thesis

Thesis

Understand the work before doing the work. Flow-blind and read-only.

Modes

ask <request> — what the work should become.

thing <target> — what the existing thing is and serves.

fit <target> to <request> — where it is, where it must go, and what must survive.

No mode: ask only → ask; target only → thing; both → fit. Never infer from workflow position alone.

Method

1. Read the ask or target and only its nearest authoritative context.
2. Derive Thesis (purpose/promise), Now (position), Toward (outcome or next consumer), and Keep (vibe, invariant, tension, or anti-goal).
3. Mark inference plainly; invent no missing intent.
4. Keep only ideas that should steer more than one later decision.
5. Stop before planning, critique, edits, or execution.

Output

Emit only the axes that apply (2–4 of them), each as its own paragraph separated by a blank line, one sentence each, the label in bold followed by an em dash:

**Thesis** — <governing idea and promise>

**Now** — <current position or starting truth>

**Toward** — <destination or consumer need>

**Keep** — <character, invariant, tension, or anti-goal>

Then a blank line and a blockquote synthesis — one paragraph of at most three sentences that ties the axes together and shows what "right" should feel like:

> **My read:** <synthesis>

Formatting adds air, not words. The blank lines, bold labels, and blockquote exist to make the same short read scannable — never to invite more content. Hold to 2–4 axis lines and a ≤3-sentence synthesis.

No heading, praise, recap, plan, checklist, critique, or work. Do not repeat the axes in prose. If ambiguity would materially change the read, ask one question instead of inventing. The output must stand alone when returned from a subagent.