assist

name	assist
description	Diagnose and fix a problem the user is hitting in this workspace, and escalate built-in (non-user) issues to imbue. Invoked as `/assist <description>` by the minds "get help -> have an agent help" flow (also usable directly when the user describes something broken).

Assisting with a problem

You were launched (usually via /assist <description>) to help the user with something that is going wrong in this workspace. Your job: understand the problem, confirm your diagnosis with the user before touching anything, fix what you can, and -- when the problem is in built-in (not user-written) code -- report it to imbue so they can fix it upstream.

Work the steps below in order. Keep the user informed in plain language as you go.

1. Understand the problem

• Read the user's description carefully. If it is vague, state your assumptions and proceed; ask only if you truly cannot start.
• Reproduce or directly observe the failure before theorizing about it. Actually trigger the thing the user reported and watch it happen -- measure the slow operation, hit the failing endpoint, reproduce the error. Gather evidence rather than guessing:
  • Service logs: supervisorctl status and /var/log/supervisor/<name>-stdout.log / -stderr.log.
  • The relevant app/service code and any error/traceback you can find.
  • Recent changes: git log --oneline -20.
• If you cannot reproduce or find any evidence, say so honestly before going further -- do not paper over the gap with a plausible-sounding theory.

2. Find the root cause

Trace the actual failing code path to the specific file and line(s) responsible. Do not pattern-match from symptoms -- find the real cause.

Match your confidence to your evidence. A code path you found by reading is a hypothesis until you have observed it actually causing the reported symptom. Do not announce a cause as "confirmed" on the strength of code-reading alone -- confirm it by reproducing the symptom and tying it to that code (e.g. the slow operation measurably speeds up when you bypass the suspected hot path; the error stops when you correct the suspected line). Until then, describe it as your leading suspicion, not a settled fact.

3. Classify the cause

Two independent questions decide what to do next.

A. Is it user-created code or built-in code? (decides whether to escalate)

Classify by git history:

• Built-in if the file is any of:
  • under vendor/ (a vendored snapshot of an external repo, e.g. vendor/mngr/), or
  • introduced by the initial template commit (the root commit of this repo's history), or
  • last changed by a commit reachable from an update-self: merge (the /update-self skill merges upstream template code with a commit subject starting update-self:).
• User-created otherwise (you or the user wrote it in this workspace).

Useful checks:

# Who last touched the file, and what was that commit?
git log -1 --format="%H %s" -- <path>
# Is <path> under a vendored tree?
case "<path>" in vendor/*) echo built-in-vendor ;; esac
# List the update-self merges (built-in code arrived through these).
git log --grep="^update-self:" --oneline

B. Which layer is it in? (decides whether you can fix it)

• Fixable from here -- you run inside this container, so you can change and use (how you apply each fix safely differs by artifact -- see step 5):

  • user code,
  • template built-in code (e.g. apps/system_interface, skills, scripts), and
  • vendor/mngr/ code, but only when the fix changes how mngr behaves inside this container (the container runs from this checkout).

• Not fixable from here (give up on the fix) -- the fix would require a new build of the outer minds desktop app, which you cannot produce. This is anything in the installed outer app:

  • vendor/mngr/apps/minds (the desktop app itself),
  • the outer app's bundled plugins vendor/mngr/libs/mngr_forward and vendor/mngr/libs/mngr_latchkey,
  • the outer app's own vendored mngr.

  You can still read all of these under vendor/mngr/ to diagnose and to write a precise report -- you just cannot deploy a fix.

4. Confirm the diagnosis and plan before you change anything

You are editing in the same work directory the user's live workspace is served from -- this /assist chat is a chat-type agent that shares that checkout, not an isolated clone. So before you touch any code, check in with the user:

• State the cause you found, the evidence that backs it, and the exact change you propose to make.
• Wait for their go-ahead. Do not start editing on your own authority, even when you are confident -- the user asked you to help diagnose a problem, not to perform an unrequested rewrite.

(For a system-interface fix, this verbal go-ahead covers the plan; the update-system-interface preview in step 5 is where the user approves the actual change before it goes live.)

5. Fix what you can: quick live fix, then defer the hardening

If the issue is not fixable from here (per B -- it lives in the installed outer app), do not fake a fix. Explain that it needs a new version of the desktop app, and go report it (step 6).

If it is fixable from here, unblock the user fast, then harden in the background. How you apply the fix depends on the artifact:

• apps/system_interface (the workspace UI: dockview shell, chat panels, progress view): never edit it directly here. Because your checkout is the one being served, a hand-edit-and-rebuild can take the user's entire UI down with no surface left to show an error. Route the fix through the update-system-interface skill, whose preview lets the user approve the change and whose reveal step pre-flights on a throwaway port and auto-rolls-back on failure -- the only safe go-live for the UI. Since /assist shares the work dir and can spawn the worker, you drive that flow yourself.
• A skill, or a web service whose code is broken: make the quick fix live so the user is unblocked now, then at turn-end defer the hardening (tests, review gates, isolated verification) to the heal-artifact skill rather than treating your inline edit as the finished article. Use edit-services instead if the fix is to add/remove/reconfigure a service rather than repair its code.
• User-written code: make the fix live and verify it actually resolves the problem (run it -- don't assume). This is the user's own code, so there is no lifecycle skill to defer to; just tell them what you changed.

Whatever the path, verify that the symptom you reproduced in step 1 is actually gone before you call it fixed, and tell the user plainly what changed.

6. Report built-in issues to imbue

Report any built-in-code issue (per A) to imbue -- even if you already fixed it (the upstream copy still needs the fix). Do not report purely user-created issues; those are yours and the user's to handle.

To report, do not submit directly. POST your diagnosis to the minds report route through the latchkey gateway. The desktop app then opens a pre-filled "report a bug" modal for the user to review and submit (the human gates the send):

DESCRIPTION="$(cat <<'EOF'
<one-paragraph summary of the problem>

Root cause: <file:line and what is wrong>
Classification: built-in (<vendor / template / update-self>), <fixable here | needs a new desktop-app version>
Fix: <what you changed, or why it cannot be fixed from here>
EOF
)"

# Report against the workspace's PRIMARY agent id, not your own ($MNGR_AGENT_ID).
# The desktop app pops the modal in the window showing that workspace, and it
# identifies the window by the primary (is_primary) agent id. If you are an
# /assist chat (a sub-agent spawned in this workspace), $MNGR_AGENT_ID is your
# own id, not the workspace's -- reporting under it would pop the modal in
# whatever window is focused instead of this one. Resolve the primary id from
# the local agent list (only this workspace's agents are visible from here, so
# exactly one agent carries is_primary); fall back to your own id if the lookup
# comes up empty.
WORKSPACE_AGENT_ID="$(mngr ls --include 'has(labels.is_primary) && has(labels.workspace)' --ids)"
WORKSPACE_AGENT_ID="${WORKSPACE_AGENT_ID:-$MNGR_AGENT_ID}"

latchkey curl -sS -X POST \
  "http://latchkey-self.invalid/minds-api-proxy/api/v1/agents/$WORKSPACE_AGENT_ID/report" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "$(jq -n --arg d "$DESCRIPTION" '{description: $d}')"

A successful call returns {"ok": true} and pops the pre-filled modal in the app. Tell the user a report has been opened for their review.

Summary of decisions

Always confirm the diagnosis and plan with the user (step 4) before applying any of these.

Cause is...	How to fix it	Report to imbue?
User-created code	Fix live, verify it works	No
Template built-in: apps/system_interface	Route through update-system-interface (never edit the served tree directly)	Yes
Template built-in: a skill or web service	Quick live fix, then defer hardening to heal-artifact (edit-services for service config)	Yes
Other template built-in (scripts, etc.)	Fix live, verify it works	Yes
vendor/mngr affecting this container	Fix live, verify it works	Yes
Outer app (apps/minds, mngr_forward, mngr_latchkey, outer vendored mngr)	Cannot -- needs a new app build	Yes