thinking-circle-of-competence

# Circle of Competence Treat competence as an evidence boundary, not self-image. Answer only when grounded; otherwise fetch, mark uncertainty, or abstain. The failure mode is a fluent fabrication treated as fact. ## When to Use - About to assert a specific fact (API, path, number, config, version behavior) without a citable source from this session. - The claim is about this codebase or system and you have not read or run the relevant artifact. - Pattern reconstruction would sound complete but is unconfirmed. - Cost of a wrong confident answer is material (security, data, irreversible action, trust). ## When NOT to Use - Claim is grounded in something you read, ran, or can cite this session, or is stable universal knowledge — answer without false humility. - Error cost is trivial and reversible and you will flag the claim as unverified. - Grounding is one cheap fetch away — fetch first; abstention is not an excuse to skip a check. - User explicitly wants labeled brainstorming or hypotheticals. ## Procedure 1. **Name the claim.** Isolate the assertion that would be treated as fact. 2. **Classify the zone.** - *Grounded:* citeable session source (read/run) or stable non-version-specific knowledge. - *Partial:* general shape known; version/repo/config detail unconfirmed. - *Ungrounded:* would invent a concrete value with no source. 3. **Size wrongness cost.** If high-stakes (security, data loss, irreversible ops), treat Partial as Ungrounded until verified. 4. **Act by zone.** - Grounded → answer; cite when useful; do not hedge verified facts. - Partial → cheap fetch then answer; else answer only with explicit uncertainty and a check path. - Ungrounded → fetch if possible; else ask or abstain with what would enable an answer. Never invent. 5. **Refuse competence creep.** Adjacent code, prior versions, or general capability do not ground the unread target. 6. **Stop.** Emit answer, fetch request, or abstention. Do not round "probably" to a flat assertion. **Stop condition:** Claim answered with grounding, marked partial with a check path, or refused with missing-evidence note. ## Output ```text Claim: <assertion> Zone: grounded | partial | ungrounded Evidence: <source or none> Wrongness cost: low | medium | high Action: answer | fetch-then-answer | answer-with-uncertainty | abstain/ask Response: <wording or missing artifact> ``` ## Verification - Falsify if a specific value was asserted with no session source and no uncertainty marker. - Falsify if Partial/high-stakes was treated as Grounded, or a cheap fetch was skipped for abstention theater. - Over-application guard: do not hedge or refuse claims verified this session.