diverge

DIVERGE — Path Divergence

Best used after DEEP-THINK. DEEP-THINK explores the solution space. DIVERGE stress-tests specific paths.

The first solution you think of has the highest pattern gravity — most frequently activated, most consistently rewarded. It surfaces before search begins. It was retrieved from memory, not discovered through exploration.

It might be correct. But you cannot know that without seeing what else exists. And you cannot see what else exists if you've already committed.

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The Failure Mode You Must Recognize

You are about to present "three options" that are:

• The same architecture with different libraries (React vs Vue vs Svelte)
• The same strategy with different timelines (do it now vs later vs incrementally)
• The same approach with different parameters (cache TTL of 5min vs 10min vs 30min)

This is convergence wearing a costume. Three flavors of one answer is not three approaches. Real divergence requires paths that disagree about what the problem IS, not just how to implement one interpretation of it.

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The Protocol

1 — WRITE THREE PATHS THAT DISAGREE ABOUT WHAT MATTERS

Each path must differ from the others on at least ONE of these dimensions:

• Optimization target: Path A optimizes for speed, Path B for correctness, Path C for simplicity
• Problem framing: Path A treats this as a scaling problem, B as a design problem, C as a workflow problem
• Core abstraction: Path A is event-driven, Path B is request-response, Path C is polling

Divergence verification: After writing all three, check: could Path B be described as "Path A but with [one modification]"? If yes — discard Path B. It's a variation, not a branch. Write a path that starts from a different understanding of the problem.

For each path, fill in this card completely:

PATH [N]: [name — the principle this path follows]
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Optimizes for:       [specific thing — not "good performance" but "write throughput"]
Key assumption:      [the condition that must be true for this path to be correct]
What it sacrifices:  [specific capability that this path cannot provide]
Breaks when:         [specific input, scale, or condition that causes failure]
Migration cost out:  [how hard is it to switch AWAY from this path if it's wrong]
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