H Reason

h-reason — Source-first FPF entrypoint

Use FPF as a reference model and pattern language, not as a project workflow. FPF is relation-first at the framework-navigation level: a text sequence, graph path, skill list, or walkthrough does not create causal, temporal, method, or performed-work order. Explicit causal claims, ordered methods, WorkPlans, and performed Work remain valid when their direct governing patterns are current.

Contract truth: source-native FPF Query and typed-memory resolve, neighborhood, and recall are V9 CONTRACT capabilities. Their presence in source, schemas, skills, or local tests is not installed-runtime proof. Any installed-runtime readiness claim requires current EXACT-CANDIDATE EVIDENCE from P14 tied to one exact candidate; RC or release status additionally requires release authority. Do not infer CURRENT PRODUCT status from contract inclusion or evidence alone.

Critical distinctions

Keep these distinctions live before choosing a pattern:

• object != description != representation != carrier;
• method != MethodDescription != WorkPlan != performed Work;
• plan != reality; promise != delivery; claim != evidence;
• a practical-use card, mantra, or demonstrative traversal != project order;
• retrieval rank != applicability, recommendation, authorization, or work precedence;
• the product/system being changed and the engineering arrangement changing it are separate project concerns. TargetSystemSpec and related names are Haft local-practice carriers, not FPF Core kinds by label alone.

Exact identifier namespaces

Classify an exact identifier before choosing a query field:

• FPF PatternID, SourceID, or UnitID -> mcp__haft__haft_query(action="fpf", mode="lookup|inspect", identifier="<id>");
• canonical Haft artifact ID -> mcp__haft__haft_query(action="related", artifact_ref="<id>");
• code symbol or SymbolAnchor -> mcp__haft__haft_query(action="node", symbol="<name>") or anchor_id="<anchor>";
• typed-memory EntityID or EntityAlias -> mcp__haft__haft_query(action="memory", memory_request={"mode":"resolve","query":"<id-or-alias>",...}); keep it out of identifier, artifact_ref, and symbol.

After exact resolution, use the closed memory_request branch whose nested mode is neighborhood to hydrate the EntityOfConcern graph, or recall for bounded lexical recall inside that exact scope. Mode-specific required fields come from the tool schema. When the project is not ready for these reads, use mcp__haft__haft_onboard(action="status") and follow its readable next action. Resolution, projection inclusion, and recall rank are not truth, applicability, authority, or Work order.

If a read-only call returns wrong_identifier_namespace with same_call_retryable=false, do not retry the same action and do not ask the operator merely to acknowledge the error. Execute its exact recovery_call when that call names an available read-only surface; otherwise report the missing surface and preserve the identifier unchanged.

Conditional code-graph orientation

Use haft_query(action="explore", query="<current code concern>") when the current question is how an area or flow works and no exact symbol is known. The default working view is bounded and returns advisory candidates without selecting identity. Use view="trace" only when replay basis is a named receiving use, and view="diagnostic" only when retrieval or traversal itself is under diagnosis.

Before a non-mechanical edit where recorded governance may be material, use code_context or impact on the actual target. Returned reasoning context is a relevance surface: candidate rank, file/module proximity, and a displayed invariant do not by themselves prove exact active authority. Inspect scope, status, coverage, and limiting reasons, and use the exact governing_set or artifact route before relying on a governing claim. Do not infer safety from an empty caller list or incomplete traversal. A purely mechanical edit whose meaning and blast radius cannot change may explicitly abstain and record not_applicable. Typed-memory and code-graph orientation remain separate.

Procedure

1. Recover the current question

State, in ordinary project language:

• the EntityOfConcern or object at stake;
• the current question about it;
• known values, constraints, and unresolved relations;
• the smallest useful result that would answer the question now.

Do not ask for a universal first step. Do not manufacture a ProblemCard merely to make the work look started.

When an exact current EntityOfConcern and bounded context already exist, hydrate the smallest relevant typed neighborhood before rediscovering project history:

mcp__haft__haft_query(
  action="memory",
  memory_request={
    "mode":"neighborhood",
    "contract_version":"haft.memory.v1",
    "basis":{"kind":"project_current"},
    "entity_ref":{
      "ref_kind_id":"U.EntityRef",
      "reference_id":"<exact EntityOfConcern>"
    },
    "bounded_context_ref":"<exact bounded context>",
    "view":{
      "projection_profile_ref":"agent_orientation.v2",
      "requested_facets":[
        "epistemes",
        "problems",
        "alternatives",
        "decisions",
        "specifications",
        "evidence",
        "work",
        "implementation",
        "unresolved"
      ],
      "detail":"standard",
      "include_history":false
    },
    "read_budget":{
      "max_facets":9,
      "max_items_per_facet":8,
      "max_relation_paths_per_item":4,
      "max_carrier_excerpt_characters":1200,
      "max_provenance_depth":3
    }
  }
)

The budget is task-local and may be narrowed or expanded explicitly. Inspect result_kind before content:

• exact_neighborhood: pin snapshot_basis and projection_basis, then read interpretation_contract, each facet's coverage, every item's semantic, lifecycle, evidence-currentness, and projection-freshness postures, and the applied_budget;
• retry_required: do not combine the stale read with current graph facts; follow the returned snapshot-bound retry operation;
• abstained: preserve the exact missing basis and make no graph-absence claim.

complete coverage supports a known-empty claim only for that exact facet, profile, snapshot, and bounded context. partial, unavailable, and stale do not. If hydrate_before_reliance=true, hydrate the named carrier or facet before relying on its description. A read_affordance is a read-only way to obtain more basis; it never chooses a skill, pattern, plan, Work item, or next project action.

Use memory.resolve only when exact identity is missing. Inspect its result before continuing:

• an exact result supplies the canonical entity_ref;
• several candidates require selection by the current use, never by rank;
• known_absent says only that the identity was not found. It does not authorize persistence;
• unavailable setup routes through mcp__haft__haft_onboard(action="status") and does not block unrelated Work.

known_absent alone authorizes nothing. Separately decide whether current Work has a concrete durability-requiring receiving use. That use may be operator-named or agent-inferred. The agent must infer it when current Work already makes cross-session continuation, handoff, audit, automation, delayed or expensive feedback, or costly reversal dependent on stable identity. The operator does not need to pre-name the use or grant separate permission.

When such a use exists and the stable identity, bounded context, and aliases are recoverable, establish the minimum EntityOfConcern without asking for separate permission. Record the concrete use in request provenance. Do not infer a receiving use merely from known_absent, generic future usefulness, or a desire to populate an empty graph. An unresolved identity or alias conflict blocks only that establishment; it does not turn descriptive persistence into a human authority gate.

Use the task-level surface:

mcp__haft__haft_entity(
  action="establish",
  entity_id="<stable proposed id>",
  label="<readable label>",
  bounded_context_ref="<exact bounded context>",
  aliases=["<known alias, in canonical order>"],
  persistence_reason="named_receiving_use",
  request_provenance_ref="<exact current Work and its concrete receiving use>",
  idempotency_key="<stable key for this exact request>"
)

Use persistence_reason="explicit_operator_request" instead only when an explicit save request, rather than the inferred receiving use, is the real basis. The task-level tool owns identity and alias conflict checks, validation, exact project-basis selection, admission, and post-commit resolution; the agent must not construct those internals.

Follow its closed result:

• established returns the canonical entity_ref, bounded_context_ref, and an exact next_read for haft_query(action="memory", memory_request={"mode":"neighborhood",...}); use its tool name and arguments unchanged when hydration is current. delivery_kind distinguishes fresh commit, replay, and already-exact identity;
• identity_conflict, alias_conflict, or idempotency_conflict blocks only this establishment; preserve both identities and ask only when the current use cannot disambiguate them;
• onboarding_required routes through h-onboard; a partial or legacy memory installation is repaired by haft init, never by exposing a schema choice;
• restart_required means reconnect and retry the unchanged request with the same idempotency key;
• rejected and commit_outcome_unknown remain explicit; never invent a successful entity.

If persistence is not authorized, continue ordinary reasoning without creating an entity. Use scoped memory.recall only after exact entity/context resolution and only when the current question needs discovery among records inside that scope. Recall score is not truth, applicability, recommendation, freshness, authority, or work priority.

2. Query FPF, then inspect the source

For purely mechanical, status-only, or exact project-lookup work where no FPF pattern choice is material, caller abstention is the correct result: skip FPF Query and do the bounded work directly. This is not a fabricated QueryResult(kind="abstained"); no query ran. If pattern applicability is material or uncertain, a neighborhood exposes an unfamiliar kind or missing method basis, or the direct governing pattern is unclear, continue with source retrieval.

If the operator names an exact SourceID or UnitID, use non-broadening mode="inspect", identifier="<exact id>". Otherwise query with the object, current question, and the important domain words:

mcp__haft__haft_query(
  action="fpf",
  mode="concern",
  query="<current object + question + terms>"
)

For a non-English concern, preserve the operator's original query. Add entity_of_concern, known_context, and intended_use with precise source-language or FPF terms when they are already known. Do not translate the question into a hidden Haft route or invent a bilingual catalog. An unsupported raw-language query abstains: a measured 6 of 6 Russian concerns returned zero candidates, while the same concerns with English known_context resolved to the exact card at rank 1. Supplying those terms is therefore required, not optional.

The result is source material, not applicability, selection, recommendation, evidence, precedence, or authority. Use the source-owned navigation:

1. compare relevant README practical-use cards by situation, first-result difference, direct pattern, and stop/return boundary;
2. use the Table of Contents for PatternID, title, keywords, queries, and dependencies;
3. recover an exact source unit with mode="lookup" and its identifier, or use non-broadening mode="inspect" when the identifier must match exactly;
4. inspect the selected pattern's full Problem frame, Problem, Forces, Solution, ordinary boundary, worked slices, and checklist.

README practical-use lists are ordinary walkthroughs, not literal mantra objects or DemonstrativeUnfoldingSlice instances unless the source identifies them that way. FPF Query returns source candidates; h-reason selects by the current condition and applies the selected direct Solution to produce the ordinary result. The full pattern body governs. README, ToC, authored phrases, headings/keywords, and role-local FTS are indexes or coarsenings; none is a second specification. Dense retrieval is DEFERRED RESEARCH, not part of the v9 FPF Query contract. If several patterns remain plausible, keep them live and explain what fact would discriminate them. Abstain when the source basis is insufficient.

E.11.PUA Pattern Use in a Working Situation and E.11.PUR are authoritative FPF patterns. Inspect them through FPF Query when current; Haft defines no namesake routing API.

3. Select the governing pattern

Select by the current condition and exact first-result kind, not by score, familiarity, identifier order, or the skill the agent happens to know. State:

• selected direct pattern by PatternID, title, and stable source reference;
• source span, provenance, hashes, or repository-local paths only when the current use explicitly requires trace or audit;
• why its condition fits;
• exact first useful result;
• what the result permits now;
• stop, return, wrong-turn, and stronger-neighbor boundaries.

A recommendation is advisory. It is not evidence, a gate, a DecisionRecord, a WorkCommission, or authorization.

4. Choose one current capability

Capabilities are independent entries, not phases:

• h-frame — problem shaping is current;
• h-diagnose — a concrete failure has rival causes;
• h-explore — distinct alternatives are needed;
• h-compare — existing alternatives need parity-aware comparison;
• h-decide — route the operator's direct, unambiguous request to bind a choice;
• manual h-commission — the operator explicitly grants execution authority;
• h-verify — a recorded claim or decision needs evidence against reality;
• h-status — live graph, drift, coverage, or spec readiness is current;
• h-spec — a specification carrier or lifecycle question is current;
• h-onboard — Haft/spec bootstrap is current;
• h-note — the operator explicitly wants a non-binding fact saved.

There is no public h-plan phase. When composing a plan is the current question, inspect the exact WorkPlan source (A.15.2) and return an ordinary U.WorkPlan-shaped result conversationally. Keep WorkPlan, performed Work, and WorkCommission distinct. Route to manual h-commission only when bounded execution authority is separately current; typed WorkPlan persistence remains outside this skill until a receiving lifecycle exists.

Invoke a capability only while its condition is current. Completion of one does not imply that another must follow. A concrete method or WorkPlan may state order locally; that order belongs to that method or plan, not to this catalog.

5. Interrupt only when a human choice is current

Before asking the operator, use the A.6 boundary discipline to separate description and evidence from admissibility, binding choice, and authority. Cockpit drift, refresh debt, missing bindings, stale prose, or reconciliation cues are attention signals; they are not project-wide stop conditions.

Continue without another approval when the remaining action only:

• gathers or attaches evidence;
• treats obsolete implementation prose as historical without rewriting the binding choice;
• records a current implementation fact;
• performs reversible Work already inside the accepted task or WorkCommission; or
• leaves an unrelated unresolved artifact untouched and does not rely on it.

Ask only when the current action itself would bind, change, or supersede a choice; create or broaden execution authority; cross a human SpecSection lifecycle gate; make another material human-reserved choice; or rely on an unresolved contradiction in binding content. Stop only the affected operation, name the exact choice, and explain why that operation cannot continue without it. Never ask for bare OK, yes, or да to acknowledge evidence, historicity, technical cleanup, or already-authorized continuation.

Before making that request, publish a self-contained Human Gate Brief. The operator cannot be expected to infer hidden project state. In ordinary language state the gate kind, readable subject, affected operation and blocker; every real option currently available; and for each option what changes, what stays unchanged, the immediate consequence or return condition, and its weakest link. Include defer or reject only when real; do not manufacture variants.

If a comparison exists, summarize its characteristic/parity basis, selection policy, and non-dominated or Pareto set. If none exists or Pareto reasoning is not applicable to the binary lifecycle act, say so explicitly. Mark the recommendation as advisory, state evidence freshness or expiry, and ask for the human engineer's assessment of the options, trade-offs, and recommendation in natural language. Pair IDs and hashes with readable meaning.

Accept ordinary language as the substantive answer to the engineering consultation. When exactly one current Human Gate Brief makes the effect, subject, option, and scope unambiguous, that natural answer is also the direct operator request the host may route; a bare yes or да is usable only in that single-brief case. A command or skill invocation never adds authority and must not substitute for the consultation. h-commission remains a separately manual execution-authority grant. Never end a blocking message with “reply exactly…” or an equivalent command-only instruction. The brief itself is not authorization. h-decide needed, approval required, or spec gate open without this brief is an invalid operator request.

6. Decide whether to persist

Default to ordinaryBounded: reason in the conversation and produce the smallest useful result without creating Haft artifacts.

Persist only when either condition holds:

• the operator explicitly asks to save, record, remember, bind, commission, approve, rebaseline, or otherwise mutate project memory; or
• a concrete receiving use, operator-named or agent-inferred from current Work, depends on addressable replay, transfer, audit, delayed feedback, automation, expensive feedback, or costly reversal.

The second condition is proactive: when it is satisfied, do not ask the operator whether memory should be used. Establish the minimum stable EntityOfConcern and materialize only the records that the concrete use needs.

When persistence is justified, materialize only the records that receiving use needs. Do not automatically create ProblemCard, SolutionPortfolio, characterization, recommendation, DecisionRecord, or WorkPlan as a bundle. Decision binding still requires a direct operator request, and h-commission remains manual even when reliance is high.

7. Present one honest traversal

Explain the selected use in a readable order while labelling it as an explanation. Keep alternative continuations and return conditions visible. Do not imply that the explanation order is the order of project work.

Internal routines

Use these inside the public skills; do not expose them as separate skills:

• abductive rival generation and falsification inside h-diagnose;
• L/A/D/E boundary-statement unpacking inside h-reason or h-spec when a sentence mixes definition, admissibility, commitment, and evidence;
• semantic fanout review inside h-spec when a rename or claim change crosses several carriers.

Stop conditions

Stop when the current question has its smallest honest result and boundaries. Return to source selection when the object, question, condition, expected result, evidence basis, or receiving use changes.

Never claim that FPF is an acausal ontology. The precise claim is narrower: FPF does not infer causal or work order from representation order; explicit causal and work-order claims keep their own governing patterns.