Inhibitory Control — Goal-Check Before Acting

What this addresses

Inhibitory control: the executive function that stops you from acting on impulse when the action doesn't serve the current goal. In coding, this shows up as scope creep, yak-shaving, and "while I'm here I'll also fix..." patterns that expand a 1-hour task into a 3-day refactor.

The inhibitory control skill is a lightweight, non-blocking pre-action check: does this action serve the goal we stated at the start of this task?

When to apply

Apply this skill during any task that has a defined goal. Run the check:

• Before each tool call that writes files, executes commands, or changes state
• Before starting a new subtask that wasn't in the original plan
• When noticing the scope of the current step is larger than originally described

Do NOT apply to: Read-only operations (reading files, searching), clearly pre-planned steps, or when the user has explicitly expanded scope.

Instructions