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Enforcing Ring's orchestrator protocol every conversation: dispatch specialist/Explore agents instead of operating tools directly, honor the >3-file hard gate, and run skill discovery before any task. Use at conversation start, before any task, when a request matches auto-trigger phrases (fix issues, refactor, find where, visualize), or when tempted to read/edit files directly. Never skip — mandatory.

Fixing lint to a clean state: runs the linter, groups reported issues into independent streams, and dispatches one parallel fixer agent per stream (ring:backend-go for Go, ring:general-purpose otherwise), iterating until clean. Use when a codebase has lint errors across multiple files. Skip for a single error (fix directly), already-passing lint, or view-only requests; security lints are reported, not auto-fixed.

Generating self-contained, Lerian-branded HTML artifacts — D2 diagrams, comparison tables/matrices, code diffs, dashboards, slide decks, and plan/diff/recap reviews — from mandatory templates, then opening them in the browser. Use for architecture overviews, any table with 4+ rows or 3+ columns, slide presentations, or visual diff/plan/review output. Skip for simple tables that fit the terminal or text-only answers.

Writing a rolling-wave phased implementation plan from a spec before coding: a phase-epic-task hierarchy where Phase 1 is detailed into dispatch-ready tasks and later phases stay epic-level for elaboration during execution. Use when a multi-file feature needs decomposition; runs after ring:exploring-codebases or pre-dev gates, hands off to ring:executing-plans or ring:running-dev-cycle. Skip for single-file changes or spikes.

Reviewing code by dispatching the default reviewer subagents in parallel (plus conditional specialists for lib-observability, lib-systemplane, or lib-streaming when the diff triggers them), then aggregating findings by severity into a report. Use as Gate 8 of ring:running-dev-cycle at epic cadence over the cumulative diff, or before merging. Report-only. Skip for a single-command Go pre-merge verdict (use ring:verifying-code).

Forensic code search and analysis with optional Chain of Draft (CoD) ultra-concise mode. Five-phase methodology (clarification, planning, execution, analysis, synthesis) with severity assessment. Use for targeted investigation of specific patterns, bugs, or vulnerabilities. Skip for broad architecture mapping (use ring:exploring-codebases instead).

Writing or editing a Ring skill: SKILL.md structure, frontmatter and Agent-Search-Optimization rules, token-efficiency targets, and bulletproofing (Iron Law, rationalization tables, Red Flags) so discipline-enforcing skills resist excuses. Use when creating or revising a skill. Delegates pressure-testing to ring:testing-skills-with-subagents. Skip for pure reference skills with no rules, or project conventions (put those in CLAUDE.md).

Controlled plan execution with human review checkpoints - loads plan, executes in batches, pauses for feedback. Supports one-go (autonomous) or batch modes.

End-to-end git orchestrator: branch → commit → push → PR, with a full plan presented before any execution. Detects base branch and scope allowlist once and propagates to all phases. Use when ready to ship a complete unit of work. Skip if only one phase is needed: commit-only → ring:committing-changes, PR-only → ring:opening-pull-requests.

Analyzing different approaches for a task or problem with structured comparisons, effort estimates, and recommendations. Use when facing strategic decisions, architecture choices, or multiple viable approaches. Skip when there's an obvious single approach or the decision is already made.

Cleaning redundant and obvious comments following clean code principles while preserving meaningful documentation. Supports git scope filtering (staged, unstaged, branch, commit-range). Use when code has excessive comments, during code review, or post-refactor cleanup. Skip when reviewing documentation files or comments are already minimal.

Creating a handoff document that captures session state (completed work, decisions, open items, next steps) and delivering it via Plan Mode so the user gets the native 'clear context and continue implementing' resume option. Use when ending a session, when context grows large, or the user says 'handoff', 'save session', or 'context transfer'. Skip when context is minimal or work is fully complete with no resume planned.

Commit changes with scope allowlist enforcement, atomic grouping, GPG-signed conventional commits, and trailer management. Detects the repo's PR-validation scope policy before proposing any message. Use when the user asks to commit or has changes ready to record. Skip when the working tree is clean or the user wants raw git commands without grouping.

Creating an isolated git worktree for parallel branch work: selects the directory by priority order, verifies/adds .gitignore safety, auto-installs the detected toolchain's dependencies, runs a baseline test, and reports readiness. Use before a feature that needs isolation from the main workspace or before executing an implementation plan. Skip for a quick fix on the current branch or when already in the feature's worktree.

Expert prompt engineering and optimization for LLMs and AI systems. Covers core patterns (zero-shot, few-shot, CoT, role-playing, constitutional, tree-of-thoughts), common use cases, and a three-phase process. Use when crafting or optimizing prompts for AI systems. Skip when the prompt is trivial or already performing well.

Exploring a codebase across phases: scopes the target, detects architecture, components, and layers, deep-dives each discovered perspective, then synthesizes findings into actionable guidance with file:line evidence. Use to understand how a feature or system works before planning changes, or to orient on an unfamiliar codebase. Skip for a single signature lookup, a file-exists check, or reading an error from a known file.

Executing a phased plan in rolling waves where each phase runs as one multi-agent workflow harness: the supervisor elaborates the phase into tasks against the real landed code, launches a workflow that implements with TDD and runs mandatory in-harness review plus an adversarial contrarian pass (and researchers when the phase hits an unknown) before returning verified work, then reviews it, checkpoints with the user, and rolls to the next phase. Use when each wave should be a reviewed multi-agent harness, not a lone subagent. Skip when one supervised subagent per wave suffices (ring:executing-plans) or the full gated cycle is wanted (ring:running-dev-cycle).

Open a GitHub Pull Request with automatic base branch detection, scope allowlist enforcement, PR template filling, and post-create base verification. Replaces ring:generating-pr-descriptions. Use after pushing a branch when ready to open a PR. Skip if the branch is not yet pushed or there are uncommitted changes — commit first with ring:committing-changes.

Enforcing the RED-GREEN-REFACTOR loop: write one failing test and watch it fail, write minimal code to pass, then refactor green. Use when starting implementation of a new feature or bugfix, or writing any new production code. Requires pasted failure output as proof of RED; code written before its test must be deleted, not stashed. Skip for exploratory spikes or when only modifying existing tests.

Generating an internal Operations-facing update/migration guide from the git diff between two refs, documenting per-change client impact, deploy ordering, monitoring, and rollback notes in English, pt-br, or both. Use when preparing a version release or recording what changed for the Ops team. Runs read-only by default and previews before writing. Skip with no git repo or a trivial single-file change.

Generating pull request descriptions from git branch changes with automatic title generation, change-type detection, and smart analysis. Uses branch-only scope to avoid full history analysis. Use when preparing a PR for review. Skip when the PR is a single trivial commit or description already exists.

Auditing a service's production readiness against Ring engineering standards across base dimensions plus a conditional multi-tenant dimension, then emitting a scored report and an HTML dashboard. Use before production deploy, periodic review, onboarding, or a major release. Skip for prototypes, libraries, or single-dimension checks.

Hardening a skill so it resists rationalization under pressure: run combined-pressure scenarios on a subagent without the skill (RED), capture excuses verbatim, write/edit the skill (GREEN), then plug loopholes (REFACTOR) until compliance holds. Use when deploying or editing a discipline-enforcing skill that an agent could rationalize away. Skip for pure reference skills with no rules to violate.