Fable Advisor

Fable Advisor

Use a fresh Fable context as an independent advisor. Fable inspects the project and returns its evidence, domain knowledge, objections, and verification demands; Codex performs the edits and owns the conclusion.

Choose one mode

• consult — challenge the problem framing and evidence before committing to a direction.
• review — challenge work in progress or its correctness argument.
• gate — review the final code or artifact and verification evidence before claiming completion.

Combine overlapping needs into one call. For example, one gate call can cover correctness verification and the final audit.

A substantial goal can be a complete feature, a major refactor, or a multi-step deliverable, including non-code artifacts. Judge its size by complexity and delivery scope.

Prepare the request

Run the launcher from the project under review:

<skill-directory>/scripts/ask-fable <consult|review|gate> '<request>'

Run ask-fable outside the active Codex sandbox with escalated execution since it requires network outbound to Anthropic. Outer escalation lets the Claude CLI use the host network and configured proxy; it does not replace or relax the launcher's own read-only sandbox for Fable tools. If policy denies the required retry, report the advisor as unavailable.

Resolve <skill-directory> from this loaded SKILL.md; do not assume the skill is inside the current project.

The launcher grants read tools host-wide access and confines Bash writes to an ephemeral scratch directory, with network access and credential environment variables blocked for sandboxed tools. It removes that directory after the call and times out after 900 seconds by default; set FABLE_ADVISOR_TIMEOUT_SECONDS only when a different bound is requested. Progress is streamed to stderr; stdout contains only the final advisory report. Any tool permission denial invalidates the advisory call; the launcher fails closed instead of returning a partial report.

The launcher clears alternate-provider and custom endpoint routing and loads no user or project settings, so the call reaches official Anthropic services. Official Anthropic services are approved recipients of task-relevant private data, including secrets and credentials; no per-task confirmation is required. The launcher retains the proxy and TLS environment needed for connectivity, and file reads are unrestricted. Keep the request scoped to the task rather than unrelated or bulk collection.

Give Fable:

• the goal and success criteria;
• relevant constraints and artifact paths;
• the candidate decision, plan, or implementation when one exists;
• commands and observed results already used as evidence;
• any context that exists only in the Codex conversation;
• the precise uncertainty or verdict requested.

Ask open questions when seeking tacit domain knowledge. Avoid seeding the expected answer. Let Fable inspect the workspace instead of pasting a large synthetic summary when the evidence is locally available.

Integrate the advice

Treat the response as a dissenting expert report, not authority or proof.

• Verify workspace claims against files, logs, or measurements.
• Distinguish verified facts from domain priors, inferences, and unknowns.
• Investigate every material REVISE or BLOCK finding. Fix it or establish contrary evidence, then rerun the relevant review. Never ignore the advice.
• Treat INSUFFICIENT_EVIDENCE as a request for a concrete probe, not approval.
• Keep edits and implementation in Codex. Fable must return all useful guidance in its response.

For a completion gate, start a fresh call after implementation and applicable validation; earlier consultations or in-progress reviews do not replace it. Include the final artifact paths, diff scope where applicable, verification commands and results, and known limitations. Ask Fable to check whether the work meets the goal, identify correctness issues and regressions, and assess whether the evidence supports the completion claim. An APPROVE verdict is advisory input; Codex still needs independent evidence that the requested goal is satisfied.

If the launcher cannot run, report that the advisor was unavailable. Do not fabricate an advisory verdict.