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Description
Overview
The built-in method begins at a known request: Asking the User, then a spec, a plan and tasks. It has no procedure for the work that comes before that, when the problem is a bug nobody has reproduced, a design question an answer to which needs running code, or a fact that has to be found in primary sources. Matt Pocock's skills (MIT) have a procedure for each: diagnosing-bugs, prototype and research.
Problem Statement
- A defect has to enter through a spec, a plan and a split, or be filed as a bare issue with no diagnosis. Nothing says to reproduce it, minimise it, find the cause and leave a regression test.
- A design question is answered by asking the user, even when a throwaway prototype would answer it faster. Writing a Spec already allows a prototype snippet but no procedure produces one.
- A research question has no procedure that ends in cited sources written to the graph.
Proposed Solution
Three procedures, each ending in an artifact the existing flow already consumes:
- Diagnosing a Bug: reproduce, minimise, hypothesise and test one cause at a time, fix, then guard with a regression test that is seen to fail without the fix. It ends in a plain issue with evidence, or a note on the task being worked.
- Prototyping: a throwaway built to answer one stated question, discarded afterwards. It ends in a recorded decision (Recording a Decision) that cites what the prototype showed.
- Researching: a question investigated against primary sources, ending in a cited note on a node the user names or a recorded decision.
Each states when to use it and when to use Asking the User instead.
Documentation
- ADR-092 planning procedures table - add three rows with source, licence and what changed
- ADR-094 §3 - a skill is attached to a node or queue; decide where each one is attached and why
- seeded-nodes.md "Procedure skills" - the count and the list change
- creating-node-types.md - not needed unless a type is proposed; none is
- Updates: the ADR-092 table and the seeded-nodes.md procedure list
Architecture Impact
Extends ADR-092's procedures; no new type, field or relationship. Companion nodespace-docs edit required; no new ADR.
Acceptance Criteria
- Each of the three procedures exists as a seeded skill with a description that says when it applies and when Asking the User applies instead
- Diagnosing a Bug requires a reproduction and a regression test seen to fail before the fix
- Prototyping and Researching each end in a recorded decision or a cited note, never in untracked output
- Each is attached where an agent arrives with that kind of work, with the reason written in the issue or the pull request
- Attribution lines carry the source, licence and copyright
- The skill-retrieval confusion matrix includes each new skill and shows no regression for the existing ones
- An
eval:tasksscenario exists for the bug path - ADR-092 and seeded-nodes.md are updated in the same change
- Code passes
bun run quality:fix
Technical Specifications
Reference Files
packages/agent/src/seeds/skills/- one markdown file per skill;implementing-a-task.mdandwriting-a-spec.mdfor formpackages/agent/src/skill_pipeline.rs- the seed table: add a row per skill with its linkspackages/agent/src/seeds/rules/- reusedecision-create.md,decision-find-first.md,ask-look-up.md
Implementation Details
- Read the upstream skill files for the actual procedures before adapting; this issue was written from the repository summary.
- Speak NodeSpace only: states are node fields and checkboxes, never a tracker, label or slash command (ADR-092 rule for adapted skills).
- Keep each procedure short; three more candidates in routing is a cost (see The local agent does not follow the task procedures (eval:tasks fails 4 of 5 scenarios) #3784).
Related Issues
- The local agent does not follow the task procedures (eval:tasks fails 4 of 5 scenarios) #3784 (routing: the local agent does not reliably choose the task procedures)
- Proportionality in the review loop: severity tiers, delta re-review and a re-review recommendation #3795 and the shared verification block issue (same procedure files)
Non-Goals
- A glossary or domain-model procedure (needs a design decision first)
- Handoff, wayfinder and retrospective procedures
Activity
malibio commentedon Oct 14, 2026
Frontend: 5901 passed (326 files)
Add procedures for diagnosing, prototyping, researching, deprecating,…