discover

name	discover
description	Discovers material unknowns before planning. Use for a blindspot pass or unknown unknowns, to brainstorm approaches from cheapest to ambitious, interview about architecture, extract reference implementation semantics, make a disposable prototype before touching the real app, or check whether discovery is ready for a decision; researched option selection belongs to essential:decide.
model	opus
allowed-tools	Read, Glob, Grep, Bash, Write, Edit, Task, AskUserQuestion, WebSearch, WebFetch, Skill
argument-hint	<problem> [--mode=blindspots|options|interview|reference|prototype|readiness] [--persist]

Discover

Reduce consequential uncertainty before it becomes an implementation assumption. This skill owns divergent exploration and a decision-ready evidence ledger; essential:decide owns converging on one approach, domain skills own production artifacts, and implementing skills own application-source changes.

Boundaries

• Use for: explicit "blindspot pass" or "unknown unknowns" requests, unfamiliar code or domains, broad solution brainstorming, preferences the user can recognize but not yet articulate, extracting semantics from a reference, disposable prototypes, and readiness checks before planning.
• Do not use for: fact-finding reports (essential:deep-research), metric-driven optimization (essential:autoresearch), choosing among already-grounded options (essential:decide), production UI design (web:design), or clear bounded implementation.
• Never claim an unknown unknown has been found merely because it is plausible; record it as a hypothesis until evidence supports it.

Inputs and output

• Required: the problem, goal, or artifact to explore.
• Optional: --mode; --persist; the user's experience, confidence, references, hard constraints, and known unanswered questions.

Default to a conversational result. With --persist, a requested prototype, or a long-lived multi-session task, create .discovery-<slug>/DISCOVERY.md; keep disposable artifacts below its prototypes/ and copied or summarized reference evidence below references/. Never modify application source in this skill.

The evidence ledger uses these fields:

ID	Kind	Statement	Source or evidence	Decision impact	Reversibility	Disposition	Owner

Kind is one of intent, observed, inference, unknown, or assumption. An accepted assumption must be low-impact, reversible, and have a recheck trigger. A material unknown must be resolved, explicitly deferred with an owner, or marked blocking.

Workflow

1. Capture the starting map. State the goal, requested deliverable, why it matters, what the user already knows, their familiarity with the codebase or domain, known questions, hard constraints, and supplied references. Ask only when a missing answer changes which discovery mode is appropriate.
2. Resolve exactly one mode. An explicit valid --mode wins; otherwise use:
   • blindspots: missing constraints, failure modes, history, or integration surfaces may change the problem;
   • options: the problem is understood but the solution space is too narrow or too broad;
   • interview: the user holds material intent or preferences not yet stated;
   • reference: a codebase, document, site, image, or example defines the desired semantics more precisely than prose;
   • prototype: the cheapest way to learn is a disposable artifact and the user has authorized creating it;
   • readiness: existing evidence needs a plan/implementation go-no-go check.
3. Load only the selected mode reference and execute it:
   • blindspots
   • options
   • interview
   • reference
   • prototype
   • readiness
4. Update the ledger. Preserve provenance. Move an item between kinds only when evidence or a user decision justifies it; do not collapse inference into observed fact. Record rejected alternatives and why they were rejected when they would otherwise be rediscovered.
5. Choose the next probe or stop. Continue only when another cheap probe can resolve a material unknown. Stop when all material items are resolved, explicitly deferred with an owner, or blocking; remaining assumptions must be low-impact and reversible.
6. Route the result. Recommend exactly one next owner: another discovery mode, essential:decide, specification:spec-code, specification:plan-code, web:design, an implementing skill, or stop. Pass the evidence ledger and artifact paths without rewriting them as certainty.
7. Run the verification below. Fix a failed check and repeat until it passes or a concrete blocker remains.

Verification

• Every consequential claim is labeled and carries evidence or an explicit user source; hypotheses are not reported as facts.
• No application source changed, and every prototype is visibly disposable and contained inside the discovery workspace.
• Every material unknown has a disposition and owner; every accepted assumption is low-impact, reversible, and has a recheck trigger.
• The recommended next owner receives the ledger and all artifact paths.
• Validate the Essential plugin and run repository policy plus trigger checks.

Completion

Report the selected mode, starting point, material unknowns found or resolved, accepted assumptions, decisions and rejected alternatives, persistent workspace when any, readiness verdict (ready, more-discovery, or blocked), and the single recommended next owner. Runtime trigger behavior is reported as exercised only when an executable evaluation actually ran.