bouncer

name	bouncer
description	Pre-flight check before starting any significant work. Use when starting a new task, before making changes to production systems, or when asked to "check if this is safe", "should I do this", "validate my plan", or "bouncer check". Evaluates risk, reversibility, and whether the right preconditions are met before proceeding.

Bouncer: Pre-flight Risk Check

Before proceeding with any significant action, run this check. The bouncer's job is to catch bad ideas before they become problems.

The Three Questions

1. Is this reversible?

   • If yes: proceed carefully
   • If no: require explicit confirmation and atomic commit first

2. Is this the right time?

   • Are there uncommitted changes that should be committed first?
   • Are there tests that should pass first?
   • Is there a blocking issue that should be resolved first?

3. Is the scope correct?

   • Is the proposed change proportional to the stated problem?
   • Are there unintended side effects?
   • Is this solving the root cause or a symptom?

Risk Categories

Green (proceed)

• Additive changes (new files, new functions)
• Changes to development/test environments
• Reversible config changes
• Changes with good test coverage

Yellow (proceed with caution)

• Modifying existing logic
• Database schema changes with migration
• Changes affecting multiple consumers
• Production config changes

Red (require explicit confirmation)

• Deleting data or files
• Breaking API changes
• Production deployments without test pass
• Changes to auth or security logic
• Any rm -rf, DROP TABLE, or irreversible operations

Checklist

Before any significant change:

• Understand what is being changed and why
• Identify all files/systems affected (grep for callers)
• Confirm tests exist or will be written
• Confirm the change is reversible OR have a rollback plan
• For production changes: confirm staging was tested first

Response Format

When invoked, output:

BOUNCER CHECK
Risk level: [GREEN / YELLOW / RED]
Reversible: [YES / NO / PARTIAL]
Preconditions met: [YES / NO - missing: ...]
Recommendation: [PROCEED / PROCEED WITH CAUTION / STOP AND CONFIRM]
Reason: [brief explanation]