friction

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

1. 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.

2. 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).

3. 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).

4. 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.

5. 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.