fable-scope

fable-scope

Bound the task before building. Produce a short scope block and stop for the human only if a fork genuinely changes what you'd build.

T1 fast path: reversible and local → write the one-line check (step 1) and go. The full block below is for T2+ or fuzzy scope.

First, read .fable/project.md if it exists — it holds this project's acceptance oracle, conventions, and known gotchas; scope on top of it (don't re-derive what's there, and don't re-step on a logged landmine). If it's missing, offer to create it (see the method skill's overlay protocol). Then:

1. Define done as a named external CHECK. In one sentence: what artifact exists at the end, and what will "correct" be compared against? Prefer a concrete oracle (a known-good output, a reference system, a test, a count). If no oracle can exist, name the weakest acceptable substitute (a specific human's sign-off) — and say so. If you can't write the check, you don't understand the task yet. In an unfamiliar or long-untouched codebase, run that check before changing anything — you can't attribute a failure to your change if you never saw pre-change green.
2. Split known from assumed. Two short columns: Known (evidence) vs Assumed (inference). Anything in the second column that would change the solution if wrong is a candidate unknown.
3. Name the 1–3 load-bearing unknowns — the facts that, if wrong, change the whole shape — and the cheapest probe to retire each. Gate on them: don't build past an unretired load-bearing unknown.
4. Fence it. A short explicit "out of scope (recorded so nobody wonders)" list.
5. Right-size. Note which decisions are cheap to reverse (defer them) vs the one or two that are expensive/unpatchable (spend the thinking there). Assign the task its risk tier (T1 reversible-local / T2 hard-to-reverse / T3 outward-production — the method skill's table); the tier fixes the minimum gate before any "done" claim.
6. Ask only outcome-changing questions. If a fork changes what you'd build, ask one question, with a recommendation and the rejected cost. Otherwise pick the sensible default, state it in one line, and proceed. Ask to change outcomes, not to feel safe.

If the work will outlive this session, or is T3: open .fable/tasks/<slug>.md — first line <!-- task: <slug> — next: <action> -->, then the scope block, an Anchors line (the oracle, the fence, human rulings — re-stated at every re-decide; moving one is an escalation to the human, not a re-plan), a decision log (chose X over Y because Z; revisit if W), and deferral buckets. Keep the pointer's next: current as you work (the SessionStart hook surfaces it every session); append a decision record at every re-decide moment. fable-ship retires the file. (Single-session work at any tier needs only the scope block — the file exists for what must survive a session boundary or a T3 audit.)

Plan to the shape (method skill → The plan shape): the next 1–2 steps concrete with their checkpoints; everything past the next verification point stays a coarse bucket. A step without a check attached is a hope, not a step.

Output the scope block, then continue. Re-open it if a later result invalidates an assumption.