catalog

name	catalog
description	Protocol handbook — instant reference for when to use each epistemic protocol.

Catalog Skill

Instant reference handbook for the epistemic protocols. Browse by cluster, look up by command, or find the right protocol for a situation.

When to Use

Invoke this skill when:

• Quick reference: "which protocol handles X?"
• Browsing: exploring available protocols without commitment
• Situation lookup: matching a current situation to the right protocol

Skip when:

• Guided learning with practice and quizzes (use /onboard)
• Session analytics and growth analysis (use /report)
• Full coverage dashboard (use /dashboard)

Argument Handling

Invocation	Behavior
/catalog	Overview: all protocols grouped by cluster, 1-line each + usage hints
/catalog {cluster}	Cluster detail: expanded protocol cards with scenarios
/catalog {command}	Single protocol detail: full card from scenarios.md

Argument normalization: case-insensitive, accepts /command or bare name (e.g., /catalog inquire = /catalog /inquire = /catalog Aitesis).

Protocol Catalog

Planning

Protocol	Command	When to Use
Aitesis	/inquire	Context is insufficient for confident execution
Euporia	/elicit	Intent articulated but decision coordinates implicit in externalized substrate — reverse-trace to surface
Heuresis	/ideate	Object-level candidate field is empty or has prematurely converged — widen it before any selection is made
Proplasma	/preview	Right before a direction commitment when the candidates cannot be judged from descriptions — contrast cheap discard-committed placeholder probes, then decide on recognized futures

Analysis

Protocol	Command	When to Use
Prothesis	/frame	No framework — need one or more analytical lenses placed before any perspective-requiring analysis begins
Analogia	/ground	An abstract idea's correspondence to a concrete domain is uncertain — needs structural grounding, not just assertion
Periagoge	/induce	One or more concrete cases accumulating into an unnamed essence — crystallize the emerging abstraction

Decision

Protocol	Command	When to Use
Syneidesis	/gap	About to act — potential gaps unexamined

Execution

Protocol	Command	When to Use
Merismos	/apportion	Autonomous goal whose unit plan is uncompiled — not yet cut into units that fit one run each, or cut but with no settled done-condition per unit

Verification

Protocol	Command	When to Use
Epharmoge	/contextualize	Output is correct but may not fit the actual context — post-execution
Elenchus	/sublate	About to externalize a working context whose apparent sufficiency may have decayed — pre-execution

Cross-cutting

Protocol	Command	When to Use
Horismos	/bound	An epistemic boundary is undefined — direction/priority, scope, type/concept, or who decides (ownership)
Anamnesis	/recollect	A vague, ambiguous recall you can't quite pin down — resolve it into recognized context
Anagoge	/ascend	A recall a single session can't resolve — elevate it to a higher-granularity unit (connected-session chain, topic cluster, or already-sedimented concept)
Katalepsis	/grasp	A result or artifact you need to actually understand — you can't follow it yet, or you think you can and haven't checked; confirm your understanding is genuine before you approve, explain, or build on it
Hyphegesis	/conduct	Multiple cognitive moves whose order, independence, reconciliation, termination, and routing are non-trivial — conduct the session's method before object-level work begins

Detail Mode

When a cluster name or protocol command/name is provided as argument:

1. Normalize the argument:

   • Strip leading / if present
   • Match case-insensitively against protocol names (Aitesis, Euporia, etc.) and commands (inquire, elicit, etc.)
   • Match cluster names: planning, analysis, decision, execution, verification, cross-cutting

2. For cluster arguments: display all protocol cards in that cluster with expanded "When to Use" descriptions from the tables above.

3. For protocol arguments: call Read on epistemic-cooperative/skills/onboard/references/scenarios.md, extract the matching ## ProtocolName /command block, and present:

   • Situation: the scenario description
   • Intervention: how the protocol helps
   • Philosophy: the Greek etymology and core principle
   • Try it: /{command} — direct invocation prompt

4. If no match found: list the closest matches and suggest /catalog for the full overview.

Rules

1. No gate interaction — pure text output only. This skill is a passive reference, not an interactive dialogue.
2. No delegation — main agent handles all output directly. Read tool for scenarios.md detail mode only.
3. Static overview, dynamic detail — the Protocol Catalog tables above are embedded and authoritative. Detail mode reads scenarios.md at runtime for richer content.
4. Argument normalization — accept case-insensitive input; strip / prefix; match against both protocol names and commands.
5. Graceful fallback — unrecognized arguments get closest-match suggestions plus the full overview.
6. Distinction from /onboard — catalog is passive reference (read and go); onboard is active learning (scenario, trial, quiz). Redirect to /onboard only when the user explicitly asks for guided learning.

Agent routing (SessionStart injection)

The tables above are the human browse view. The agent-facing counterpart is routing-map.md — an auto-generated routing directive (do not edit by hand) whose protocol entries are built from canonical sources — the When to Use triggers above plus each protocol's Deficit → Resolution spine — alongside a routing preamble maintained in the generator. A passive skill description under-triggers invocation, so this map is injected at SessionStart to route the agent from the deficit, not the summary. Regenerate it after any protocol or trigger change:

node scripts/generate-routing-map.js

scripts/session-context.js is the SessionStart emitter: it reads routing-map.md and prints the hook payload on stdout. A consuming project wires it with a settings.json hook of type command:

{
  "hooks": {
    "SessionStart": [
      {
        "hooks": [
          { "type": "command", "command": "node <plugin>/skills/catalog/scripts/session-context.js" }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}

Inject only the parts a project needs (the routing-directive preamble is always kept):

• --only=/grasp,/gap — include only the listed commands (comma-separated).
• --cluster=Analysis,Decision — include only the listed clusters (comma-separated).

With no filter, the full map is injected; when both filters are given they combine as a union.