| name | friction |
| description | Record one atomic friction into the learning inbox (via MCP) — the gap between what is and what could be. Use when something caused friction, confusion, a blocker, or an improvement opportunity appeared. |
| argument-hint | optional hint about the friction |
friction
Record a friction — the gap between what is and what could be — atomically,
in the moment, with the context fresh. The skill is the method (capture it
well-formed); the record goes to the inbox table in Surreal via the friction
tool of the inbox MCP (append-only, user stamped server-side, drained only by
governance). Never write to disk.
Frictions are the fuel of governance.
Steps
-
Identify the friction in the recent interaction: what ground, confused,
blocked, or what improvement opportunity appeared. If the human gave a hint
($ARGUMENTS), use it as direction; otherwise take the most relevant recent one.
-
Assemble the record as structured markdown, in the shape of
${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/format.md. Be rich and specific in the record (not in
the reply).
-
Scope it — whose problem is this? The criterion is the MOUNTS: who has the
context and access to actually fix it?
- Your purpose can fix it (its kb, its data, its skills) →
scope = your purpose.
- It needs a wider reach (a parent's mandate, cross-purpose) →
scope = that
ancestor. Escalation happens HERE, at creation — pick the ancestor now.
- Structural / engine / you can't tell → omit
scope (the root governance queue).
-
Write to the inbox: call the friction tool (of the inbox MCP server)
with the markdown as the text argument, origin = who you are right now
(the purpose/agent acting — a subagent names itself, not the shell that dispatched
it) and the scope from step 3. Each friction is a separate append.
-
Confirm in one sentence. E.g. "Friction recorded (scope: delivery): X and Y
terms are easily confused." No essay, no follow-up.
Notes
- Speed first. Identify, assemble, write, confirm. Don't read old records, don't
analyze, don't merge.
- No disk. If the tool is unavailable (no inbox MCP), say so instead of falling
back to a file.
- Write for the reader: governance drains these to propose improvements.
