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Use when facing a new problem to classify its domain (Clear, Complicated, Complex, Chaotic, Confused) and select appropriate methods.
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Based on SOC occupation classification
Use to evaluate the current state of a diamond. Checks theory gates, confidence levels, and recommends next action.
Use when building anything USER-FACING (or with persuasion/retention/cancellation/consent/pricing flows, or that touches vulnerable people) to surface design-level harm the security/privacy/compliance gates miss: dark/deceptive patterns and foreseeable misuse. Assumes the product works as designed and asks who it could harm and whether it is Happier-negative. NUDGE, not a block.
Lint canvas files for staleness, missing fields, inconsistent evidence types, and orphaned references. Run periodically or before major transitions.
Accessibility audit against WCAG 2.1 AA. Checks semantic HTML, ARIA, keyboard navigation, color contrast, screen reader compatibility.
Design the smallest viable test to validate or invalidate a critical assumption. Based on Torres's assumption testing framework, organized by Gilad's AFTER model (Assessment → Fact-Finding → Tests → Experiments → Release Results).
Use before any research activity or significant decision. Reviews cognitive biases relevant to the current stage.
| name | cynefin-classify |
| description | Use when facing a new problem to classify its domain (Clear, Complicated, Complex, Chaotic, Confused) and select appropriate methods. |
| metadata | {"instruction_budget":"20","framework_dependency":"mycelium","framework_dependency_note":"This skill is designed to run within the Mycelium framework (https://github.com/haabe/mycelium). Standalone use will skip the canvas state, theory gates, and harness behavior the skill assumes. Install: /plugin install mycelium@haabe-mycelium."} |
Classify problem domain and route to appropriate methods.
Hard rule. Before issuing Write or Edit against any .claude/canvas/*.yml, use the Read tool on that file in this session. Claude Code's Read-before-Write check requires the Read tool specifically — cat/head/grep via Bash do NOT satisfy it.
Edit vs Write — different cost profiles (verified 2026-05-14):
Edit (exact-string replacement): Read with limit: 1 satisfies the check at ~50 tokens. State-tracking is per-file, not per-byte — subsequent Edit calls work anywhere in the file. Use this for partial updates against large canvas files (e.g., purpose.yml at 800+ lines).Write (full replacement): do a full Read first. Write obliterates the file; you should see what you're about to replace. The limit:1 shortcut is not appropriate here.ID-bearing entries — scan the ID space before assigning (added 2026-05-15, v0.23.19): When adding a new component, opportunity, solution, or any other ID-bearing entry to a canvas file, run a Bash grep first to confirm the next ID in your prefix sequence is actually free:
grep "^ - id: <prefix>-" .claude/canvas/<file>.yml | sort -u
Replace <prefix> with the canvas's ID prefix (comp for landscape, opp for opportunities, sol for solutions, ht for human-tasks, etc.). Then pick the next free integer. validate_canvas.py has a duplicate-ID check (lines 230-239) that catches the failure on CI, but a duplicate can persist in the working tree for days if CI isn't run between edit and discovery — see roadmap-repo corrections.md 2026-05-15 "Duplicate canvas ID created in landscape.yml" for the worked example.
Original failure mode: anti-pattern #7 instance #5, 2026-05-09 — agent conflated Bash head with the Read tool, lost ~14k tokens to a Write-fail → remedial-full-Read → re-Write loop. The limit:1 discipline (graduated 2026-05-14, v0.23.18) prevents the second-order cost where the agent correctly follows the rule but full-Reads every time. The ID-scan discipline (graduated 2026-05-15, v0.23.19) prevents the related class where the agent reads enough of the file to satisfy the Edit check but not enough to see existing ID assignments — kin to anti-pattern #8 (Stale State Read).
If this skill writes to multiple canvas files, register each one first (limit:1 for Edit-only paths; full Read for Write paths) AND ID-scan any prefix you intend to assign.
See CLAUDE.md Canvas writes — Read before Write for the canonical rule.
Describe the problem in neutral terms.
Ask diagnostic questions:
Classify into one of five domains using cynefin-routing.md.
Select methods appropriate to the domain:
Cross-reference with Wardley evolution if strategic context is available.
Output:
## Cynefin Classification
Problem: [description]
Domain: [Clear/Complicated/Complex/Chaotic/Confused]
Confidence: [High/Medium/Low]
Liminal: [Yes/No — is this between domains?]
Rationale: [why this classification]
Recommended methods:
- [method 1]
- [method 2]
Warning signs of misclassification:
- [what would indicate we got it wrong]
Update .claude/diamonds/active.yml with the cynefin_domain field for the relevant diamond.
If Wardley mapping was referenced, update .claude/canvas/landscape.yml component evolution stages.
Most real decisions happen in liminal zones — transitional states between domains where characteristics of two adjacent domains blend. If the classification feels uncertain, you may be in a liminal zone rather than a pure domain.
| Transition | What it feels like | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Clear → Complicated | "We have a process but it's not covering edge cases" | Add expert analysis to the existing practice |
| Complicated → Complex | "Experts disagree and new factors keep emerging" | Shift from analysis to experimentation |
| Complex → Chaotic | "Our experiments aren't converging, things are getting worse" | Stabilize first, experiment later |
| Chaotic → Complex | "We've stopped the bleeding, now what?" | Design safe-to-fail probes |
| Clear → Chaotic (catastrophic fold) | "Everything was fine and then it all collapsed" | See warning below |
The most important Cynefin warning: when a system in Clear becomes complacent — rigid rules, no sensing, "we've always done it this way" — it can catastrophically collapse into Chaotic with no warning. The transition is NOT gradual. There is no intermediate Complicated or Complex stage.
Detection signs: Over-reliance on best practices without questioning them. No feedback loops. "We don't need to monitor that." Dismissing edge cases as irrelevant.
Mycelium connection: Theory gates and /mycelium:feedback-review prevent complacent drift by requiring evidence refresh and active sensing at every transition.
Source: Snowden (Cynefin evolution, cynefin.io, 2022+)
APPEND a ### Cynefin Classification entry to .claude/harness/decision-log.md with: domain classified, key indicators, method routed to, confidence in classification.
Hard rule (per CLAUDE.md Communication Rules, anti-pattern #7 write-narration-verification — mechanism Check 42, graduated v0.39.18; enforced surface expanded to this skill v0.44.0). This skill mandates multi-field canvas updates. Before narrating "updated / wrote / refreshed [canvas]" in any user-facing summary, RE-READ the value fields this skill's MANDATORY says to update and confirm they actually changed — not just _meta.last_validated or a freshness stamp. Each field you claim to have updated must reflect its new value. The symmetric half of the Read-before-Write Preflight: that one protects what gets read before a write; this one protects that the write matches the claim. Worked failures: 2026-06-05 #18 (/dora-check narrated "updated" with value fields unchanged) + #19 (/retrospective left a cycle-history aggregate un-propagated).