figure-it-out

# Figure it out When the task matches no `pstack` playbook, design one. The deliverable before any code is the workflow itself. Bias toward more rigor. Do not reinvent a playbook you already have. A focused single-unit task routes to Bug fix, Perf, Feature, Visual parity, Eval, or Multi-phase plan. A large or cross-cutting version of one belongs here. ## Authorized Scope Act only within the user's request and existing approval; loading this skill grants no new authority. Keep report-only requests report-only, honor the caller's target, host, provider, and cost limits, ask before expanding scope, and forward these limits to delegates. ## Contract Inputs: - A large, cross-cutting, or unattended task with no narrower playbook Outputs: - A designed phase list, a rigor level, a decision trail, and verification against a falsifiable predicate Creates/Modifies: - The work the designed playbook authorizes - A decision log via `show-me-your-work` External Side Effects: - Whatever the designed playbook later requires Confirmation Required: - One checkpoint before a multi-hour run Delegates To: - File pointer: `references/principles.md` from the selected `pstack` skill directory - `architect`, `arena`, `show-me-your-work` for authorized investigation ## Start Open a todo list whose first item is reading `references/principles.md` from the selected `pstack` skill directory. Then add the phases below. ## Phase A: Frame State a falsifiable done predicate, quantified scope, and a rigor level biased high. Present framing before a long run. Reversible work proceeds. A multi-hour run earns one checkpoint. ## Phase B: Design the workflow Decompose into independently-landable units. Sequence riskiest-unknown-first. Build the verification harness before the work, with a baseline from the pre-change state. For one-way-door design decisions, run `architect` (it runs `arena`). Skip it for mechanical work whose shape is already concrete. Parallelize only across genuine seams. Give each worker its own worktree or branch. Write the designed phase list down. ## Phase C: Run the loop Each unit is an experiment: hypothesis, smallest change, measure on the real artifact, keep or revert. Verify each unit before the next. A verdict is VERIFIED, NOT VERIFIED, or INCONCLUSIVE. Inconclusive is not a pass. ## Phase D: Keep the audit trail Log via `show-me-your-work`. Commit the trail when a reviewer needs it to trust the result. ## Phase E: Verify and hand back Check the whole against the Phase A predicate on the real product. Encode a recurring correction as a gate, lint, check, or script. **Reply:** the playbook you designed, the rigor level and why, the trail path, what's verified, what's still open. ## Figure It Out procedure Read [figure-it-out procedure](references/figure-it-out-procedure.md) when running this workflow. Apply the authorized scope and mode of this entry point to every step. Resolve other skills through this distribution’s active catalog; resolve resources relative to the installed skill directory.