shape

Source contract preview

This generated excerpt gives readers the beginning of the live primitive contract before they jump to GitHub.

Shape a raw idea into something buildable. Output is a **context packet** —
the unit of specification that precedes implementation.

## Workflow

Size the shape before raising the floor. Trivial shapes are mechanical
one-file fixes, typo-level docs, or already-decided packet formatting.
Non-trivial/M+ shapes are everything with product judgment, architecture
choice, user workflow, data model, dependency, privacy, or rollout risk. The
diversity, roster, matrix, and review-bench gates apply to non-trivial/M+
shapes.

### Phase 1: Understand

Accept: raw idea, backlog.d/ item, issue ID, or observation.

## Delegation Floor

Delegation floor applies: probe the roster first; dispatch two or more
providers for substantive work; direct solo only for mechanical, emergency,
user-forbidden, or fewer-than-two-providers cases. See
`harnesses/shared/AGENTS.md` (Roster).

Local lane guidance: Use one lane to map repo constraints and another for prior-art or premise challenge; native in-thread subagents may add signal but do not satisfy the roster floor.

Spawn parallel sub-agents to gather context fast: one to map the relevant
codebase area (files, patterns, constraints), another to search for prior art
(how do other projects solve this? check codebase first, then /research).
For non-trivial shapes, fill the bench instead of running a two-agent
formality: include at least one repo investigator, one product/premise critic,
one architecture critic, one implementation-risk reviewer, and one test/oracle
reviewer when the available harness can support it. Use the lead model for
synthesis; record meaningful external lanes as delegation receipts.
Synthesize their findings before proceeding.

If `exemplars.md` exists at project root, read it. Include relevant exemplar
techniques in the context packet with specific files to study during build.
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