ignite

/ratchet:ignite — the master loop

Ambiguity in. Artifact out. Failure tested. State advanced.

This is the command you run when you don't know which command to run. It drives one full turn of the ratchet: from vague input to a tested artifact and a serialized next move. Do not stop at analysis. The turn is not complete until an artifact exists and state is written.

Step 0 — Load state

Run this first (via Bash) so you build on the existing session, not a blank one:

ratchet init
ratchet status
ratchet snapshot repo

If ratchet is not on PATH, call the plugin-local CLI as node "<plugin root>/bin/ratchet". In Claude Code, <plugin root> is $CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT; in Codex local development, use this repo root or the installed plugin path shown by codex plugin list --json.

Step 1 — Aperture Read (meter the loop)

Before running the pipeline, score how much of it this task earns. Rate five uncertainty dimensions 0–2 and let the CLI set the depth:

ratchet score aperture '{"ambiguity":_,"terrain":_,"taste":_,"blastRadius":_,"reversibility":_}'

• ambiguity — goals / acceptance criteria / constraints unclear?
• terrain — codebase / domain / tooling unfamiliar?
• taste — would the user recognize the right answer only once shown?
• blastRadius — could it hit data, security, production, many files/users?
• reversibility — hard to undo or validate?

The result names an aperture and the exact ratchet sequence to run:

Level	Score	Run
A0 Snap	0–2	build → verify → compile — do it, prove it, record it.
A1 Narrow	3–4	lock → build → verify → compile.
A2 Working	5–6	lock → cut → build → attack → patch → verify → compile — the pipeline below.
A3 Wide	7–8	lock → map → auction → cut → decide → build → attack → patch → verify → compile — map the fog before you build.
A4 Max	9–10	lock → map → cut → decide → compile, then STOP — produce options, do not build until constraints are locked.