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---
name: harden-task-file
description: 'Harden a manifest-dev task guidance file for one-shot quality — either /define''s quality-gate/Default set or figure-out''s probe set. Iterates: orthogonality gap analysis, user-approved additions, prompt review, fix, converge. Use when a task file needs comprehensive coverage or "harden task file".'
user-invocable: true
metadata:
internal: true
---
**User request**: $ARGUMENTS
Systematically harden a /define task guidance file until manifests built from it produce deliverables that don't need iteration.
If no arguments, ask which task file to harden.
## Context
Task files come in two parallel, decoupled sets, each keyed by task type and hardened for one-shot quality. Harden whichever set the target file belongs to:
- **`/define`'s task files** (`claude-plugins/manifest-dev/skills/define/tasks/`) carry encoder data:
- **Quality Gates** — Verifiable output properties. Can split into baselines (always enforced) and selectable (meaningful rigor choices)
- **Defaults** — Non-verifiable process practices always worth doing, encoded as PG-* without probing
- **figure-out's task files** (`claude-plugins/manifest-dev/skills/figure-out/tasks/`) carry probing fuel:
- **Blind-spot probes** — Non-natural angles the model skips by default (failure modes, pre-mortem fuel), phrased as the question that opens a branch
- **Forced trade-offs** — Competing tensions the model must drive to a decision
New items must match the depth and structural conventions of the owning skill (`define/SKILL.md` or `figure-out/SKILL.md`) and its existing sibling task files.
## Goal
The task file should be comprehensive enough that a manifest built with it surfaces all criteria needed for one-shot quality — figure-out's probes surface the non-natural angles during understanding; /define's gates and Defaults encode the verifiable bar. "One-shot" = the deliverable passes review without iteration.
## Log
Write findings to `/tmp/harden-{timestamp}.md` after each round. Read full log before each new round — prevents re-proposing rejected items and losing dimension context.
Per-round log structure:
```
## Round N
### Dimension Map
[dimension → items mapping]
### Gaps Found
[uncovered dimensions]
### Proposals
[item: accepted/rejected by user]
### Reviewer Findings
[finding: agree/disagree, applied/skipped]
```
## Orthogonality Analysis
The core discipline. Map every item in the file to a dimension — an independent axis of concern. A dimension is a top-level concern like "evidence quality" or "audience fit"; items are specific checks within a dimension like "source credibility" or "cross-referencing". Two items share a dimension if improving one naturally helps the other.
User validates the dimension map before gap-filling begins. Gaps = dimensions with no coverage.
Examples of dimension sources: deliverable lifecycle (creation → review → use → maintenance), rejection triggers, wrongness vs incompleteness, base-rate failures for this task class, user interaction points.
If the first analysis finds no gaps, invoke the reviewer once and exit if clean — not every task file needs hardening.
## Iteration Loop
Each iteration achieves:
- **Gaps identified** via orthogonality analysis
- **Additions designed** — invoke the prompt-engineering skill before proposing changes
- **User-approved additions** applied (all additions via AskUserQuestion)
- **Quality validated** — invoke the review-prompt skill on the task file after applying changes
- **Reviewer findings evaluated critically** — not all are valid. Present assessment with rationale; user decides
- **Log updated** after each round
Converged when criteria in Convergence section met.
## Section Placement
Each item belongs in exactly one section. A file holds only its own set's sections — a `/define` file never carries probes/trade-offs, a figure-out file never carries gates/Defaults:
| Section | Set | What it checks | Test |
|---------|-----|----------------|------|
| Quality Gate (baseline) | /define | Output property that should always be true | Would omitting this ever be acceptable? No → baseline |
| Quality Gate (selectable) | /define | Output property representing a meaningful rigor choice | Reasonable to skip for some tasks? Yes → selectable |
| Default | /define | Non-verifiable process practice always worth doing | Can't verify from output but always sound? → Default (PG-*) |
| Blind-spot probe | figure-out | A non-natural failure mode / pre-mortem angle the model skips by default | "Imagine this was rejected because..." AND a capable model wouldn't raise it unprompted? → probe |
| Forced trade-off | figure-out | Competing tension with no universal right answer | Both sides have legitimate merit? → trade-off |
A concern appears once, in its most natural section. When the same concern appears in multiple sections, keep the stronger version.
## Principles
| Principle | Enforcement |
|-----------|-------------|
| Orthogonality over volume | Cover all dimensions, not all possible items within a dimension |
| User approves all changes | Propose via AskUserQuestion, never auto-add |
| Critical reviewer evaluation | Evaluate each finding independently — push back with rationale when wrong. When reviewer suggests items in already-covered dimensions, orthogonality wins |
| No redundancy across sections | Same concern in both risks and scenarios = pick one |
| Principles over thresholds | "Corroborated across independent sources" not "verified across 2+ sources" |
| No capability instructions | Don't prescribe verification methods — parent skill handles that |
| Match complexity to domain | Not every task file needs 17 quality gates — match depth to the diversity of ways the deliverable can fail |
## Never
- Auto-add items without user approval
- Blindly apply all reviewer suggestions
- Add arbitrary numerical thresholds
- Prescribe verification methods (parent skill handles this)
- Re-propose items the user already rejected (check log)
## Convergence
Done when:
- Orthogonality analysis finds no new uncovered dimensions
- Prompt reviewer finds no MEDIUM+ issues
- User confirms satisfaction