Classification reference¶
Intent shapes for /cheese, with the signals that drive each one and the disambiguation rules that resolve ambiguity. Confidence stays qualitative (low | medium | high); only medium or better dispatches. /cheese dispatches the chosen target immediately; --safe is the only switch that gates dispatch behind a confirmation prompt.
Clarity check (implementation intents)¶
For cook and mold intents — and only these — classification feeds into the cook-fast-path clarity check (skills/cook/SKILL.md:30-35: clear I/O, bounded scope, obvious verification). All three checks passing means tier 1: write a mini-spec via /mold's agent-invoked mode and dispatch /cook --auto. Any check borderline means tier 2: invoke /culture and/or /briesearch internally, re-check. Still borderline means tier 3: a single targeted host-routed question. The full three-tier escalation lives in skills/cheese/SKILL.md § Escalation.
The clarify intent below is exclusively the tier-3 path; classify a request as clarify when the cook-fast-path check fails twice (input + post-tier-2-refined input) or when intent confidence stays below medium after the silent culture pass.
Other intents (research, rubber-duck, debug, age, age-then-cure, cheese-factory) bypass the clarity check and dispatch directly to their target skill — each target owns its own escalation.
Shape index¶
| Intent | Pre-step | Target |
|---|---|---|
| clarify | one host-routed question | re-enter /cheese |
| research | — | /briesearch |
| rubber-duck | — | /culture (only when the user explicitly opted out of writes) |
| mold | optional /briesearch |
/mold → /cook |
| cook | — | /cook --auto (default — propagates through /press → /age → /cure) |
| debug | — | /pasteurize --auto (default) → /cook --auto |
| age | — | /age |
| age-then-cure | — | /age → /cure |
Signal table¶
clarify¶
Use when classification confidence falls below medium, or critical facts are missing.
| Signal | Example |
|---|---|
$ARGUMENTS is empty or a single word |
/cheese, /cheese help |
| Pronoun-only reference with no recent context | "fix it", "review that" |
| Two strong but conflicting signals | spec path and PR url in one prompt |
| Mentioned file/spec/slug does not exist | path that fails cheez-read |
Ask one question. Re-enter /cheese with the answer.
research (/briesearch)¶
External-evidence questions where the answer is not in the working tree.
| Signal | Example |
|---|---|
| Names a library / framework / API / CLI | "what does the Stripe SDK do for idempotency keys" |
| Comparison or recommendation question | "best rate limiter library", "compare X vs Y" |
| Asks about current vendor state | "is library X still maintained" |
| "Before I implement…" framing | "before I implement, what's the right approach" |
Defer to /briesearch even when the user did not say "research" — the router's job is to recognise the shape.
rubber-duck (/culture)¶
The user has explicitly asked for discussion only — no production writes, no code, no PRs. This is a narrow path; in all other cases, agent reasoning happens silently via /culture during step 1 of /cheese and never surfaces to the user.
| Signal | Example |
|---|---|
| "no writes" / "just thinking" / "rubber duck this" / "let's just talk about X" | "let's rubber-duck whether to split this slice — don't write anything" |
| Explicit "discuss only" framing | "I want to think about this with you before we touch code" |
If the user dropped a debug or implementation signal and asked for discussion only, the rubber-duck signal wins — they opted out of writes. If the conversation later reveals real work, /culture itself recommends /mold or /cook.
/culture is otherwise the agent's internal-thinking skill — invoked silently by /cheese (and other workflow skills) to model the problem before dispatching. Never route to it as a user-facing target unless the rubber-duck signal is present.
mold (/mold)¶
Fuzzy idea or multi-module feature where a spec is the right next artifact.
| Signal | Example |
|---|---|
| Feature description without acceptance criteria | "add dark mode", "support webhooks" |
| Touches more than one module or introduces a new public seam | "a new authn flow across web + worker" |
| Asks for a spec, plan, or design doc | "shape this into a spec", "design X" |
| Issue reference whose body is itself a fuzzy idea | #87 with "we should support…" body |
Optional pre-step: route /briesearch first when the user calls out external evidence as missing.
cook (/cook)¶
Clear, scoped implementation request meeting the standalone fast-path checks.
| Signal | Example |
|---|---|
Spec path under .cheese/specs/ |
.cheese/specs/dark-mode.md |
| Single-file fix with named function or test | "make tail count bytes correctly when no trailing newline" |
| All three of: clear inputs/outputs, bounded scope, obvious verification | the cook fast-path checklist |
When two of the three fast-path checks are clear but the third is borderline, downgrade to mold.
debug (/pasteurize --auto → /cook --auto)¶
Symptom-driven work where the cause has not been confirmed yet and a code-level fix is expected.
| Signal | Example |
|---|---|
Stack trace pasted in $ARGUMENTS |
TypeError: ... block |
| Failing test name or output | "test_foo_handles_empty fails on main" |
| Reproduction steps without a stated cause | "open page, click X, see 500" |
| "Why is X broken" / "what's wrong with Y" framing | — |
| Visual / behavioural bug with a clear repro | "flash of white between two clips" with a file path |
Route to /pasteurize so the cause is named via a deterministic feedback loop, the regression test is written, and the minimal fix is applied. /pasteurize then hands off forward into the standard /cook → /press → /age → /cure chain. If the cause is already obvious and the fix is a single-file tweak with a known seam, jump straight to /cook instead. Only route a debug signal to /culture when the user explicitly opted out of writes (see the rubber-duck shape).
age (/age)¶
Review-only requests against a diff, branch, PR, or scoped path.
| Signal | Example |
|---|---|
PR reference (PR#142, GitHub PR URL) |
— |
| File path or glob with review verb | "review src/auth/**", "check login.ts" |
| "Is this safe to merge" / "find bugs" / "review this" | — |
| Commit ref / branch range | main..HEAD, <sha>...HEAD |
/age writes a report; it does not fix. /cheese does not pre-bind /cure unless the user asked for fixes.
age-then-cure (/age → /cure)¶
Review request that explicitly asks for fixes too.
| Signal | Example |
|---|---|
| "Review and fix" / "find and fix" | — |
Existing .cheese/age/<slug>.md plus "act on the findings" |
/cure may be the direct target if the report is fresh |
| CI failure with multiple unrelated findings | route to /age first to scope, then /cure |
If a fresh .cheese/age/<slug>.md already exists and the user only wants fixes, target /cure <slug> directly without re-running /age.
Disambiguation rules¶
When two intents are plausible, apply in order:
- Explicit verb wins. "Review" →
age. "Fix" →cookorcure. "Design" →mold. "Think through with no writes" →culture; "think through" alone is just the agent's internal reasoning before dispatching tomoldorcook. - Strongest signal wins. A spec path beats free text. A stack trace beats a feature description. A PR URL beats a path glob.
- Smallest committed scope wins. Prefer
cookovermoldwhen the fast-path checks pass. Only prefercultureovermoldwhen the user has explicitly opted out of writes. - If still tied, clarify. Ask one question; do not guess.
Confidence cues¶
| Cue | Effect on confidence |
|---|---|
| Path / slug / PR URL resolves cleanly | +1 step (toward high) |
User uses an explicit cheese verb (mold, cook, age, cure, culture, briesearch) |
+1 step |
| Two competing signals of similar strength | -1 step |
| Referenced artifact does not exist on disk | downgrade to clarify |
| Recent context contradicts the new signal | -1 step, lean on the question pattern in coherence-check.md |
Examples¶
$ARGUMENTS |
Intent | Reason |
|---|---|---|
.cheese/specs/dark-mode.md |
cook | spec path resolves; fast-path obvious |
add dark mode to the web client |
mold | feature scope, no spec, multi-module likely |
PR#142 |
age | PR reference, no fix verb |
review and fix the high-severity items in PR#142 |
age-then-cure | review verb + fix verb + PR ref |
| stack trace pasted | debug | trace present, cause not stated |
what's the best rate limiter library for fastify |
research | external library question |
help me think about splitting orders into a sub-slice — don't write anything yet |
rubber-duck | explicit no-writes opt-out |
help me think about splitting orders into a sub-slice |
mold | fuzzy multi-module idea; agent thinks via /culture internally, then routes to /mold |
/cheese |
clarify | empty input; ask what they want |
make the cli help flag respect NO_COLOR |
cook | scoped, single-flag, verifiable |