patterns

Shared Patterns

Reusable patterns extracted from the orchestrator skills so they live in one place. Load the specific pattern a skill points you to — don't preload.

Available Patterns

Pattern	Depth file	Referenced by
Multi-Explorer	explorer.md	work, verify
Discovery Signals	discovery.md	verify, capture
Friction Signals	discovery.md	verify, capture
Interview Protocol	interview.md	work
State Files	state-files.md	work, verify, capture

When to Load

A skill says "see the patterns skill § X" or "see patterns/explorer.md". Read the matching file only when you hit that reference. The sections below are the quick reference; the depth files carry formats, examples, and edge cases.

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Multi-Explorer Pattern

Deploy read-only Explore sub-agents to gather context before acting. Each gets one viewpoint over a fixed scope and returns bounded, evidence-backed findings; you cross-reference them and verify the cited lines before trusting anything.

Task(subagent_type="Explore", prompt="[Viewpoint] for [SCOPE]:
- <focused questions for this viewpoint>
Return findings under 2000 characters, each with file:line and (for audits) a severity.")

Explorers cannot load skills — after they report, YOU invoke any matching best-practices skill and reconcile. Full deployment guidance, the viewpoint menu, and the validation checklist: explorer.md.

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Discovery Signals

Emit when you find something outside the current scope and want it tracked without derailing. The stop action stop/actions/discovery-extraction.sh scans session output for [DISCOVERY:*] and appends each to context/DISCOVERIES.md; the capture skill later turns those into issues.

Signal	Meaning	Action
[DISCOVERY:BLOCKER]	Security/requirements wrong; blocks current work	STOP, escalate
[DISCOVERY:DEFECT]	Bug in existing code	Log, continue
[DISCOVERY:ADJACENT]	Related to this epic, a different phase	Log for later phase
[DISCOVERY:DISTANT]	Unrelated to current work	Log for backlog

Format, examples, and the triage matrix: discovery.md.

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Friction Signals

Emit when the process itself was wrong — a skill, hook, or workflow step got in the way. The stop action stop/actions/friction-extraction.sh scans for [FRICTION:*] and appends each to context/FRICTION_LOG.md; capture classifies each PROJECT vs FRAMEWORK.

Signal	When
[FRICTION:SKILL]	A skill was wrong, outdated, or missing for this codebase
[FRICTION:HOOK]	A hook blocked or fired when it shouldn't have
[FRICTION:WORKFLOW]	A workflow step was unnecessary or in the wrong order
[FRICTION:CONTEXT]	Missing context caused confusion or rework

Format and the classification handoff: discovery.md.

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Interview Protocol

Use the AskUserQuestion tool for iterative Q&A before writing a spec or making a UX/architecture decision the code can't answer. Ask 1-4 structured questions per round, process answers, ask again — never dump a wall of text. Skip for single-file fixes and clear technical tasks. Categories, rhythm, and output: interview.md.

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State Files

The state chain carries work across sessions and context resets.

File	Purpose
docs/CURRENT_WORK.md	Active epic/sprint/phase pointer
context/WORKING.md	Append-only session observation blocks
Phase PROGRESS.md	Implementation checklist

Read order and templates: state-files.md.