mechanism-extraction

name	mechanism-extraction
description	SOP: extract causal mechanism chains from a theory
version	1.0.0
category	hypothesis-formation
type	sop
campaign	hypothesis-formulation
input	Theory description (from theory-identification output)
output	List of causal mechanism chains (X → mediator → Y) + mechanism diagram
dependencies	{"skills":["subagent-spawning"]}

Mechanism Extraction

Extract structured causal mechanisms from a theory description, providing a skeleton for variable identification and hypothesis construction.

HARD-GATE

Preconditions (all must hold before starting): 1. At least 1 theory description is provided (including core_claim) 2. The theory description is specific enough to identify at least 2 variables

Not satisfied → stop, return error: the theory description is too vague to extract a mechanism.

Pipeline

1. Precondition check: verify completeness of the theory description
2. Causal chain identification: identify X → Y causal-relation statements in the theory text
3. Mediator extraction: identify intermediate variables (mediators) between X and Y
4. Mechanism naming: give each mechanism chain a short descriptive name
5. Mechanism diagram construction: represent as a directed graph (text ASCII or JSON nodes/edges)
6. Output a structured mechanism list

Output Format

[
  {
    "name": "Mechanism name",
    "chain": "X → mediator → Y",
    "variables": {
      "cause": "X description",
      "mediator": "mediator description (null if direct)",
      "effect": "Y description"
    },
    "source_theory": "Theory name this was extracted from",
    "direction": "positive | negative | conditional",