Use when an implementation is complete and ready to land — deciding how it integrates and cleaning up. "finish this", "land it", "wrap up", "ship it", "merge", "make a PR", "I'm done — now what"
Use when starting creative build or craft work, deciding which hackinator skill fits, or when the user says "hack on this", "let's build something", "make it nice", or invokes the hacker ethic
Use when working code needs to become elegant, minimal, and a joy to read — polishing, refining, simplifying, or when the user says "make it nice", "clean this up", "make it beautiful", "tighten this", "it works but it's ugly"
Use when making an idea real from scratch, prototyping, spiking, scratching an itch, or when the user says "build this", "hack this up", "let's make something", "prototype", "get it working"
Use at the START of any non-trivial build or change in a git repo — "let's build X", "hack on X", "start a hacking session", "run the loop", "new project", "implement this". The spine that sequences shaping → planning → build → craft → verify → review →…
Use before claiming ANYTHING works, passes, is fixed, or is done — before every commit, PR, task hand-off, or "it should work now". Triggers on the urge to say done, or words like "should", "probably", "that fixes it", "all green"
Use after a design is approved and before implementing anything architectural — turning an agreed direction into an ordered, testable set of tasks. "write a plan", "break this down", "what are the steps", "plan the implementation"
Use after finishing a task or feature and before it lands — getting an independent review, and handling the feedback well. "review this", "code review", "check my work", or when receiving review comments (from a person, a subagent, or Codex)