| name | implementation |
| description | The user's end-to-end implementation workflow — clarify, grill, locate, build, self-check, verify, self-review, ship. An ordered block list composing the skills they actually reach for (debate, grilling, impeccable, simplify, zero-tech-debt, github-review-twin, code-review, security-review, handoff). Use when the user asks to implement a feature, fix a bug, pick up a ticket, "build this", or asks how to run their implementation workflow. |
Implementation workflow
Ordered blocks. Run in order, skip by condition, report every skip.
Blocks come from measured usage across 3374 prompts. † marks a corrective — a block with no usage history, kept because its absence is the gap, not a preference. Correctives do not get skipped for being unfamiliar.
| # | Block | Skill | When | Output |
|---|
| 1 | clarify | debate | ask is ambiguous, or scope reads two ways | agreed scope, explicit exclusions |
| 2 | grill | grilling / grill-me | an approach fork exists, or the plan is worth breaking before code is | the surviving plan, with its weak point named |
| 3 | locate | how, or the Explore agent | more than a couple of files, or unfamiliar territory | files touched, real flow traced end to end |
| 4 | build | impeccable (frontend) | always | working change |
| 5 | self-check | simplify, zero-tech-debt | always / diff added a fallback, shim, or flag | smaller diff |
| 6 | verify † | — | always | typecheck + lint + test table |
| 7 | self-review | github-review-twin (own-pr mode) | always | staged fixes, 2–3 self-review notes |
| 8 | deep review | code-review, security-review | auth, money, external input, or a migration | second-axis findings |
| 9 | ship † | create-draft-pr | user asks to ship | draft PR |
| 10 | handoff | handoff | context is running out, or another agent takes over | handoff doc |
Add a block: append a row. Position = run order. Delete a row to drop it.
Block notes
1 clarify. Your most-used skill by a wide margin — treat it as the default front door, not an exception. Skip only on mechanical instructions ("rename X to Y"), resumed work, or "just do it". Max 3 rounds, then state the assumption and proceed. Do not implement during this block.
2 grill. Different job from clarify: debate settles what, grilling attacks how. Run it when the approach could be wrong, not when the task is obvious. For a whole-codebase question, improve-codebase-architecture instead.
3 locate. how when the answer is "I do not understand this subsystem yet" — it explores in parallel and returns a mental model, not a file list. Plain Explore when you already know the shape and just need the call sites.
Read before writing. Grep every caller of the function about to change — the lazy fix is the root-cause fix: one guard in the shared function beats a guard in every caller, and patching only the path the ticket names leaves the siblings broken.
4 build. Frontend work goes through impeccable, and a UI surface carrying data or an argument also gets design/references/interface-craft.md. Anything else: climb the ladder first — does this need to exist → already in this codebase → stdlib → native platform feature → installed dependency → one line → minimum code that works. Stop at the first rung that holds.
Non-trivial logic (a branch, a loop, a parser, a money or auth path) leaves one runnable check behind — the smallest thing that fails if the logic breaks. No new framework, no fixtures unless asked.
5 self-check. simplify on the finished diff and on any comment written. zero-tech-debt when the change added a fallback, a shim, or a flag keeping an old path alive — rework it as if the intended architecture existed from day one.
6 verify †. No usage history: you review hard and verify never. That is the hole this block exists to close. Run the repo's own commands in parallel, report a table. Never claim done on an unrun check. Tests fail → say so with the failing line, do not narrate around it.
7 self-review. github-review-twin detects own-pr mode and fixes rather than comments. It stages; it never commits.
8 deep review. github-review-twin is voice + your gates. code-review adds the standards axis; security-review for trust boundaries. Not every PR — the trigger is the risk class, not the size.
9 ship †. Also no history. Only on request. Branch first if on the default branch.
10 handoff. Compact to a document rather than letting a long session degrade.