ssot-preflight ยท diff
git:20261026.974847a to git:20261026.4713c7f
22 added, 13 removed. Audit A to A.
---
name: ssot-preflight
description: Read the repository's SSOT before substantive work. Use this before code, config, documentation, review, debugging, refactoring, or planning work in a repository, to find the invariants and documents that bear on the task and to surface open questions that affect it. Skip it for non-repository chat, pure command runs, and typo or formatting edits that cannot change meaning.
metadata:
- protocol_version: "3.0"
+ protocol_version: "3.1"
bundle: "SSOT Skill"
---
# SSOT Preflight
Before substantive work, find out what the repository's memory says about the
- task. [`references/memory-model.md`](references/memory-model.md) explains what
- `SSOT/` holds and what the invariants register means. Read it the first time
- you use SSOT in a session.
+ task. Read [`references/memory-model.md`](references/memory-model.md), which
+ explains what `SSOT/` holds and what the invariants register means, the
+ first time you use SSOT in a session.
## 1. Find the entry point
- **No `SSOT/` directory.** Tell the user the repository has no SSOT and offer
to create one with `$ssot-bootstrap`. Setup writes a documentation tree and
can take more than one session, so it needs the user's yes. If they decline
or defer, do the task without the SSOT steps, and do not offer again this
session.
- **`SSOT/BOOTSTRAP.md` exists.** Setup is unfinished. Offer to continue it,
and meanwhile use what is already written.
- **`SSOT/README.md` has no `ssot_format: 3`.** This SSOT predates v3:
usually the v2 layout with `SSOT/STATUS.md`, sometimes a hand-written one.
Read it as knowledge. Its coverage labels and review
records are historical, but its adjudications, user constraints, limits,
and open questions that bear on the task still bind you. Do not write to
it. Tell the user once that `$ssot-bootstrap` can migrate it or set it up
in the v3 format.
## 2. Read what this task needs
Read `SSOT/README.md`, then:
1. **Invariants.** Find the rows whose rule this task could affect, and read
the explanation each one links to. If the task would break a confirmed
- invariant, stop and ask the user before acting. Follow candidate rows as
- strong defaults, and mention them when the task bears on them.
+ invariant, stop and ask the user before acting. Follow candidate rows by
+ default. If the task needs to depart from one, or its meaning is unclear
+ in a way that matters here, ask the user to confirm or drop it and record
+ the answer; only the choice that depends on it waits.
2. **Open questions.** If one blocks the path this task needs, say so. Only
the work that depends on the answer waits; unrelated work goes ahead.
3. **Known traps and limits.** Read the gotchas and the known gaps that
touch the parts you will change, and handle each one: fix it, work around
it deliberately, or say why it does not apply.
4. **Routes.** Read the files the task routes point to. If no route fits, read
the product and architecture entry documents. Do not read the whole tree.
5. **What you rely on.** When an SSOT statement decides how you will implement
something, check it against the code first. If they disagree, the code is
the current behavior. Note the mismatch so closeout fixes the document, or
so you can report the violation.
- ## 3. While you work
+ ## 3. Before your first change, and while you work
- Watch for facts that will outlive the task: decisions, changed contracts or
- behavior that users rely on, traps you hit, changed commands, temporary
- workarounds, and lasting directives from the user ("never", "always", "from
- now on"). Note them as they come up. `$ssot-closeout` records them before you
- finish. If a fact is clear and its owner is obvious, you may update the owner
- right away.
+ If the user has stated a lasting rule ("from now on", "never", "always"), or
+ settled a decision whose reason exists only in the conversation, write it to
+ its owner before you change anything else, and again whenever the user
+ settles one later. Follow closeout's rules for where and whether SSOT may be
+ written, and label what the code does not do yet as planned. These do not
+ wait for closeout: an interrupted or compacted session loses them, and the
+ code never shows them. An idea still under discussion is not settled.
+
+ Watch for the other facts that will outlive the task: decisions, changed
+ contracts or behavior that users rely on, traps you hit, changed commands,
+ and temporary workarounds. Note them as they come up; `$ssot-closeout`
+ records them before you finish, and you may update an obvious owner right
+ away.
## Where to go next
| Situation | Skill |
|---|---|
| No SSOT yet, setup unfinished, or a v2 layout to migrate | `$ssot-bootstrap` |
| Finishing a substantive batch, before the final response or commit | `$ssot-closeout` |
| Health check, a review, or catching up on past commits | `$ssot-doctor` |