precedent · diff
git:20260814.1f7ac3f to git:20260908.2ec1bf8
15 added, 14 removed. Audit A to A.
---
name: precedent
- description: >
- Before deciding/proposing anything structural — look up whether it was ALREADY decided:
- searches past verdicts in the decisions journal, the declined-decisions registry, and the
- rules codex, plus semantic search. Returns: what was decided + why + what was rejected and
- under what condition to revisit. Trigger on "/precedent <topic>", "did we already decide
- this". The RECALL insurance for the Alpha Protocol.
+ description: >-
+ Check whether something was already decided before proposing it: searches the decisions
+ journal, the declined registry and the rules codex plus semantic search, and returns what was
+ decided, why, what was rejected, and under what condition to revisit. Triggers: "/precedent
+ <topic>", "did we already decide this".
license: MIT
---
# /precedent — have we decided this already? (find the precedent before deciding)
Cheap insurance BEFORE a new structural choice or proposal: maybe there is already a verdict on this topic (accepted / rejected / deferred) — so we do not re-pitch something already declined, nor re-decide what is decided. This is the "RECALL before activity" rule applied to the DECISION layer.
## What to pull up (cheap → expensive; stop as soon as you find it)
1. **The declined journal (first — the most frequent hit):** memory
`$USERPROFILE/.claude/projects/<project>/memory/declined-decisions.md` —
what was rejected or deferred, why in the owner's own words, and `Revisit-if` (the condition under which it can come back).
2. **The accepted-decisions journal (vault):** grep `$OBSIDIAN_VAULT/02-Decisions/`
(subfolders by domain) and any `decision-*` files in the vault.
```bash
grep -rinl "<topic/keywords>" "$OBSIDIAN_VAULT/02-Decisions"
```
3. **The Bible (rules for all actors):** grep `reglament-*` / `protocol-*` in the vault — maybe a
standing rule already closes the question.
4. **Semantic top-up (if the exact grep is empty but the topic was clearly discussed):** the `/ask` skill
(RAG over the vault) — it catches phrasings grep missed.
## What to give back to the operator
A short verdict, not a dump:
- **A precedent EXISTS** → what was decided · when · why · a link to the note. If it was REJECTED,
name the `Revisit-if`: reopen ONLY if the condition is met, or explicitly as a trade-off
("there is no other way") — never silently re-pitch.
- **No precedent** → say exactly that: "I found no decision on this" (after checking the RIGHT drive/folder —
an empty result is often "looked in the wrong place", not "no data"), and then go decide from scratch
(for strategic questions, via the Alpha Protocol `R+DR`).
## When to call it
- Before I propose a new field / script / structure / rule / automation (per `show-before-after`).
- When the operator says "I think we discussed this".
- At the start of the Alpha Protocol — as part of the RECALL step.
## Boundaries
- Read-only: it only surfaces the past, it decides nothing for the operator.
- It does not duplicate the Alpha Protocol — it is that protocol's narrow sub-step "is there already a
verdict"; a full strategy still needs `R+DR`.
---
- <!-- CONTACT-FOOTER -->
- ## About & contact
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+ <!--kit-footer-->
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+ ---
+
+ **Like this skill?** It is one of 100 in [second-brain-starter-kit](https://github.com/tonydzi/second-brain-starter-kit): the second brain we built for ourselves and run every day at Palo Alto AI Research Lab. Install the whole set with `npx skills add tonydzi/second-brain-starter-kit`. Everything is open source and free, so take what you need.
+
+ Flagships worth a look on their own: [secondop-panel](https://github.com/tonydzi/secondop-panel) (a second opinion from a panel of external models), [claude-memory-tidy](https://github.com/tonydzi/claude-memory-tidy) (stop your agent's memory from rotting), [telegram-mcp-kit](https://github.com/tonydzi/telegram-mcp-kit) (your own Telegram over MCP in about 15 minutes).
+
+ Author: **Anton Dziatkovskii**, Palo Alto AI Research Lab. Telegram [@tonydzi](https://t.me/tonydzi) - WhatsApp [+1 341 222 9178](https://wa.me/13412229178) - X [@Tony_Stef_](https://x.com/Tony_Stef_)
+
+ **Engineers: want to test-drive this setup?** Message me. I hand out free starter seeds to engineers who test and report back, and custom skill requests are welcome.