage (docs + skill step), plus grilling's Codex short_description and
the loop-me draft.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-29 12:37:09 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 5 950dc79bb0 feat(grilling): bold the question title
The title now carries its own bold alongside the bold Q-number, so the
question line reads as a heading. Sync the docs page and changeset.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-29 12:33:07 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 5 781efca60a feat(grilling): lead each question with a question-mark emoji
Prefix the numbered question line with  so questions and their ➡️
recommendations are both scannable. Sync the docs page and changeset.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-29 12:29:11 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 5 4b2d9a8a8a docs(grilling): drop the Recommendation label from the question format
The recommendation now stands alone on its arrow line. Sync the docs
page and changeset to match.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-29 12:28:33 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 5 a557705dcb docs(grilling): pin the question format and document it
Add the fixed per-question shape (numbered title, body, recommendation
line) to grilling's SKILL.md, sync the docs page, and add a changeset.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-29 12:26:31 +01:00
Matt Pocock 9c470b321d Merge branch 'release/v1.2' of https://github.com/mattpocock/skills into release/v1.2 2026-07-29 12:11:20 +01:00
Matt Pocock f1df19e6b0 fix: correct formatting in SKILL.md for clarity and consistency 2026-07-29 12:11:19 +01:00
Matt Pocock 41283677d6 Merge pull request #682 from mattpocock/wfa-environment-cache
feat(writing-for-agents): add the *cache* leading word for environment truth
2026-07-28 12:18:20 +01:00
Matt Pocock 2ab958093e Merge pull request #681 from mattpocock/docs/install-instructions-split
docs: split install instructions by audience
2026-07-28 10:18:17 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 5 369c264e23 docs: split install instructions by audience
Collapse the skills.sh Quickstart and the "Install as a Claude Code
plugin" section into one Installation section, ordered Claude Code →
Codex/other agents → tinkerers, each in a collapsed details block.

Claude Code now leads with the one-liner `claude plugins install
mattpocock-skills` — the plugin ships in Claude Code's official
marketplace, so the old two-step `marketplace add` → `install` dance is
gone.

`/setup-matt-pocock-skills` is promoted to a shared step 2, since every
install path needs it.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-28 10:17:03 +01:00
Matt Pocock ed37663cc5 refactor(to-tickets): remove redundant instructions for ticket implementation 2026-07-21 11:28:51 +01:00
34 changed files with 246 additions and 61 deletions
+13
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@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
---
"mattpocock-skills": patch
---
Give `/ask-matt` the **phase boundary** decision tree, replacing the two-bullet `Crossing sessions` section.
A **phase** is a chunk of work inside a session — the grilling, the implementation, the QA — and the boundary between two of them is where you decide what to do with the context you've built. The router now carries all five options in order (**continue**, `/clear`, `/handoff`, **subagent**, `/compact`), with the ordered tree and its reasoning disclosed in a new `PHASE-BOUNDARIES.md`. Three fixes come with it:
- **`/handoff` was oversold.** It read as the general bridge between context windows. It's narrow: you need it only when something has to *travel* — a new harness, a new directory, a colleague, or a side task forked mid-phase. What it buys is portability.
- **`/compact` is the default, not the first reach.** It sits at the bottom of the tree, after the four cheaper or more precise questions above it. Starting there produces a session that's confidently wrong about whatever the summary flattened.
- **Two branches were missing entirely.** **Continue** is the one to rule out first — it's the only move that keeps the conversation as a primary source rather than a summary of one — and a **subagent** handles anything scoped tightly enough to run AFK.
Context hygiene's escape hatch now says `/compact` rather than `/handoff` (same harness, same directory, at a boundary — the handoff clause doesn't apply), and the smart zone figure is updated from ~120k to ~150k tokens.
+11
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@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
---
"mattpocock-skills": minor
---
Graduate **`wizard`** out of `in-progress/` into the **Engineering** bucket, so it ships in the plugin. It generates an interactive bash script that walks a human through a manual procedure — third-party setup, a one-off migration, an A→B state transition — opening each URL, saying what to click, capturing the values, and writing them into `.env` files and GitHub Actions secrets.
The delightful UX is pre-solved by the bundled `template.sh` (progress with time-remaining, confirmation gates, cross-platform URL opening including WSL, hidden secret entry, idempotent `.env` upserts, `gh secret`/`gh variable` writes with graceful degradation, closing skip summary). Everything above the `STAGES` marker is a fixed library that's never hand-edited — the skill's job is only to scope the procedure and author its **stages**.
Engineering rather than Productivity: it reads `.env*`, `docker-compose*`, framework config and every `secrets.*`/`vars.*` reference in `.github/workflows/` to scope itself, writes CI secrets, and verifies its output with `bash -n` and `shellcheck`.
Now wired as a promoted skill — plugin entry, top-level + Engineering READMEs under **User-invoked**, a docs page at `docs/engineering/wizard.md`, and a Standalone route in `ask-matt` for the steps only a human can take.
+5
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@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
---
"mattpocock-skills": patch
---
Pin the question format in **`grilling`**. Every question in a round is now emitted in one fixed shape — `❓ **Q1** - **<title>**`, then the body (prose or multiple choices), then the recommendation on its own `➡️` line. A round reads as a scannable numbered list with each recommendation visually separated from the question, so you can answer by number instead of quoting questions back.
+5
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@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
---
"mattpocock-skills": patch
---
Sync the skills and docs that still described grilling as a **one-question-at-a-time** interview. Since the round-by-round rework, `grill-me`, `grill-with-docs` and `triage` all run the frontier a round at a time — their pages, `triage`'s grill step and `grilling`'s Codex `short_description` now say so. The opt-out for the old rhythm (a line in your global `CLAUDE.md`) is unchanged.
+12
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@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
---
"mattpocock-skills": patch
---
Finish the `to-prd``to-spec` rename: "spec" is now the only term in the shipped text.
- **`to-spec`** no longer opens with "you may know this document as a PRD" — the parenthetical is dropped from the skill and its docs page. The local-markdown tracker template drops the same hedge.
- **`code-review`** talks about the originating issue/spec rather than issue/PRD, in its frontmatter description, its two-axis summary, and the spec-source search order. Both READMEs re-synced.
- **The GitHub and GitLab tracker templates** now say "Issues and specs for this repo live as GitHub/GitLab issues" — they had been left on "PRDs" when the local template was updated, so the stale term propagated into every repo they were written into.
- **`docs/engineering/research.md`** pointed at `https://aihero.dev/skills-to-prd`, a dead slug for the renamed skill; it now links `to-spec` like the other nineteen docs pages do.
The CHANGELOG and existing changesets still name PRDs where they document the rename itself, which is correct.
+1
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@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
"./skills/engineering/codebase-design", "./skills/engineering/codebase-design",
"./skills/engineering/code-review", "./skills/engineering/code-review",
"./skills/engineering/resolving-merge-conflicts", "./skills/engineering/resolving-merge-conflicts",
"./skills/engineering/wizard",
"./skills/productivity/grill-me", "./skills/productivity/grill-me",
"./skills/productivity/grilling", "./skills/productivity/grilling",
"./skills/productivity/handoff", "./skills/productivity/handoff",
+43 -27
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@@ -22,49 +22,64 @@ If you want to keep up with changes to these skills, and any new ones I create,
[Sign Up To The Newsletter](https://www.aihero.dev/s/skills-newsletter) [Sign Up To The Newsletter](https://www.aihero.dev/s/skills-newsletter)
## Quickstart (30-second setup) ## Installation (30-second setup)
1. Run the skills.sh installer: Two ways in, two philosophies. **The [Claude Code plugin](https://code.claude.com/docs/en/plugins)** installs the whole set as a managed, read-only bundle that updates when I ship — you subscribe rather than fork. **[skills.sh](https://skills.sh/mattpocock/skills)** copies editable skill files into your project, so you can hack on them and make them your own. Pick one — installing both leaves you with every skill twice.
### 1. Get the skills
<details>
<summary><strong>Claude Code</strong></summary>
```bash
claude plugins install mattpocock-skills
```
Or, from inside a session:
```
/plugin install mattpocock-skills
```
It's in Claude Code's official marketplace, so there's nothing to add first, and updates arrive automatically.
</details>
<details>
<summary><strong>Codex, and other agents</strong></summary>
```bash ```bash
npx skills@latest add mattpocock/skills npx skills@latest add mattpocock/skills
``` ```
2. Pick the skills you want, and which coding agents you want to install them on. **Make sure you select `/setup-matt-pocock-skills`**. Pick the skills you want, and which coding agents to install them on. **The installer lets you choose which skills to take — make sure `setup-matt-pocock-skills` is one of them.**
3. Run `/setup-matt-pocock-skills` in your agent. It will: A native Codex plugin is on the roadmap — see [`.agents/adr/0002-ship-as-a-claude-code-plugin.md`](./.agents/adr/0002-ship-as-a-claude-code-plugin.md).
- Ask you which issue tracker you want to use (GitHub, Linear, or local files)
- Ask you what labels you apply to tickets when you triage them (`/triage` uses labels)
- Ask you where you want to save any docs we create
4. Bam - you're ready to go. </details>
## Install as a Claude Code plugin <details>
<summary><strong>For tinkerers</strong></summary>
Prefer a plug-and-play install you don't maintain by hand? These skills also ship as a native [Claude Code plugin](https://code.claude.com/docs/en/plugins). Instead of copying editable files into your repo, the plugin installs the whole skill set as a managed bundle that updates when I ship a new version — you subscribe rather than fork. Use the same installer, on any agent — including Claude Code:
Inside Claude Code:
```
/plugin marketplace add mattpocock/skills
/plugin install mattpocock-skills@mattpocock
```
Or from your shell:
```bash ```bash
claude plugin marketplace add mattpocock/skills npx skills@latest add mattpocock/skills
claude plugin install mattpocock-skills@mattpocock
``` ```
Then run `/setup-matt-pocock-skills` once per repo, exactly as in the quickstart above. It writes the skills into your repo as ordinary files you own and can edit. Nothing updates behind your back; pull my latest changes when you want them with `npx skills update`.
Two ways to install, two philosophies: </details>
- **[skills.sh](https://skills.sh/mattpocock/skills)** copies the skills into your project so you can hack on them and make them your own. ### 2. Run `/setup-matt-pocock-skills`
- **The plugin** keeps them as a read-only, always-current bundle you don't edit — best when you just want my set to work and follow along as it evolves.
> Using Codex or another agent? The [skills.sh installer](https://skills.sh/mattpocock/skills) already installs these skills into Codex and other Agent-Skills-standard harnesses today. A native Codex plugin is on the roadmap — see [`.agents/adr/0002-ship-as-a-claude-code-plugin.md`](./.agents/adr/0002-ship-as-a-claude-code-plugin.md). In your agent, run it once per repo. It will:
- Ask you which issue tracker you want to use (GitHub, Linear, or local files)
- Ask you what labels you apply to tickets when you triage them (`/triage` uses labels)
- Ask you where you want to save any docs we create
### 3. Bam - you're ready to go.
## Why These Skills Exist ## Why These Skills Exist
@@ -185,6 +200,7 @@ Skills I use daily for code work.
- **[to-tickets](./skills/engineering/to-tickets/SKILL.md)** — Break any plan, spec, or conversation into a set of tracer-bullet tickets, each declaring its blocking edges — written as text in a local file, or as native blocking links on a real tracker. - **[to-tickets](./skills/engineering/to-tickets/SKILL.md)** — Break any plan, spec, or conversation into a set of tracer-bullet tickets, each declaring its blocking edges — written as text in a local file, or as native blocking links on a real tracker.
- **[implement](./skills/engineering/implement/SKILL.md)** — Build the work described by a spec or set of tickets, driving `/tdd` at pre-agreed seams and closing out with `/code-review` before committing. - **[implement](./skills/engineering/implement/SKILL.md)** — Build the work described by a spec or set of tickets, driving `/tdd` at pre-agreed seams and closing out with `/code-review` before committing.
- **[wayfinder](./skills/engineering/wayfinder/SKILL.md)** — Plan a huge chunk of work, more than one agent session can hold, as a shared map of investigation tickets on the issue tracker — resolve them one at a time until the way to the destination is clear. - **[wayfinder](./skills/engineering/wayfinder/SKILL.md)** — Plan a huge chunk of work, more than one agent session can hold, as a shared map of investigation tickets on the issue tracker — resolve them one at a time until the way to the destination is clear.
- **[wizard](./skills/engineering/wizard/SKILL.md)** — Generate an interactive bash wizard that walks a human through a manual procedure — third-party setup, a one-off migration, an A→B state transition — opening each URL, capturing values, confirming every step, and writing `.env` files and GitHub Actions secrets.
**Model-invoked** **Model-invoked**
@@ -194,7 +210,7 @@ Skills I use daily for code work.
- **[tdd](./skills/engineering/tdd/SKILL.md)** — Test-driven development with a red-green-refactor loop. Builds features or fixes bugs one vertical slice at a time. - **[tdd](./skills/engineering/tdd/SKILL.md)** — Test-driven development with a red-green-refactor loop. Builds features or fixes bugs one vertical slice at a time.
- **[domain-modeling](./skills/engineering/domain-modeling/SKILL.md)** — Actively build and sharpen a project's domain model — challenge terms against the glossary, stress-test with edge-case scenarios, and update `CONTEXT.md` and ADRs inline. - **[domain-modeling](./skills/engineering/domain-modeling/SKILL.md)** — Actively build and sharpen a project's domain model — challenge terms against the glossary, stress-test with edge-case scenarios, and update `CONTEXT.md` and ADRs inline.
- **[codebase-design](./skills/engineering/codebase-design/SKILL.md)** — Shared discipline and vocabulary for designing deep modules: a lot of behaviour behind a small interface, placed at a clean seam, testable through that interface. - **[codebase-design](./skills/engineering/codebase-design/SKILL.md)** — Shared discipline and vocabulary for designing deep modules: a lot of behaviour behind a small interface, placed at a clean seam, testable through that interface.
- **[code-review](./skills/engineering/code-review/SKILL.md)** — Two-axis review of the diff since a fixed point: **Standards** (does it follow the repo's coding standards, plus a Fowler smell baseline?) and **Spec** (does it faithfully implement the originating issue/PRD?), run as parallel sub-agents so neither pollutes the other. - **[code-review](./skills/engineering/code-review/SKILL.md)** — Two-axis review of the diff since a fixed point: **Standards** (does it follow the repo's coding standards, plus a Fowler smell baseline?) and **Spec** (does it faithfully implement the originating issue/spec?), run as parallel sub-agents so neither pollutes the other.
- **[resolving-merge-conflicts](./skills/engineering/resolving-merge-conflicts/SKILL.md)** — Work through an in-progress git merge or rebase conflict hunk by hunk, resolving by intent traced to each side's primary source, then finish the operation — never `--abort`. - **[resolving-merge-conflicts](./skills/engineering/resolving-merge-conflicts/SKILL.md)** — Work through an in-progress git merge or rebase conflict hunk by hunk, resolving by intent traced to each side's primary source, then finish the operation — never `--abort`.
### Productivity ### Productivity
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@@ -26,6 +26,10 @@ Reach for it whenever you're unsure which skill or flow a situation calls for: y
The idea `ask-matt` gives you to think with is the **flow** — a path *through* the skills rather than a single one. Most work runs along one **main flow** (idea → ship: grill → spec → tickets → implement → review), two **on-ramps** merge onto it (a triage lane for incoming bugs and requests; a codebase-health lane that generates ideas), and everything else is a **standalone** you reach for on its own. Ask a question and you get placed on the right flow, at the right step — not just handed a tool. The idea `ask-matt` gives you to think with is the **flow** — a path *through* the skills rather than a single one. Most work runs along one **main flow** (idea → ship: grill → spec → tickets → implement → review), two **on-ramps** merge onto it (a triage lane for incoming bugs and requests; a codebase-health lane that generates ideas), and everything else is a **standalone** you reach for on its own. Ask a question and you get placed on the right flow, at the right step — not just handed a tool.
## Phase boundaries
The other idea it hands you is the **phase boundary**. A **phase** is a chunk of work inside a session — the grilling, the implementation, the QA — and the boundary between two of them is where you decide what to do with the context you've built up. You have five options: **continue**, **`/clear`**, **`/handoff`**, a **subagent**, or **`/compact`**. `ask-matt` carries the decision tree that orders them, and the two corrections most people need: `/handoff` is narrow — it earns its keep only when something has to *travel* (a new harness, a new directory, a colleague, a side task forked mid-phase) — and `/compact` is the tree's default at the bottom, not its first reach. Reach for the tree at a boundary; mid-phase there's nothing to decide.
## Where it fits ## Where it fits
`ask-matt` is the **router** — the standalone map that sits over the whole set. It is the node every other docs page links back to as [ask-matt](https://aihero.dev/skills-ask-matt), so it never sits *in* a chain; it points *into* every chain. From here you'll most often land on [grill-with-docs](https://aihero.dev/skills-grill-with-docs), the head of the main flow, or [triage](https://aihero.dev/skills-triage), the on-ramp for work you didn't create. When even the router's own picture is stale, its [Source](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/engineering/ask-matt) is the map of record. `ask-matt` is the **router** — the standalone map that sits over the whole set. It is the node every other docs page links back to as [ask-matt](https://aihero.dev/skills-ask-matt), so it never sits *in* a chain; it points *into* every chain. From here you'll most often land on [grill-with-docs](https://aihero.dev/skills-grill-with-docs), the head of the main flow, or [triage](https://aihero.dev/skills-triage), the on-ramp for work you didn't create. When even the router's own picture is stale, its [Source](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/engineering/ask-matt) is the map of record.
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@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ npx skills update grill-with-docs
## What it does ## What it does
`grill-with-docs` interviews you relentlessly about a plan or design, one question at a time, until you and the agent reach a shared understanding — and it writes the vocabulary and decisions down as you go. `grill-with-docs` interviews you relentlessly about a plan or design, a round of questions at a time, until you and the agent reach a shared understanding — and it writes the vocabulary and decisions down as you go.
The grilling **leaves a paper trail**. A plain interview sharpens your thinking and then evaporates when the session ends; this one captures each term the moment it's resolved into a `CONTEXT.md` glossary, and records the hard, one-way decisions as ADRs. The alignment survives the conversation instead of living only in your head. The grilling **leaves a paper trail**. A plain interview sharpens your thinking and then evaporates when the session ends; this one captures each term the moment it's resolved into a `CONTEXT.md` glossary, and records the hard, one-way decisions as ADRs. The alignment survives the conversation instead of living only in your head.
@@ -28,13 +28,13 @@ This skill is stateful — it writes into your repo as it grills. Resolved terms
## The grill ## The grill
The engine is a **grill**: a relentless, one-question-at-a-time walk down the decision tree, resolving dependencies between decisions before moving on, with a recommended answer offered for every question. Questions the codebase can answer are answered by reading the codebase, not by asking you. The engine is a **grill**: a relentless, round-by-round walk down the decision tree. Each round asks the whole **frontier** — every decision whose prerequisites are already settled — and waits, so dependencies between decisions are resolved before the questions that hang off them are asked, with a recommended answer offered for every question. Questions the codebase can answer are answered by reading the codebase, not by asking you.
What makes this variant its own skill is where the answers go. As the grill runs, fuzzy language gets sharpened into canonical terms and written to the glossary inline — not batched at the end. The glossary stays a glossary: pure vocabulary, no implementation details, no spec. ADRs are offered sparingly, only when a decision is hard to reverse, surprising without context, and the result of a real trade-off. Most sessions produce a sharper glossary and few or no ADRs, and that's the intended shape. What makes this variant its own skill is where the answers go. As the grill runs, fuzzy language gets sharpened into canonical terms and written to the glossary inline — not batched at the end. The glossary stays a glossary: pure vocabulary, no implementation details, no spec. ADRs are offered sparingly, only when a decision is hard to reverse, surprising without context, and the result of a real trade-off. Most sessions produce a sharper glossary and few or no ADRs, and that's the intended shape.
## It's working if ## It's working if
- It asks one question at a time and waits, rather than dumping a questionnaire. - It asks a round of independent questions and waits, rather than dumping the whole questionnaire at you.
- Terms get written to `CONTEXT.md` the moment they resolve, in your project's own words. - Terms get written to `CONTEXT.md` the moment they resolve, in your project's own words.
- It reaches into the codebase to answer its own questions where it can. - It reaches into the codebase to answer its own questions where it can.
- ADRs stay rare — you're not asked to rubber-stamp reversible choices. - ADRs stay rare — you're not asked to rubber-stamp reversible choices.
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@@ -26,4 +26,4 @@ The defining move is that the reading runs as a **background agent**. You keep w
## Where it fits ## Where it fits
A reach-for-it-anytime standalone that feeds the thinking skills: the file it produces is something to grill, plan, or design against, so it sits upstream of work like [grilling](https://aihero.dev/skills-grilling) and [to-prd](https://aihero.dev/skills-to-prd) rather than in the build chain. For the whole map, see [ask-matt](https://aihero.dev/skills-ask-matt). A reach-for-it-anytime standalone that feeds the thinking skills: the file it produces is something to grill, plan, or design against, so it sits upstream of work like [grilling](https://aihero.dev/skills-grilling) and [to-spec](https://aihero.dev/skills-to-spec) rather than in the build chain. For the whole map, see [ask-matt](https://aihero.dev/skills-ask-matt).
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@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ npx skills update to-spec
## What it does ## What it does
`to-spec` turns the current conversation and your codebase understanding into a spec (you may know this document as a PRD), then publishes it to your issue tracker. `to-spec` turns the current conversation and your codebase understanding into a spec, then publishes it to your issue tracker.
It does **not** interview you again. By the time you reach for it, the alignment work is done — `to-spec` synthesises what is already known rather than asking a fresh round of questions. It does **not** interview you again. By the time you reach for it, the alignment work is done — `to-spec` synthesises what is already known rather than asking a fresh round of questions.
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@@ -43,4 +43,4 @@ The step that separates `triage` from ad-hoc labelling is verification. It repro
## Where it fits ## Where it fits
`triage` is the **periodic maintenance** pass over your issue tracker — run it whenever reports pile up, to keep the queue sorted and the `ready-for-agent` column trustworthy. It sits at the front of the tracker, upstream of the build chain: the briefs it writes are what [tdd](https://aihero.dev/skills-tdd) later picks up to implement. When a request needs sharpening it leans on [grilling](https://aihero.dev/skills-grilling) and [domain-modeling](https://aihero.dev/skills-domain-modeling) to grill it into shape one question at a time. Its close neighbour is [to-spec](https://aihero.dev/skills-to-spec), which populates the tracker from a fresh conversation where `triage` processes what's already there. When you're unsure which skill or flow fits, [ask-matt](https://aihero.dev/skills-ask-matt) routes you. `triage` is the **periodic maintenance** pass over your issue tracker — run it whenever reports pile up, to keep the queue sorted and the `ready-for-agent` column trustworthy. It sits at the front of the tracker, upstream of the build chain: the briefs it writes are what [tdd](https://aihero.dev/skills-tdd) later picks up to implement. When a request needs sharpening it leans on [grilling](https://aihero.dev/skills-grilling) and [domain-modeling](https://aihero.dev/skills-domain-modeling) to grill it into shape a round of questions at a time. Its close neighbour is [to-spec](https://aihero.dev/skills-to-spec), which populates the tracker from a fresh conversation where `triage` processes what's already there. When you're unsure which skill or flow fits, [ask-matt](https://aihero.dev/skills-ask-matt) routes you.
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@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
Quickstart:
```bash
npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill=wizard
```
```bash
npx skills update wizard
```
[Source](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/engineering/wizard)
## What it does
`wizard` generates an interactive bash script that walks a human, step by step, through a manual procedure that's tedious to do by hand and tedious to re-explain to an agent every time — wiring up third-party services, running a one-off migration, moving a project from state A to state B. It opens each URL, says what to click and copy, captures what comes back, and writes it where it belongs.
The UX is not yours to design. A [template](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/blob/main/skills/engineering/wizard/template.sh) already solves it — progress with time-remaining, confirmation gates, cross-platform URL opening (WSL included), hidden entry for secrets, idempotent `.env` upserts, `gh secret` / `gh variable` writes, and a closing summary of anything it had to skip. Everything above the `STAGES` marker is a fixed library that is identical in every wizard and never hand-edited. Your job is only to scope the procedure and author its **stages**.
## When to reach for it
You invoke this by typing `/wizard` — the agent won't reach for it on its own.
Reach for this when the next thing blocking you is a human clicking through a dashboard: a new dev needs six services configured before the app boots, a migration needs someone to flip switches in the right order, or you're about to write those steps into a README that will rot. If the procedure is something the *agent* can just do, it should do it — a wizard is specifically for the steps only a human can take.
## Prerequisites
None to generate one. The wizard it writes runs on bash, and reaches for `gh` when a stage sets a GitHub secret or variable — if `gh` is missing or unauthenticated, that stage degrades to a warning and the closing summary tells the human what to set by hand, rather than failing the run.
## Stages
A **stage** is the unit of authoring and the unit of attention: one focused task, one screen. The script clears between stages, so anything that doesn't fit is anything the human loses. You author them in dependency order and set an honest `TOTAL_STAGES` and `TOTAL_MINUTES`, which is what drives the time-remaining display — the estimate is a promise to the person running it.
Getting there is three steps of scoping before a line is written. The skill reads the repo first rather than asking cold — `.env*`, `docker-compose*`, framework config, and every `secrets.*` / `vars.*` reference in `.github/workflows/`, each of which is a value the wizard must produce — then shows you the ordered stage list to confirm, then maps each stage to the precise path a human follows ("Dashboard → Developers → API keys → Reveal test key → copy"). Where it doesn't know the current UI, it asks or checks the docs; it does not invent clicks that may not exist.
## Ephemeral by default
A wizard is built for one run — saved to a scratch or `scripts/` path, deleted when the job is done. Commit it only when it's a repeatable setup path that should live in the repo, in which case link it from the README so the next person runs the script instead of re-asking an agent.
It's also never run end-to-end by the agent that wrote it: it opens browsers and blocks on human input. Verification is static instead — `bash -n`, `shellcheck` where available, and a trace that every value lands where scoping said it would, with every `set_secret` name matching a real `secrets.*` reference in CI.
## It's working if
- You're shown an ordered list of stages and the values each produces, and asked to confirm, before any script exists.
- The generated file's library section is byte-identical to `template.sh` — only the block below the `STAGES` marker is yours.
- Every URL is opened before the value it produces is asked for, secrets use hidden entry, and irreversible actions sit behind a confirmation.
## Where it fits
`wizard` is a reach-for-it-anytime standalone, sitting where automation stops and a human has to click. Its nearest neighbour is [setup-matt-pocock-skills](https://aihero.dev/skills-setup-matt-pocock-skills), because both are run-once setup — that one configures this skill set for a repo, while `wizard` generates setup paths for everything else. It also pairs with [implement](https://aihero.dev/skills-implement): when a build lands a feature that needs credentials or a manual cutover, a wizard is how the human half gets done. When you're unsure which skill fits the moment, [ask-matt](https://aihero.dev/skills-ask-matt) routes you.
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@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ npx skills update grill-me
`grill-me` runs a relentless interview about a plan or design, walking every branch of the decision tree until you and the agent reach a **shared understanding**. `grill-me` runs a relentless interview about a plan or design, walking every branch of the decision tree until you and the agent reach a **shared understanding**.
It asks **one question at a time** and waits. It never dumps a batch of questions at you — that is bewildering — and where a question can be answered by reading the codebase, it goes and reads rather than asking. Each question comes with the agent's own recommended answer, so you are reacting to a proposal, not staring at a blank prompt. It asks in **rounds** and waits. A round is the whole **frontier**every decision whose prerequisites are already settled — put to you as one numbered list, so you're never asked something that hinges on an answer the agent hasn't heard yet. Where a question can be answered by reading the codebase, it goes and reads rather than asking. Each question comes with the agent's own recommended answer, so you are reacting to a proposal, not staring at a blank prompt.
## When to reach for it ## When to reach for it
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ Reach for it before you build, when a plan feels roughly right but you can sense
## The decision tree ## The decision tree
The session walks the plan as a tree of decisions, resolving dependencies between them one by one — a parent decision settled before the choices that hang off it. The point is not to reach agreement quickly; it is to make every implicit call explicit, so nothing important is left silently assumed. You come out the other side with a plan whose branches have all been visited. The session walks the plan as a tree of decisions, settling a parent decision before the choices that hang off it. Your answers reshape the tree and push the frontier outward, so the next round asks whatever they unblocked. The point is not to reach agreement quickly; it is to make every implicit call explicit, so nothing important is left silently assumed. You come out the other side with a plan whose branches have all been visited.
`grill-me` is **stateless**: it writes nothing and leaves no workspace behind. It runs anywhere, and the only artifact is the sharpened understanding in the conversation itself. That is the deliberate contrast with [grill-with-docs](https://aihero.dev/skills-grill-with-docs), which captures the same interview as durable ADRs and a glossary. `grill-me` is **stateless**: it writes nothing and leaves no workspace behind. It runs anywhere, and the only artifact is the sharpened understanding in the conversation itself. That is the deliberate contrast with [grill-with-docs](https://aihero.dev/skills-grill-with-docs), which captures the same interview as durable ADRs and a glossary.
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`grilling` is the relentless interview that stress-tests a plan or design before you build it. It maps the plan as a **design tree** — every decision branches into the decisions that hang off it — and works that tree in **rounds** until you and the agent share the same understanding. `grilling` is the relentless interview that stress-tests a plan or design before you build it. It maps the plan as a **design tree** — every decision branches into the decisions that hang off it — and works that tree in **rounds** until you and the agent share the same understanding.
Each round asks the whole **frontier**: every decision whose prerequisites are already settled — the questions it can put to you *now* without guessing at answers it hasn't heard yet. Your answers reshape the tree, pushing the frontier outward, and the next round asks whatever that unblocks. Thirteen questions land in a handful of rounds instead of thirteen. Every question comes with the agent's own recommended answer; any *fact* the environment can settle it dispatches to a background sub-agent rather than asking you — and it doesn't block on that research, only the questions downstream of it wait. It won't act on the plan until you confirm the shared understanding has been reached. Each round asks the whole **frontier**: every decision whose prerequisites are already settled — the questions it can put to you *now* without guessing at answers it hasn't heard yet. Your answers reshape the tree, pushing the frontier outward, and the next round asks whatever that unblocks. Thirteen questions land in a handful of rounds instead of thirteen. Every question arrives in a fixed shape — numbered and titled behind a `❓` (`❓ **Q1** - **Storage backend**`), then the body, then the agent's recommendation on its own `➡️` line — so a round reads as a scannable list and you can answer it by number rather than by quoting it back; any *fact* the environment can settle it dispatches to a background sub-agent rather than asking you — and it doesn't block on that research, only the questions downstream of it wait. It won't act on the plan until you confirm the shared understanding has been reached.
### Prefer one question at a time? ### Prefer one question at a time?
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@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ Reachable only when you type them (Claude Code: `disable-model-invocation: true`
- **[to-tickets](./to-tickets/SKILL.md)** — Break any plan, spec, or conversation into a set of tracer-bullet tickets, each declaring its blocking edges — text in a local file, or native blocking links on a real tracker. - **[to-tickets](./to-tickets/SKILL.md)** — Break any plan, spec, or conversation into a set of tracer-bullet tickets, each declaring its blocking edges — text in a local file, or native blocking links on a real tracker.
- **[implement](./implement/SKILL.md)** — Build the work described by a spec or set of tickets, driving `/tdd` at pre-agreed seams and closing out with `/code-review` before committing. - **[implement](./implement/SKILL.md)** — Build the work described by a spec or set of tickets, driving `/tdd` at pre-agreed seams and closing out with `/code-review` before committing.
- **[wayfinder](./wayfinder/SKILL.md)** — Plan a huge chunk of work — more than one agent session can hold — as a shared map of decision tickets on the issue tracker, resolved one at a time until the way to the destination is clear. - **[wayfinder](./wayfinder/SKILL.md)** — Plan a huge chunk of work — more than one agent session can hold — as a shared map of decision tickets on the issue tracker, resolved one at a time until the way to the destination is clear.
- **[wizard](./wizard/SKILL.md)** — Generate an interactive bash wizard that walks a human through a manual procedure — third-party setup, a one-off migration, an A→B state transition — opening URLs, capturing values, and writing `.env` files and GitHub Actions secrets.
## Model-invoked ## Model-invoked
@@ -27,5 +28,5 @@ Model- or user-reachable (rich trigger phrasing so the model can reach for them)
- **[tdd](./tdd/SKILL.md)** — Test-driven development with a red-green-refactor loop. Builds features or fixes bugs one vertical slice at a time. - **[tdd](./tdd/SKILL.md)** — Test-driven development with a red-green-refactor loop. Builds features or fixes bugs one vertical slice at a time.
- **[domain-modeling](./domain-modeling/SKILL.md)** — Actively build and sharpen a project's domain model — challenge terms, stress-test with scenarios, update `CONTEXT.md` and ADRs inline. - **[domain-modeling](./domain-modeling/SKILL.md)** — Actively build and sharpen a project's domain model — challenge terms, stress-test with scenarios, update `CONTEXT.md` and ADRs inline.
- **[codebase-design](./codebase-design/SKILL.md)** — Shared discipline and vocabulary for designing deep modules: small interfaces, clean seams, testable through the interface. - **[codebase-design](./codebase-design/SKILL.md)** — Shared discipline and vocabulary for designing deep modules: small interfaces, clean seams, testable through the interface.
- **[code-review](./code-review/SKILL.md)** — Two-axis review of the diff since a fixed point: **Standards** (does it follow the repo's coding standards, plus a Fowler smell baseline?) and **Spec** (does it faithfully implement the originating issue/PRD?), run as parallel sub-agents. - **[code-review](./code-review/SKILL.md)** — Two-axis review of the diff since a fixed point: **Standards** (does it follow the repo's coding standards, plus a Fowler smell baseline?) and **Spec** (does it faithfully implement the originating issue/spec?), run as parallel sub-agents.
- **[resolving-merge-conflicts](./resolving-merge-conflicts/SKILL.md)** — Work through an in-progress git merge or rebase conflict hunk by hunk, resolving by intent traced to each side's primary source, then finish the operation — never `--abort`. - **[resolving-merge-conflicts](./resolving-merge-conflicts/SKILL.md)** — Work through an in-progress git merge or rebase conflict hunk by hunk, resolving by intent traced to each side's primary source, then finish the operation — never `--abort`.
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
# Phase boundaries
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"*.
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.
## The five options
| Option | What it does |
| ------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Continue** | Stay in the session. No context switch at all. |
| **`/clear`** | Empty the context window and start from nothing. |
| **`/handoff`** | Write a portable markdown file and seed a session anywhere with it. |
| **Subagent** | Send the task to its own context window and get a report back. |
| **`/compact`** | Compress this context and seed a fresh session with the summary. |
## The tree
Work top to bottom at the boundary. The first **yes** wins.
**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.
**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.
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.
**3. Do you need to hand off?** `/handoff` is narrow. You need it only when you are:
- swapping to a **new harness** (Claude → Codex),
- moving to a **new directory** or repo,
- sending the work to a **colleague**,
- or forking a side task you found **mid-phase** without derailing what you're doing.
That list is the whole clause. What `/handoff` buys is **portability** — a file that travels. If nothing is travelling, you don't need it.
**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.
**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.
`/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.
## Primary and secondary sources
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:
| Source | Information | Noise | Room to move |
| --------------------------------- | ----------- | ----- | ------------ |
| Primary (Continue) | Full | Lots | Little |
| Secondary (`/compact`, `/handoff`) | Lossy | Less | Lots |
This is why question 1 comes first. You only pay the lossiness when staying costs more than it saves.
## These are judgement calls
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.
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@@ -15,12 +15,12 @@ A **flow** is a path through the skills. Most paths run along one **main flow**,
The route most work travels. You have an idea and want it built. The route most work travels. You have an idea and want it built.
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.) 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.)
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): 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):
- **`/handoff`** out, then open a fresh session against that file, - **`/handoff`** out, then open a fresh session against that file,
- **`/prototype`** to answer the question with throwaway code, - **`/prototype`** to answer the question with throwaway code,
- **`/handoff`** back what you learned, and reference it from the original idea thread. - **`/handoff`** back what you learned, and reference it from the original idea thread.
3. **Branch — is this a multi-session build?** 3. **Branch — is this a multi-session build?**
- **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**. - **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.
- **No** → **`/implement`** right here, in the same context window. - **No** → **`/implement`** right here, in the same context window.
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. 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.
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ The route most work travels. You have an idea and want it built.
Keep steps 13 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. Keep steps 13 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.
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. 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).
## On-ramps ## On-ramps
@@ -58,10 +58,17 @@ Two model-invoked references that run *beneath* the other skills — each the si
- **`/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. - **`/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.
- **`/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. - **`/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.
## Crossing sessions ## Phase boundaries
- **`/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**. 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:
- **`/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.
- **Continue** — stay put. Costs nothing, loses nothing.
- **`/clear`** — empty the window, when nothing here matters to what's next.
- **`/handoff`** — write 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.
- **Subagent** — send a tightly-scoped task to its own window and get a report back.
- **`/compact`** — compress this context and seed a fresh session with it. The **default**, at the bottom of the tree rather than the first reach.
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.
## Standalone ## Standalone
@@ -71,6 +78,7 @@ Off the main flow entirely.
- **`/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. - **`/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.
- **`/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. - **`/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.
- **`/to-questionnaire`** — when the thing blocking you isn't in your head or the codebase but in **someone else's**, this 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`. - **`/to-questionnaire`** — when the thing blocking you isn't in your head or the codebase but in **someone else's**, this 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`.
- **`/wizard`** — for the steps only a **human** can take: clicking through a third-party dashboard, running a one-off migration, moving the project from state A to state B. 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. If the agent could just do it itself, it should; reach for this only where a human is genuinely in the loop.
- **`/teach`** — learn a concept over multiple sessions, using the current directory as a stateful workspace. - **`/teach`** — learn a concept over multiple sessions, using the current directory as a stateful workspace.
- **`/writing-for-agents`** — reference for writing documents agents consume: skills, AGENTS.md, pointed-at docs. - **`/writing-for-agents`** — reference for writing documents agents consume: skills, AGENTS.md, pointed-at docs.
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--- ---
name: code-review name: code-review
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". 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".
--- ---
Two-axis review of the diff between `HEAD` and a fixed point the user supplies: Two-axis review of the diff between `HEAD` and a fixed point the user supplies:
- **Standards** — does the code conform to this repo's documented coding standards? - **Standards** — does the code conform to this repo's documented coding standards?
- **Spec** — does the code faithfully implement the originating issue / PRD / spec? - **Spec** — does the code faithfully implement the originating issue / spec?
Both axes run as **parallel sub-agents** so they don't pollute each other's context, then this skill aggregates their findings. Both axes run as **parallel sub-agents** so they don't pollute each other's context, then this skill aggregates their findings.
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ Look for the originating spec, in this order:
1. Issue references in the commit messages (`#123`, `Closes #45`, GitLab `!67`, etc.) — fetch via the workflow in `docs/agents/issue-tracker.md`. 1. Issue references in the commit messages (`#123`, `Closes #45`, GitLab `!67`, etc.) — fetch via the workflow in `docs/agents/issue-tracker.md`.
2. A path the user passed as an argument. 2. A path the user passed as an argument.
3. A PRD/spec file under `docs/`, `specs/`, or `.scratch/` matching the branch name or feature. 3. A spec file under `docs/`, `specs/`, or `.scratch/` matching the branch name or feature.
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". 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".
### 3. Identify the standards sources ### 3. Identify the standards sources
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
# Issue tracker: GitHub # Issue tracker: GitHub
Issues and PRDs for this repo live as GitHub issues. Use the `gh` CLI for all operations. Issues and specs for this repo live as GitHub issues. Use the `gh` CLI for all operations.
## Conventions ## Conventions
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
# Issue tracker: GitLab # Issue tracker: GitLab
Issues and PRDs for this repo live as GitLab issues. Use the [`glab`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cli) CLI for all operations. Issues and specs for this repo live as GitLab issues. Use the [`glab`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cli) CLI for all operations.
## Conventions ## Conventions
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
# Issue tracker: Local Markdown # Issue tracker: Local Markdown
Issues and specs (you may know a spec as a PRD) for this repo live as markdown files in `.scratch/`. Issues and specs for this repo live as markdown files in `.scratch/`.
## Conventions ## Conventions
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disable-model-invocation: true disable-model-invocation: true
--- ---
This skill takes the current conversation context and codebase understanding and produces a spec (you may know this document as a PRD). Do NOT interview the user — just synthesize what you already know. This skill takes the current conversation context and codebase understanding and produces a spec. Do NOT interview the user — just synthesize what you already know.
The issue tracker and triage label vocabulary should have been provided to you — run `/setup-matt-pocock-skills` if not. The issue tracker and triage label vocabulary should have been provided to you — run `/setup-matt-pocock-skills` if not.
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@@ -103,5 +103,3 @@ The end-to-end behaviour this ticket makes work, from the user's perspective —
</issue-template> </issue-template>
In either form, avoid specific file paths or code snippets — they go stale fast. Exception: if a prototype produced a snippet that encodes a decision more precisely than prose can (state machine, reducer, schema, type shape), inline it and note briefly that it came from a prototype. Trim to the decision-rich parts — not a working demo, just the important bits. In either form, avoid specific file paths or code snippets — they go stale fast. Exception: if a prototype produced a snippet that encodes a decision more precisely than prose can (state machine, reducer, schema, type shape), inline it and note briefly that it came from a prototype. Trim to the decision-rich parts — not a working demo, just the important bits.
Work the frontier one ticket at a time with `/implement`, clearing context between tickets.
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@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ Show counts and a one-line summary per item. Let the maintainer pick.
3. **Verify the claim.** Before any grilling, check that the claim holds up. For a bug, reproduce it from the reporter's steps. For a PR, confirm the diff does what it claims — check it out, run the relevant tests or commands. Report what happened: confirmed (with code path), failed, or insufficient detail (a strong `needs-info` signal). A confirmed verification makes a much stronger agent brief. 3. **Verify the claim.** Before any grilling, check that the claim holds up. For a bug, reproduce it from the reporter's steps. For a PR, confirm the diff does what it claims — check it out, run the relevant tests or commands. Report what happened: confirmed (with code path), failed, or insufficient detail (a strong `needs-info` signal). A confirmed verification makes a much stronger agent brief.
4. **Grill (if needed).** If the request needs fleshing out, run the `/grilling` and `/domain-modeling` skills together — grill it into shape one question at a time, sharpening domain terms and updating `CONTEXT.md`/ADRs inline as decisions land. 4. **Grill (if needed).** If the request needs fleshing out, run the `/grilling` and `/domain-modeling` skills together — grill it into shape a round of questions at a time, sharpening domain terms and updating `CONTEXT.md`/ADRs inline as decisions land.
5. **Apply the outcome:** 5. **Apply the outcome:**
- `ready-for-agent` — post an agent brief comment ([AGENT-BRIEF.md](AGENT-BRIEF.md)). - `ready-for-agent` — post an agent brief comment ([AGENT-BRIEF.md](AGENT-BRIEF.md)).
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@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ Wayfinder is **planning** by default: each ticket resolves a decision, and the m
## Refer by name ## 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 — 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 — but they ride *inside* the name, never stand in for it. 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 — 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 — but they ride _inside_ the name, never stand in for it.
## The Map ## The Map
@@ -72,12 +72,12 @@ The answer isn't part of the body — it's recorded on resolution (see [Work thr
## Ticket Types ## Ticket Types
Every ticket is either **HITL** — human in the loop, worked *with* a human who speaks for themselves — or **AFK**, driven by the agent alone. A HITL ticket only resolves through that live exchange; the agent never stands in for the human's side of it (a grilling agent that answers its own questions has broken this). Every ticket is either **HITL** — human in the loop, worked _with_ a human who speaks for themselves — or **AFK**, driven by the agent alone. A HITL ticket only resolves through that live exchange; the agent never stands in for the human's side of it (a grilling agent that answers its own questions has broken this).
- **Research** (AFK): Reading documentation, third-party APIs, or local resources like knowledge bases to surface a fact a decision waits on. Resolved by a `/research` **subagent**. Use when knowledge outside the current working directory is required. - **Research** (AFK): Reading documentation, third-party APIs, or local resources like knowledge bases to surface a fact a decision waits on. Resolved by a `/research` **subagent**. Use when knowledge outside the current working directory is required.
- **Prototype** (HITL): Raise the fidelity of the discussion by making a cheap, rough, concrete artifact to react to — an outline, a rough take, a stub, or UI/logic code via the /prototype skill. Links the prototype as an asset. Use when "how should it look" or "how should it behave" is the key question. - **Prototype** (HITL): Raise the fidelity of the discussion by making a cheap, rough, concrete artifact to react to — an outline, a rough take, a stub, or UI/logic code via the /prototype skill. Links the prototype as an asset. Use when "how should it look" or "how should it behave" is the key question.
- **Grilling** (HITL): Conversation via the /grilling and /domain-modeling skills, one question at a time. The default case. - **Grilling** (HITL): Conversation. The default case. Always invoke the /grilling and /domain-modeling skills.
- **Task** (HITL or AFK): Manual work that must happen before a *decision* can be made — nothing to decide, prototype, or research, but the discussion is blocked until it's done. Signing up for a service so its API can be judged, provisioning access, moving data so its shape can be seen. This is the one type that *does* rather than decides — and it earns its place by unblocking a decision, not by delivering the destination. The agent drives it alone where it can (AFK); otherwise it hands the human a precise checklist (HITL). Resolved when the work is done; the answer records what was done and any resulting facts (credentials location, new URLs, row counts) later tickets depend on. - **Task** (HITL or AFK): Manual work that must happen before a _decision_ can be made — nothing to decide, prototype, or research, but the discussion is blocked until it's done. Signing up for a service so its API can be judged, provisioning access, moving data so its shape can be seen. This is the one type that _does_ rather than decides — and it earns its place by unblocking a decision, not by delivering the destination. The agent drives it alone where it can (AFK); otherwise it hands the human a precise checklist (HITL). Resolved when the work is done; the answer records what was done and any resulting facts (credentials location, new URLs, row counts) later tickets depend on.
## Fog of war ## Fog of war
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Skills that are still being developed. They're not ready to ship — expect rough edges, breaking changes, and abandoned experiments. They're excluded from the plugin and the top-level README until they graduate to a stable bucket. Skills that are still being developed. They're not ready to ship — expect rough edges, breaking changes, and abandoned experiments. They're excluded from the plugin and the top-level README until they graduate to a stable bucket.
- **[loop-me](./loop-me/SKILL.md)** — Grill yourself into implementable workflow specs over multiple sessions, using the current directory as a stateful workspace. User-invoked. - **[loop-me](./loop-me/SKILL.md)** — Grill yourself into implementable workflow specs over multiple sessions, using the current directory as a stateful workspace. User-invoked.
- **[wizard](./wizard/SKILL.md)** — Generate an interactive bash wizard that walks a human through a manual procedure (setup, a one-off migration, a state transition) — opening URLs, capturing values, writing `.env` and GitHub Actions secrets. User-invoked.
- **[writing-beats](./writing-beats/SKILL.md)** — Shape an article as a journey of beats, choose-your-own-adventure style. Pick a starting beat, write only that beat, then pivot to the next, until the article reaches a natural end. - **[writing-beats](./writing-beats/SKILL.md)** — Shape an article as a journey of beats, choose-your-own-adventure style. Pick a starting beat, write only that beat, then pivot to the next, until the article reaches a natural end.
- **[writing-fragments](./writing-fragments/SKILL.md)** — Grilling session that mines you for fragments — heterogeneous nuggets of writing — and appends them to a single document as raw material for a future article. - **[writing-fragments](./writing-fragments/SKILL.md)** — Grilling session that mines you for fragments — heterogeneous nuggets of writing — and appends them to a single document as raw material for a future article.
- **[writing-shape](./writing-shape/SKILL.md)** — Take a markdown file of raw material and shape it into an article paragraph by paragraph, arguing format choices at each step. - **[writing-shape](./writing-shape/SKILL.md)** — Take a markdown file of raw material and shape it into an article paragraph by paragraph, arguing format choices at each step.
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@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ Always pass `-n`/`--name` with a descriptive name (e.g. `--name "Fix login bug"`
Include a "suggested skills" section in the summary, which suggests skills that the agent should invoke. Include a "suggested skills" section in the summary, which suggests skills that the agent should invoke.
Do not duplicate content already captured in other artifacts (PRDs, plans, ADRs, issues, commits, diffs). Reference them by path or URL instead. Do not duplicate content already captured in other artifacts (specs, plans, ADRs, issues, commits, diffs). Reference them by path or URL instead.
Redact any sensitive information, such as API keys, passwords, or personally identifiable information — the summary becomes the agent's prompt. Redact any sensitive information, such as API keys, passwords, or personally identifiable information — the summary becomes the agent's prompt.
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argument-hint: "A workflow to design, or nothing to go find one" argument-hint: "A workflow to design, or nothing to go find one"
--- ---
Run a stateful `/grilling` session whose only output is **workflow** specs. Use the grilling discipline — relentless, one question at a time, a recommended answer attached to each — aimed at the vocabulary and goal below. Create, edit, and delete specs as the grilling resolves things. Run a stateful `/grilling` session whose only output is **workflow** specs. Use the grilling discipline — relentless, a round of questions at a time, a recommended answer attached to each — aimed at the vocabulary and goal below. Create, edit, and delete specs as the grilling resolves things.
## The loop lens ## The loop lens
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@@ -7,6 +7,14 @@ Interview the user relentlessly until you reach a shared understanding. Map this
Work the tree in **rounds**. The **frontier** is every decision whose prerequisites are already settled — the questions you can ask _now_ without guessing at answers you haven't heard yet. Ask the whole frontier in one round: number each question and give your recommended answer. Then wait for the user's answers before the next round. Work the tree in **rounds**. The **frontier** is every decision whose prerequisites are already settled — the questions you can ask _now_ without guessing at answers you haven't heard yet. Ask the whole frontier in one round: number each question and give your recommended answer. Then wait for the user's answers before the next round.
Each question should be formatted like so:
```
❓ **Q1** - **<question title>**: <question body, might be multiple paragraphs, including multiple choices>
➡️ <your recommended answer>
```
Each round the user answers reshapes the tree — settled decisions push the frontier outward and unblock questions that depended on them. Recompute the frontier and ask the next round. A question whose answer depends on another question still open in this round belongs to a _later_ round, not this one. Each round the user answers reshapes the tree — settled decisions push the frontier outward and unblock questions that depended on them. Recompute the frontier and ask the next round. A question whose answer depends on another question still open in this round belongs to a _later_ round, not this one.
Finding _facts_ is your job, never the user's. When a frontier question needs a fact from the environment (filesystem, tools, etc.), dispatch a sub-agent to find it — don't ask the user for anything you could look up yourself. Don't block on it: a running exploration is an unsettled prerequisite, so only the questions downstream of it wait for the sub-agent to report — ask the rest of the frontier now. The _decisions_ are the user's — put each to them and wait. Finding _facts_ is your job, never the user's. When a frontier question needs a fact from the environment (filesystem, tools, etc.), dispatch a sub-agent to find it — don't ask the user for anything you could look up yourself. Don't block on it: a running exploration is an unsettled prerequisite, so only the questions downstream of it wait for the sub-agent to report — ask the rest of the frontier now. The _decisions_ are the user's — put each to them and wait.
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
interface: interface:
display_name: "Grilling" display_name: "Grilling"
short_description: "Stress-test thinking one question at a time" short_description: "Stress-test thinking a round of questions at a time"