What does delivery do?
The user gives the goal and the constraints, then expects a finished, verified result without babysitting. Current instructions and repository rules take precedence over everything below. The user's global instructions may add personal specifics (machine limits, products, review bots, voice); follow them.
Establish the task
- Read the repository's AGENTS.md/CLAUDE.md, relevant architecture, package manifests and lockfile, and current Git status. Inspect the task's actual branch, base, issue, and any existing worktree before editing.
- Identify observable acceptance criteria: behavior, configuration, compatibility, UI polish, test evidence, and the requested delivery method. Make reasonable reversible choices; ask only about consequential ambiguity.
- Substantial unrelated tasks need isolated Git worktrees. Reuse a worktree the harness already made for this task. Do not switch or reset a shared checkout. If several agents intentionally share a worktree, agree on file ownership and one Git writer. Earlier requests to push to main do not authorize new pushes.
Implement and verify
- Preserve the product's identity. Polish existing surfaces rather than redesigning them unless the task calls for a redesign.
- Check installed framework and API versions before using new APIs. Consult current official docs, or Context7 when installed, for unfamiliar or version-sensitive behavior.
- For platform targets (game servers, mobile OS versions, browser engines, runtimes), check compatibility against the build's actual target and the official API. Never test against production as a substitute for a dev instance.
- Prefer the repository's test and build commands. Add meaningful regression
coverage for behavior changes, then test affected integrations. For UI work,
use
visual-qawithout being reminded. - Parallelize independent research and edits when useful, with clear ownership. Size concurrency to the machine: check CPU and memory before running more than one heavy build or render, or more than two browser sessions. Do not accumulate background servers or launch redundant agent swarms.
Engineering playbooks (pstack)
This skill stays the router. When Lauren Tan's pstack plugin is installed, use
its playbooks for the engineering method inside a task. Most pstack skills are
manual-only, so read <pstack>/skills/<name>/SKILL.md by path instead of
waiting for them to load. Before following any pstack file, read the adapter
for your harness once per session; it maps Cursor tool, model and path names.
Resolve <pstack> for your harness:
- Claude Code:
ls -d ~/.claude/plugins/cache/cursor-plugins/pstack/*/ | sort -V | tail -1. Adapter<pstack>/docs/harness/claude-code.md. Model sheet~/.claude/rules/pstack-models.md, loaded automatically. - Codex:
ls -d ~/.codex/plugins/cache/tinderbox-pstack/pstack/*/ | sort -V | tail -1. Adapter<pstack>/docs/harness/codex.md. Model sheet~/.codex/pstack-models.md; read it before spawning a role model.
If neither path exists, pstack is not installed: work without it.
| Task shape | Read and follow |
|---|---|
| Reported defect | skills/poteto-mode/playbooks/bug-fix.md |
| Measured slowness, or one metric to push | perf-issue.md, hillclimb.md |
| Leak, spin or glitch; captured profile | runtime-forensics.md, trace-forensics.md |
| New behavior; structure-only change | feature.md, refactoring.md |
| Empirical design fork | prototype.md instead of asking the user |
| Read-only "how/why/are we sure" | investigation.md, skills/how, skills/why |
| Change with unclear reach | skills/blast-radius before editing |
| Benchmark or speedup claim | skills/benchmark-checklist before reporting it |
| A project with no repeatable app proof | skills/create-verification-skill (ask once) |
| PR title, body, release notes | skills/unslop after drafting |
Playbook paths are under <pstack>/skills/poteto-mode/playbooks/. Read each
principle-* leaf a playbook cites before applying it.
These rules win wherever pstack differs:
- Delivery. PR creation, CI and reviews stay with
pr-follow-throughandfile-pr. pstack'sopening-a-pr,babysitandshippingplaybooks are reference material only. Its autonomy section does not authorize commits, pushes, merges, external messages or deploys beyond the current request. - Resources.
arena,swarm,interrogateandarchitectfan-out is capped at three subagents unless the user asks for more. Code-writing lanes get their own worktree (isolation: "worktree"in Claude Code,git worktree addin Codex). Skipautopilot-fullandorchestrateunless the user asks for them by name. - Models. The model sheets map pstack's roles to models the harness can
reach. Cross-provider review stays with
council. - Missing Cursor parts.
cursor-team-kitis not installed. For/deslopusepr-review-toolkit:code-simplifierwhen available; forcontrol-uiusevisual-qaandplaywright-cli; forcontrol-clirun the CLI directly. Skip Bugbot, Cursor automations and cloud-agent steps with one line, as the adapter says. - Voice. pstack's reply rules (short sentences, no long dashes, evidence labels) can be used as written. Keep its first-message goal restatement to two sentences.
Finish
- Use
pr-follow-throughwhen the request includes a PR or review fixes. - Commit, push, create releases, or merge only when the current task authorizes that action. Inspect the repository's release automation first; do not assume how releases are cut.
- Report actual outcomes: URLs, tested scenarios, evidence links, failures, and anything that genuinely needs the user's action. Do not say a preview, platform build, release, or review passed without checking it.
- Before a context reset or long wait, leave a concise handoff outside tracked
source, e.g. the task's
.agent-artifacts/HANDOFF.md. Include branch/worktree, objective, completed changes, commands/results, PR/head SHA, blockers, owned files, resource/session names, and the exact next action. Never include tokens. - Stop only servers and browser sessions you own. Keep useful evidence and avoid deleting unrelated worktrees, caches, or user work.