Stage_Manager_Skills

Start a Stage Manager session. Read project context, orient to what the builder is working on, and offer to watch alongside them — suggesting skills as signals emerge. Use this skill to begin a working session, when a builder says "let's start," "stage manage this," or wants a thinking partner while they build. This is the orchestration skill — it watches for signals and surfaces the right skill at the right moment. Not brainstorming. Staging work from a larger sense, not a prompt sense. Part of the Stage Manager Artful Making Skill Library by MNFST Ai.

Challenge the premise before a single line of code. Fires when a builder moves toward staging without naming what they validated first — no user contact, no findings, no hungry users identified. Use this skill when a builder says "let's build X" with no prior mention of who they talked to or what they found, when the orchestrator detects a new idea with no prior user contact, or when a builder wants to skip straight to coding without validating the premise. This is the gate between conviction and evidence. Part of the Stage Manager Artful Making Skill Library by MNFST Ai.

Stop and check whether the work in progress is still coherent — still pointing at the original intent, still serving the right user, still worth building in this form. Use this skill when a builder senses something is off but can't name it, feels like the work has drifted, wants to reset before continuing, asks "are we still on track," "does this still make sense," or "should we keep going." Also use at natural transition points — between chunks, after unexpected results from a coding tool, or whenever the plot feels lost mid-build. Can be run on any artifact: a prompt, a chunk, a PRD, a conversation, a set of cards. This is a lightweight gate — 2 minutes at any transition point. For the full shape/stage boundary synthesis with inline change suggestions and a staged spec, use Shape Brief instead. Part of the Stage Manager Artful Making Skill Library by MNFST Ai.

Generate a live interview script that a human runs with a real person — not a survey, not a sales call. A structured conversation designed to kill assumptions using negative framing to provoke correction. Use this skill after running invalidate-prep, when a builder is ready to talk to real people, wants an interview script for assumption testing, or says "how do I test this." The script uses negative framing — state the assumption wrong so the interviewee corrects you. The lean-in moment is the signal that matters most. Part of the Stage Manager Artful Making Skill Library by MNFST Ai.

Help a builder surface and rank their assumptions, identify who holds the answer, and generate problem statements for invalidation interviews. Use this skill when a builder has an idea but hasn't talked to anyone yet, wants to figure out what to test first, says "I think users want," or needs to prepare before running invalidation interviews. This is the entry point to the invalidation flow — excavate assumptions, rank by cost-if-wrong, name personas, and generate problem statements. Part of the Stage Manager Artful Making Skill Library by MNFST Ai.

Process what a builder heard in invalidation interviews. Score each assumption as validated, invalidated, or still open. Surface the pull signal if it appeared — lean-in, reach, referral, emotion, behavior, or time. Use this skill after running invalidation interviews, when a builder comes back from a conversation and says "here's what I heard," "did I find pull," or wants to know whether their assumptions survived contact with reality. Part of the Stage Manager Artful Making Skill Library by MNFST Ai.

Read the accumulated output from one or more shape skills (Find the Holes, Collapsed Options, Risk Sequence, Soul Check) and synthesize findings into a ranked top-three problem areas with suggested fixes — then generate inline change suggestions for the builder to accept or reject, produce a Stage_Manager_Brief.md handoff document, and write an updated spec as [original-filename]-Staged.md ready for /ce:brainstorm, /ce:work, /ce:plan, or Superpowers. Use when a builder has run one or more shape skills and wants to move forward without manually synthesizing the output themselves. Also use when a builder says "brief this," "synthesize the shape," "what are the top problems," or "I'm ready to hand off." Part of the Stage Manager Artful Making Skill Library by MNFST Ai.

Analyze a PRD, MRD, architecture doc, prompt, or prototype for places where the builder has already committed to a typical solution without knowing it — especially when they are trying to push the envelope on something. Use this skill when a vibe coder asks "am I thinking too small," "are there better approaches," "what are my options before I build this," "am I moving too fast," or wants to protect a breakthrough idea from being averaged down by safe, default choices. Also use when transitioning from prototype to production. Part of the Stage Manager Artful Making Skill Library by MNFST Ai.

Analyze a PRD, MRD, architecture doc, or prompt for specification gaps where coding tools will invent behavior on their own. Use this skill whenever a vibe coder or builder asks to "find the holes," "review my spec," "what will the AI fill in," "check my PRD," or wants to identify underspecified areas before handing work to Claude Code, Cursor, Replit, or any agentic coding tool. Part of the Stage Manager Artful Making Skill Library by MNFST Ai.

Analyze a PRD, MRD, architecture doc, design doc, or prompt for the load-bearing assumptions — the things that, if wrong, make everything downstream irrelevant. Use this skill when a vibe coder wants to know what to build first, asks "what could go wrong," wants to sequence work to surface the riskiest assumptions early, is worried about building the wrong thing, or wants to apply lean startup or Jobs to Be Done thinking before committing to a full build. Also use before writing prompts for Claude Code, Cursor, or Replit to ensure the highest-risk work gets proven before the lower-risk work gets built. Part of the Stage Manager Artful Making Skill Library by MNFST Ai.

Read a PRD, design doc, prompt, prototype, or work artifact and check whether the original animating idea is still alive in it. Use this skill when a builder feels like the work has drifted, asks "is this still the right thing," senses something is off but can't name it, has been iterating for a while and wants to reconnect to why they started, or wants to make sure the soul of the design hasn't been averaged down through rounds of feedback, scope changes, or technical constraints. Also use at the start of a new increment to reconnect with intent before building. This is a deep read — 10-15 minutes on a full artifact. For a quick 2-minute transition check, use Coherence Check instead. Part of the Stage Manager Artful Making Skill Library by MNFST Ai.

Run a five-question readiness check before a builder crosses from shaping into staging. Use this skill when a vibe coder says "I think I'm ready to start building," wants to hand work to a coding tool but hasn't explicitly checked readiness, is feeling the pull to just start, or has been shaping for a while and wants to know if they're done. Also use when a builder is about to write their first prompt for a new story or feature. This skill prevents the two failure modes at the shape/stage boundary — premature staging and over-shaping. It should run before Chunking begins. Part of the Stage Manager Artful Making Skill Library by MNFST Ai.

Break a story, feature, or design doc into flow-cycle-sized pieces that a coding tool can execute cleanly — sequenced by cost of delay. Use this skill when a vibe coder is ready to build and wants to hand work to Claude Code, Cursor, Replit, or another agentic coding tool, asks "how do I break this down," has a story or feature that feels too big to prompt in one go, wants to maintain agency and review points during a build, or needs to sequence implementation work without losing track of the plot. Also use when a builder asks "what should I build first," "what has the most impact," or wants to sequence competing chunks by economic, risk, flow, and joy cost. Part of the Stage Manager Artful Making Skill Library by MNFST Ai.

Read the complete output of a build and generate a decisions-made manifest — every choice the coding tool made that was not explicitly specified. Use after completing a build, before ce:review, when a builder says "capture the decisions," "what was decided," or "generate the manifest." Part of the Stage Manager Artful Making Skill Library by MNFST Ai.

Compare plan vs. code output after a coding session to surface every invisible decision the coding tool made. Use when a builder says "what did the tool change," "mirror this session," "what got invented," or after any ce:work task completion. Part of the Stage Manager Artful Making Skill Library by MNFST Ai.

Help a vibe coder turn a shaped story, chunk, or design decision into a prompt that a coding tool can execute cleanly — scoped, guardrailed, and pointed at one specific outcome. Use this skill when a builder is ready to hand work to Claude Code, Cursor, Replit, or another agentic coding tool and asks "how do I prompt this," "write me a prompt for this," "help me hand this off," or wants to make sure the AI builds what they mean, not what it assumes. Also use when a previous prompt produced the wrong result and the builder wants to understand why and try again. Part of the Stage Manager Artful Making Skill Library by MNFST Ai.