Foundational Thinking

Portability (required)

This skill is part of the portable pstack pack.

1. Read the pstack capability contract and the adapter for the active coding agent before any helper delegation.
2. Prefer capability verbs (explore, implement, review, parallel, ask_user, verify, model_role) over vendor tool names.
3. Resolve models through model_role. Never require a vendor-specific model identifier.
4. When helper spawning is unavailable, run the work on the lead agent and state that fan-out was collapsed.

Structural decisions protect option value. Code-level decisions protect simplicity. Over-engineering is often a premature decision that closes doors. The right foundational data structure keeps doors open.

Data structures first. Get the data shape right before writing logic. The right shape makes downstream code obvious. Define core types early, trace every access pattern, and choose structures that match the dominant paths. A data-structure change late is a rewrite. Early, it is often a one-line diff.

At code level, DRY the structure, not every line. Types and data models should converge. Three similar statements still beat a premature abstraction. Prefer explicit over clever. Test behavior and edge cases, not line counts.

Concurrency corollary. Before sharing state between actors, ask "what happens if another actor modifies this concurrently?" If not "nothing", isolate.