---name: molddescription: Turn a high-leverage design decision into a validated spec through grounded dialogue. Use it when a leverage trigger fires (auth, irreversible effects, concurrency, contracts, destructive ops, a new slice, a cross-slice dependency, an invariant gap) or when the user asks for a spec or design. Typical phrases include "let's design X", "shape this into a spec", "what should the API for Z look like", and "/mold". A feature ask with zero fired triggers is a `/cook` mini-spec, not a mold; route it through `/cheese`. Do NOT use it for free-form discussion without artifact intent (`/culture`), direct implementation (`/cook`), or research-only questions (`/briesearch`). Ceremony scales to the ask through `references/tiers.md`, so a small clear change gets a validated mini-spec without a write-approval turn.license: MITmetadata: {dispatches-agents: true}---

/mold

Ceremony scales to the job. The Bounds pass picks one of three tiers from references/tiers.md: Quick writes a validated mini-spec, Light runs only the dialogue modes the open forks need, and Full runs the whole Flow below. Saving a spec needs no extraction approval. Cook still needs an explicit user request. /cheese's tier-1 escalation enters mini-spec mode; see ## Agent-invoked mini-spec mode.

Flow

1. Bounds pass — open the Goal / Decided / Asking / [AGENT-DECIDED] ledger with the goal pinned as one sentence; only an explicit user fork changes it. Split it into G-n clauses (references/handshake.md § Goal coverage). Map every input's goals and non-goals as one [AGENT-DECIDED] line; ask the user only when the goal is genuinely unknown or a leverage trigger fires. Run the shape check, then announce the tier with its reason (references/tiers.md). Quick exits here to ## Agent-invoked mini-spec mode without a write-approval turn. Upgrade the tier whenever the evidence changes; never downgrade silently.
2. Route — choose the secondary mode from references/modes.md, announce it, and correct false premises first.
3. Dialogue — consequential forks are the user's to pick. A fork is consequential per the leverage line in ../age/references/voice.md. Every other fork is [AGENT-DECIDED]. Supply options, trade-offs, and evidence before you ask. Ground each critical claim through code, the Validate Cycle, or a Prototype Cycle. Resolve every contradiction. Render the decision map after three consecutive fork questions, or on request.
4. Sketch — For work across modules or with a new public interface, run references/shape-check.md. Bind identity and role nouns to code referents. Record the Placement block; no bodies.
5. Plan and validate — run the fresh-context fork-coherence taste test with python3 skills/mold/scripts/mold.pyz taste-test and persist its digest-bound pass; a failure reopens only named forks, and the third failed verdict stops. Light with one expected curd needs no planner. Otherwise dispatch a typed PlannerRequest, validate its PlannerResultWriterView (one retry, then save without a runnable handoff), and normalize on the host. Show the semantic curds and waves before any Cook choice. See references/curdle.md § "Pre-approval typed planner dispatch".
6. Readiness check — Before saving, the agent runs the coherence self-check and strict spec validation. Save a draft even when unresolved parent work remains; record each hold in the spec's execution_holds: frontmatter list, and finalize refuses ready while any entry remains. User approval is not a prerequisite for writing. Before Cook, require an explicit user selection of the exact scope and route. See references/handshake.md and references/early-curds.md.
7. Curdle — Resolve the durable spec path: run python3 skills/mold/scripts/mold.pyz artifact-path specs <slug> and read path from its JSON reply. Write the validated draft and read it back. Retain typed plan evidence and unresolved holds. Write local issue drafts and durable decisions; publish follow-ups only after their own approval. A concrete bounded curd may use references/early-curds.md now, while Mold continues shaping its parent. The resolved spec path is internal; Cook receives only a ready finalizer pointer after the user selects Cook.
8. Offer Cook or keep shaping — after reconciliation, run python3 skills/mold/scripts/mold.pyz curd-count. A saved draft is not a handoff. If the user selects Cook, bind the exact scope or plan with scripts/mold.pyz approve, then run scripts/mold.pyz finalize. Dispatch only a ready pointer and the selected route. Otherwise keep shaping or stop without a Cook command.

Portability: rules. Slash commands are host renderings, not the control model.

Follow-up candidates

Every non-goal and explicit dialogue deferral becomes a [FOLLOW-UP?] follow-up candidate. Dispose of the set before a runnable Cook handoff; details: references/handshake.md § Follow-up disposition.

Modes

Mode	Use when	Goal
Explore	The idea is vague	Identify the real problem and pain point
Ground	A file, bug, or existing doc is named	Verify facts against evidence
Shape	The goal is known but approach is open	Compare viable options (Do Nothing always included)
Sketch	Interfaces or module boundaries matter	Lock responsibilities and seams
Grill	A favoured approach needs stress-testing	Steelman each item, then put every design-changing call to the user as a fork
Diagnose	A symptom, failure, or trace is supplied	Build a Loop → reproduce → hypothesize → confirm root cause

Modes: references/modes.md. Evals: references/evals.md. Canvas: review-canvas.md.

Agent-invoked mini-spec mode

/cheese's tier-1 escalation calls /mold after the call site passes all cook fast-path checks. The Quick tier enters the same mode without a write-approval turn. It produces a validated draft without design dialogue. Return the spec path, not a runnable pointer. After the spec validates, show it and ask one direct Cook question; bind the user's literal affirmative reply per references/handshake.md § User key. On that consent, finalize and dispatch only a ready pointer. Append --hard when the user passed it.

The full coherence checklist does not run in this mode. The agent-introduced-scope check still runs implicitly. Every distinguishing noun must come from the user's input or tier-2 /culture//briesearch synthesis. Never add one silently.

Full procedure, the mini-spec schema, and the ## Provenance rules: references/mini-spec-mode.md.

Preferred tools and fallbacks

Call source-code search, read, and edit backends according to code-intelligence-routing.md. Shape checks use semantic caller search plus dependency context; procedure: references/shape-check.md.

Mold-specific tools beyond source-code routing:

Need	Prefer	Fallback
External validation	/briesearch with Context7/Tavily	user docs, repo docs, or note as unverified
Wiki grounding (Ground entry + decision points; scope per references/grounding.md § When to probe)	mcp__hallouminate__list_corpora + mcp__hallouminate__ground on repo:<repo>:wiki	record hallouminate: absent in the ledger, proceed on code evidence, and cap at speculating when design rationale is central

The grounding record precedes the first structured question: the ledger holds a probe result — citations or hallouminate: absent — first. Mark each unsupported claim [?] until settled.

Sub-agent context gate

/mold owns the dialogue, contradictions, and approval state. Do not delegate these items. Delegate evidence-heavy code work to a fresh-context explorer and external research to a researcher. Shape uses an explorer digest as input. Record parent-context exploration as a degraded path. See references/context-budget.md for budgets and checkpoints.

Gate graph

python3 skills/mold/scripts/mold.pyz gate-graph --render dot|svg|png|mermaid renders one gate model. Image targets use Mermaid when Graphviz is unavailable. Tests keep gate nodes aligned with the handshake checklist. See references/gate-graph.md.

Gate applicability and Test Contracts

Every Mold-produced spec carries a provenance marker in frontmatter:

source: mold-handshake | agent-mini-spec | mold-curd-mini-spec

Every spec declares gate_applicability:

gate_applicability:
  disposition: red-required | not-applicable
  work_class: behavior | docs-only | refactor-only | test-only | appearance-only
  ui_surface: browser | non-browser | not-applicable

ui_surface is required on the Mold production path: browser means every Test Contract names an existing browser/E2E interface and outer seam, non-browser is explicit and never inferred from prose, and not-applicable is required for closed non-behavior classes including appearance-only. red-required requires behavior plus a complete ## Test Contracts table with one executable red row; not-applicable requires a closed class, a reason, and no contracts. Mold never infers applicability. Row-level rules: references/curdle.md § Test Contracts.

Fork taste gate

python3 skills/mold/scripts/mold.pyz taste-test binds the verdict to draft SHA256 and each settled fork. Stale, partial, or blocked verdicts fail; a failure reopens only named forks, with two rounds. Approved red-required specs pass unchanged metadata and the published pointer to /cook --auto.

Each fork appears in Approach, Interface sketches, Acceptance, plus Test Contracts for red-required; none in not-applicable specs. Do not rename sections. Tag reflecting lines with fork id and run taste-test --precheck before dispatch. goal must survive verbatim in Problem statement (goal-drift); each G-n clause carries an Acceptance or disposition tag (goal-coverage). See references/curdle.md § Spec template and references/gate-graph.md.

Execution gate

Mold may save a validated parent spec or early curd mini-spec without an approval turn. The agent coherence check still controls what the artifact claims as settled. Print the narrowing delta (taste-test --coverage) and the scope audit table before presenting any Cook option. Unresolved decisions remain visible holds, not implicit approvals. See references/handshake.md.

Never start Cook from a saved spec, silence, --auto, or a general design approval. The user must select the exact curd or parent scope and a Cook route. Bind that literal selection to the scope or plan proposal, then finalize. A changed scope or plan needs a new selection. A failed gate leaves a saved draft without a runnable pointer. See references/early-curds.md.

--hard

Mold never runs the metacognitive check. Plate alone runs it at the verified-artifacts boundary. Mold appends --hard to every Cook command that it emits when the user passed the flag. Cure forwards the same flag to Plate. See ../hard-cheese/references/composition.md.

Handoff

Pipeline: culture → [mold] → cook → press → age → cure → plate

After Curdle's phase two finishes, run python3 skills/mold/scripts/mold.pyz curd-count for the blast-radius digest. A draft offers no Cook command. On an explicit Cook selection, finalize and keep only a consumer-valid canonical HandoffPointer. Prompt through the shared handoff gate (policy); never pre-select. Keep applicability, contract, and taste metadata unchanged. Append --hard when the user passed it.

The digest's mode is orientation, not a skill. Render the fixed blast-radius menu from decomposable, candidate_curds, verdict, and mode; see references/handoff-menus.md.

Rules

• Dialogue first; artifacts are the by-product.
• Tiered lettered options. Consequential forks use A/B/C/D choices via the question transport at ../cheese/references/ask-user-question.md. Never decide them silently. Everything below the leverage line is [AGENT-DECIDED] by default: make the call, log a one-line vetoable alternative in the ledger, and do not ask. A fork is valid only after its depth was contributed in-dialogue first. Precede every structured question with visible prose that weighs the fork and the evidence. Keep one open picker.
• Altitude tag. Every Asking fork names the acceptance criterion, public seam, or non-goal it moves. A fork that moves none, or that sits below the leverage line, is [AGENT-DECIDED] or a follow-up candidate, never a user question.
• Decision ledger. Each round prints Goal / Decided / Asking / [AGENT-DECIDED], the goal verbatim. Curdle persists consequential decisions to ADRs and minor ones to the spec. The taste verdict names every settled consequential entry exactly once.
• Decision map and fork-round cap. Stop after three consecutive fork rounds that add no new evidence, or three consecutive forks that fail the altitude tag, or when the user requests a decision map. Show completed forks, remaining forks, and a ready or blocked verdict. A fourth round requires new grounding, a delegated digest, or a /wheypoint checkpoint. The map shows ledger state. It does not create an artifact.
• Do not implement code.
• Do not write production files in Mold. Saving a spec does not authorize Cook.
• Do not silently settle uncertain claims.
• Apply the shared voice kernel at ../age/references/voice.md. Correct false premises. Mark each critical claim's confidence as certain | speculating | don't know. Steelman before you dismiss. Put consequential forks to the user; depth informs the question, never replaces it.

The schema entanglement behind curdle's spec-template and cook's writer views is phase registry × schema catalog × models per transition. The generated ../cheese/references/schema-intertwine.md documents it.

Agent resolution

Resolve delegates through ../cheese/references/agent-resolution.md.

Work	Preferred types	Permissions/isolation	Minimum power	Effort	Fallback
Explore the codebase	explorer	read-only, fresh-context	default	medium	compatible explorer, then general
Research external constraints	researcher	read-only, fresh-context	default	medium	compatible researcher, then general
Plan for approval	planner, general	read-only, fresh-context	powerful	high	compatible planner, then general

The canonical mold spec or mini-spec carries the shared agent_resolution block. Commands: references/commands.md.