Theory Building

Use this skill as a point-of-work lens. It applies while designing, implementing, refactoring, reviewing, or accepting generated code. Treat understanding as the primary artifact and code as the expression of that understanding. The goal is not to slow down the work; it is to make sure the change strengthens the system's shared theory instead of adding code that only happens to pass locally.

Invocation Policy

Use this skill only when the user explicitly invokes it. Good triggers include:

• "Use the theory-building skill."
• "Use theory-building on this change."
• "Apply theory building to this design."
• "Review this through the programming-as-theory-building lens."
• "Check whether this belongs in the system."
• "Interrogate this AI-generated code using our theory-building checklist."