harden-task-file

name	harden-task-file
description	Harden a manifest-dev task guidance file for one-shot quality — either /define's quality-gate/Default set or figure-out's probe set. Iterates: orthogonality gap analysis, user-approved additions, prompt review, fix, converge. Use when a task file needs comprehensive coverage or "harden task file".
user-invocable	true
metadata	{"internal":true}

User request: $ARGUMENTS

Systematically harden a /define task guidance file until manifests built from it produce deliverables that don't need iteration.

If no arguments, ask which task file to harden.

Context

Task files come in two parallel, decoupled sets, each keyed by task type and hardened for one-shot quality. Harden whichever set the target file belongs to:

• /define's task files (claude-plugins/manifest-dev/skills/define/tasks/) carry encoder data:
  • Quality Gates — Verifiable output properties. Can split into baselines (always enforced) and selectable (meaningful rigor choices)
  • Defaults — process practices always worth doing, carried into the manifest without probing; /define decides the encoding, and routes one whose violation would be unsafe or irreversible to a binding invariant rather than advice
• figure-out's task files (claude-plugins/manifest-dev/skills/figure-out/tasks/) carry probing fuel:
  • Blind-spot probes — Non-natural angles the model skips by default (failure modes, pre-mortem fuel), phrased as the question that opens a branch
  • Forced trade-offs — Competing tensions the model must drive to a decision

New items must match the depth and structural conventions of the owning skill (define/SKILL.md or figure-out/SKILL.md) and its existing sibling task files.

Goal

The task file should be comprehensive enough that a manifest built with it surfaces all criteria needed for one-shot quality — figure-out's probes surface the non-natural angles during understanding; /define's gates and Defaults encode the verifiable bar. "One-shot" = the deliverable passes review without iteration.

Log

Write findings to /tmp/harden-{timestamp}.md after each round. Read full log before each new round — prevents re-proposing rejected items and losing dimension context.

Per-round log structure:

## Round N
### Dimension Map
[dimension → items mapping]
### Gaps Found
[uncovered dimensions]
### Proposals
[item: accepted/rejected by user]
### Reviewer Findings
[finding: agree/disagree, applied/skipped]

Orthogonality Analysis

The core discipline. Map every item in the file to a dimension — an independent axis of concern. A dimension is a top-level concern like "evidence quality" or "audience fit"; items are specific checks within a dimension like "source credibility" or "cross-referencing". Two items share a dimension if improving one naturally helps the other.

User validates the dimension map before gap-filling begins. Gaps = dimensions with no coverage.

Examples of dimension sources: deliverable lifecycle (creation → review → use → maintenance), rejection triggers, wrongness vs incompleteness, base-rate failures for this task class, user interaction points.

If the first analysis finds no gaps, invoke the reviewer once and exit if clean — not every task file needs hardening.

Iteration Loop

Each iteration achieves:

• Gaps identified via orthogonality analysis
• Additions designed — invoke the prompt-engineering skill before proposing changes
• User-approved additions applied (all additions via AskUserQuestion)
• Quality validated — invoke the review-prompt skill on the task file after applying changes
• Reviewer findings evaluated critically — not all are valid. Present assessment with rationale; user decides
• Log updated after each round

Converged when criteria in Convergence section met.

Section Placement

Each item belongs in exactly one section, and a safety rule whose violation would be unsafe or irreversible is a Default even when verifiable — that clause wins over the Quality Gate (baseline) row below, which every safety rule also matches. A file holds only its own set's sections — a /define file never carries probes/trade-offs, a figure-out file never carries gates/Defaults:

Section	Set	What it checks	Test
Quality Gate (baseline)	/define	Output property that should always be true	Would omitting this ever be acceptable? No → baseline, unless violating it would be unsafe or irreversible → Default
Quality Gate (selectable)	/define	Output property representing a meaningful rigor choice	Reasonable to skip for some tasks? Yes → selectable
Default	/define	Process practice always worth doing	Can't verify from output, or a safety rule whose violation would be unsafe or irreversible? → Default
Blind-spot probe	figure-out	A non-natural failure mode / pre-mortem angle the model skips by default	"Imagine this was rejected because..." AND a capable model wouldn't raise it unprompted? → probe
Forced trade-off	figure-out	Competing tension with no universal right answer	Both sides have legitimate merit? → trade-off

A concern appears once, in its most natural section. When the same concern appears in multiple sections, keep the stronger version.

Principles

Principle	Enforcement
Orthogonality over volume	Cover all dimensions, not all possible items within a dimension
User approves all changes	Propose via AskUserQuestion, never auto-add
Critical reviewer evaluation	Evaluate each finding independently — push back with rationale when wrong. When reviewer suggests items in already-covered dimensions, orthogonality wins
No redundancy across sections	Same concern in both risks and scenarios = pick one
Principles over thresholds	"Corroborated across independent sources" not "verified across 2+ sources"
No capability instructions	Don't prescribe verification methods — parent skill handles that
Match complexity to domain	Not every task file needs 17 quality gates — match depth to the diversity of ways the deliverable can fail

Never

• Auto-add items without user approval
• Blindly apply all reviewer suggestions
• Add arbitrary numerical thresholds
• Prescribe verification methods (parent skill handles this)
• Re-propose items the user already rejected (check log)

Convergence

Done when:

• Orthogonality analysis finds no new uncovered dimensions
• Prompt reviewer finds no MEDIUM+ issues
• User confirms satisfaction