simplicio-orient

simplicio-orient — terminal-first, token-frugal execution

For max-speed delivery law (Runtime decide, Mapper→Fast→dev-cli, Prism waves, economy-parallel, DONE|NEXT|BLOCKED), see docs/LLM_MAX_SPEED_ORIENTATION.md and the loop re-feed block SIMPLICIO-LLM-ORIENTATION in simplicio-loop/SKILL.md. This skill owns terminal token clamps; that doc owns how the stack orients the LLM for speed.

The cheapest token is the one not spent. The terminal KNOWS facts exactly; the LLM APPROXIMATES them expensively. This skill routes every step to the leanest substrate that still completes it correctly, and clamps command output before it ever reaches context.

Credit: folds the disciplines of rtk (per-command output reduction, tee-on-failure, signatures-only reads, auto-rewrite hook) and caveman (preserve code/paths byte-for-byte) into the simplicio safety spine. It is the extracted, standalone form of simplicio-tasks Step 1c.

The one rule

If the answer is a fact about the filesystem, git state, process state, or system resources — the terminal answers it exactly and cheaply. Use the terminal. The LLM is for reasoning; the terminal is for facts. Execute commands for real — never reason about what a command "would return".

Execution priority

1. Host-runtime native command bound to shell_exec (structured, minimal tokens, cross-platform).
2. Shell/Bash tool call WITH output clamping (this skill's catalog).
3. NEVER: the LLM narrating a command's likely output.

Terminal substitution table (use the terminal, not the LLM)

Detect platform once: python3 -c "import platform; print(platform.system())" → Windows | Darwin | Linux. Prefer cross-platform tools (git, gh, rg, python3) so one command works everywhere; fall back to OS-specific only when there is no alternative.

What you need	✅ Cross-platform (preferred)	Windows	Linux/macOS
File exists?	python3 -c "import os,sys;sys.exit(0 if os.path.exists('<p>') else 1)"	Test-Path <p>	test -f <p>
Find in code	rg "<pat>" --json	same	same
Count matches	rg -c "<pat>" <file>	same	same
List files by glob	rg --files -g "*.ts"	same	same
Current branch	git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD	same	same
Ahead of main?	git rev-list --count main..HEAD	same	same
Files changed in branch	git diff --name-only main...HEAD	same	same
PR for branch	gh pr list --head <b> --json number --jq ".[0].number"	same	same
Issue state	gh issue view N --json state --jq ".state"	same	same
Open issue count	gh issue list --state open --json number --jq "length"	same	same
CPU cores	python3 -c "import os;print(os.cpu_count())"	$env:NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS	nproc
Free disk GB	python3 -c "import shutil;print(shutil.disk_usage('.').free//1024**3)"	same	df -BG .
Extract JSON field	python3 -c "import json,sys;print(json.load(sys.stdin)['<f>'])"	same	jq '.<f>'
Today UTC	python3 -c "from datetime import*;print(datetime.now(timezone.utc).date())"	same	date -u +%F
Sort + dedup	python3 -c "import sys;print('\n'.join(sorted(set(sys.stdin.read().split()))))"	same	sort -u
Replace in file	bound deterministic_edit (host)	same	sed -i