| name | strata:propose |
| description | Capture an OPEN question or contested position that hasn't settled, tracking it open → contested → converging → settled. Invoke autonomously when the user says "we don't know yet whether X", "open question is Y", "we're split on Z", "I'm proposing X but not sure", "let's track this debate". Skip once a choice is locked in — for a decided option use /strata:decide; for a stable definition use /strata:domain. When it resolves, promote with --settled-as or --refuted-as. |
strata:propose
The "open question" scope. Closes the gap between what we know
(domain), what we've chosen (decisions), what we did (pr-context),
and what we did wrong (lessons), with a fourth: what we're still
Figuring out.
When to use
| Situation | Skill |
|---|
| Open question, multiple positions, no choice yet | strata:propose |
| Chosen option with reasoning | strata:decide |
| Stable concept / vocabulary | strata:domain |
| Retrospective fact | strata:save --scope lessons |
| In-flight branch work | strata:save |
A proposition is explicitly time-bounded. It exists to be resolved.
A proposition that never gets settled or refuted is itself a signal.
How
Recall before you open it
Before creating a proposition, call recall to check it isn't already
tracked. Two agents opening the same open question — or re-litigating one
that's already decided — is the failure this prevents:
recall(query="<the question, in your words>", scope="propositions", layer=1)
Then run a second pass with scope="decisions". Adjudicate:
- existing open proposition → add a position to it (below), don't fork.
- already settled or decided → tell the user and point at the note; write nothing.
- genuinely new → create it.
Create
cat <<'EOF' | "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/bin/strata" propose \
--title "Should we move to Postgres for tenant data?"
<context — why this is open>
- Stay on SQLite: <reasons>
- Move to Postgres: <reasons>
- <what we'd need to know>
EOF
Default status is open. Pass --status contested if multiple positions
are actively defended, or --status converging if one is winning.
Add a position (the debate log)
When someone weighs in on an open proposition, append a position — don't
rewrite the note. Each entry is attributed, dated, and append-only:
cat <<'EOF' | "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/bin/strata" propose \
--update propositions/2026-05-25-should-we-move-to-postgres.md \
--position --stance against
Postgres adds an ops burden we can't staff. Evidence: our last two
incidents were both connection-pool exhaustion under the managed PG.
Critique of the "Move to Postgres" position: it assumes a DBA we don't have.
EOF
--stance is for | against | alternative | refine. An against or
alternative stance bumps an open proposition to contested automatically.
Run a healthy debate (this matters — the research is blunt about it):
- Draft independently first. Form your own position before reading the
others, then append it. Don't anchor on the first voice.
- Cap it at ~2 rounds. More rounds degrade quality (problem drift, and
agents converging on a confident-but-wrong consensus). If it's not
converging in two passes, it needs a human, not another round.
- Ground every position in evidence — a file, a test, an incident, a
measurement. A position that adds no new evidence is a signal to stop, not
another turn.
- Disagreement is the point. If every position agrees, you're seeing
sycophancy, not consensus — assign someone the critic's seat.
- A human settles it. Agents surface and sharpen the question; the
--settled-as / --refuted-as promotion is a human call.
Promote (when settled)
"${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/bin/strata" propose \
--update propositions/2026-05-25-should-we-move-to-postgres.md \
--settled-as "decisions/2026-05-30-use-postgres-tenant-data.md"
Bidirectional intent: the ADR has its own reasoning; the proposition
records the question that led to it. The forward link lets future
Readers walk back from "we use Postgres" to "we considered the
Alternatives in this proposition."
Retire (when refuted)
"${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/bin/strata" propose \
--update propositions/2026-05-25-foo.md \
--refuted-as "lessons/2026-06-02-why-we-didnt.md"
Status lifecycle
open ─→ contested ─→ converging ─→ settled-as-decision
└─→ refuted-as-lesson
Open/contested/converging propositions older than a day surface in the
/strata:dashboard "Awaiting your input" section, and (batched) on the
commit/Stop nudge. A long-open proposition is a smell — usually it means the
team is avoiding the decision.
Why this scope earned its place
Other memory plugins (smcady/Cairn, claude-mem) track decision lifecycle
via opaque graph state or compressed summaries. Propositions in strata
are plain markdown files with status: frontmatter, auditable,
diffable, syncable, readable in Obsidian. Same lifecycle tracking, in
Durable form.
Don't do
- Don't propose what's already decided. Use
strata:decide for chosen
options.
- Don't propose what's stable. Use
strata:domain for "what is X here."
- Don't propose what's purely branch-scoped scratch. Use
strata:save.
- Don't leave propositions open forever — once aged, they resurface in the
dashboard and on the nudge until you settle or refute them.
