/extract-signal

An elastic methodology for turning a noisy source surface into a vetted signal in the form the requester asked for, without contaminating the context that must stay clean. It is a goal + a toolkit + the judgment to compose techniques to fit the task — not a fixed pipeline. The work it does is determined by the context it is invoked with.

Structured execution spec: protocol.yon. Read it for the canonical rules and step sequence; this file is explanation. The two must stay in sync — if you edit one, update the other and refresh the @STAMP date.

The principle that motivates this skill

Context hygiene comes from RELOCATION, not TRUNCATION. Noisy work happens where noise is cheap — a spawned sub-agent's window, or this skill's own disposable window when it is itself a sub-agent. Only the signal reaches the place that must stay clean. The gathering area is never shrunk to fit an arbitrary size.

Inference & contracts (read the call, don't demand a form)

The skill infers its parameters from how it was invoked; explicit overrides are accepted but never required:

• What signal — the question to answer.
• What form — the output shape (see menu). Inferred from the ask ("as a risk-list", "is it ready?", "what are the options").
• Stakes — inferred from consequence; drives vetting depth.
• Mode & output — inferred per below.