align

Polaris Alignment Check

Check any proposed decision or action against the vault's strategic priorities. Polaris is the vault's north star — this skill makes alignment checking a habit, not an afterthought.

Workflow

1. Read ztlctl://polaris — load the vault's mission statement, ordered priorities, and decision principles.

2. check_alignment(decision="<proposed action or decision>") — get relevant_priorities and the alignment reasoning from the vault's polaris layer.

3. Present the result:

   • If relevant_priorities is non-empty: "This decision aligns with [N] polaris priorities: [list priorities]. Reasoning: [alignment reasoning]."

   • If relevant_priorities is empty: "No direct priority overlap found. Current polaris priorities are: [list all]. Consider whether this is intentional scope expansion or a distraction."

4. Optional decision note (only if the user explicitly asks): Suggest creating an audit trail note with subtype="decision" to record the alignment result. Do NOT auto-create the note. Suggest it and wait for the user to confirm before using any create tool.

When to activate

• User asks "should I work on X?"
• User asks "is this aligned with my priorities?"
• User is about to start a new initiative or direction
• User asks for a "polaris check" or "priority check"
• User presents a significant decision and has not yet consulted polaris

Standalone design

This skill is standalone. Other skills (session, capture) may mention polaris checks in their own workflows, but do NOT invoke ztl:align as a sub-skill. Each skill handles its own polaris checks independently. This prevents skill-chaining complexity where one skill triggers another, creating unpredictable invocation cascades.

See references/polaris-workflow.md for details on polaris document structure and the alignment algorithm.