tree

tree — universal radial-tree exploration engine

What this skill is. A single engine implementing recursive radial-tree exploration (root → 12-framing expansion → per-node 12-field derivation → score → recurse on high-verdict leaves → terminate on substantive convergence). What varies between use-cases (brainstorm vs critique vs design vs code-audit) is the baseline recipe, node schema, scoring dimensions, and verdict vocabulary — all parameterized via a preset file.

What this skill is NOT. Not a one-shot LLM call that returns a bulleted list. Not a chat interface — once /cc-tree:tree is invoked, the engine runs to convergence without further prompts. Not bundled with a model — pure prompt-engineering on top of Claude Code's existing model setting.

The full engine specification lives in docs/ENGINE.md. This SKILL.md is a 7-step navigation guide; Read docs/ENGINE.md before producing the first node (the engine spec is what defines "valid" for everything you'll write).

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1. Invocation

/cc-tree:tree <root> --preset <name|path> [flags]

<root> is preset-typed:

• brainstorm preset → topic string, e.g. "ways to detect dark-matter substructure"
• attack preset → file path (.md / .tex / etc.) or quoted argument-text
• design preset → design-prompt string or .md file path
• code-audit preset → file path or directory path

--preset is required:

• Built-in: brainstorm, attack, design, code-audit (resolve to presets/<name>.md in this plugin)
• Path: ./my-custom.md (any .md file with the right frontmatter)

Common flags (apply across presets)

Flag	Default	Meaning
--lang <tag|auto>	en	Output language for all localized prose (node statements, derivations, report narrative, warnings). Machine tokens — flag/command names, frontmatter & JSON keys, root_kind values, verdict labels, status tokens, filenames — always stay English. <tag> is a BCP-47-like code (en, zh, zh-Hans, zh-Hant, fr-CA); zh = Simplified Chinese, zh-Hant = Traditional. auto detects the dominant language of <root> and falls back to en for mixed / path-only / code-only input. Resolved once before preset load, recorded in run metadata (language_request / output_language / language_source), and never prompted mid-run. Full precedence, resume, and chain semantics: docs/ENGINE.md §1.0.
--width N	∞	Cap on final leaf count (the outer arc of the tree). ∞ / inf / unspecified all mean unlimited.
--depth N	∞	Cap on tree depth from root.
--rounds N	conv	Cap on expansion rounds. conv = no cap; terminate by §6 substantive convergence.
--max-branches N	∞	Cap on new branches per node per round. Floor is 12 because §3 requires all 12 framings to fire; this flag only raises the ceiling.
--out <dir>	tree-out/<UTCdate>__<slug>/	Output directory. Per-preset commands override (e.g. brainstorm-out/).
--glossary <path>	(preset-determined)	Path to a glossary / FACTS.md / glossary section in a dossier; used by §2.0 grill prelude.
--field <name|path>	(none)	Field profile for domain-aware reviewer weighting. <name> → field-profiles/<name>.md in this plugin; <path> → a literal file. Feeds §3.C / §3.D / §3.I / §3.J + the §3.X / §4 evidence bar. Missing profile → warn + continue (non-blocking). See docs/ENGINE.md §2.2.
--seed-from <primary.md>	(none)	Seed the tree from a prior run's primary deliverable (shortlist.md / options.md / confirmed.md): each listed item enters as a depth-1 seed node and is re-expanded. The substrate for cross-preset chaining (docs/chaining.md). Alias: --from-prior.
--no-grill	off	Skip §2.0 glossary grill prelude. Marks root-node terms as unverified; §6 convergence adds a warning.
--no-online	off	Disable WebSearch / WebFetch. Local + already-Read references only.
--min-frameworks N	12	Minimum framing passes per node. Floor is 12 (full §3.A–§3.L); flag exists for documentation, not relaxation.
--min-novelty-ratio R	0.15	§6.1 condition 2 requires "last 2 rounds' high-verdict / total < R".