Thoughts

Thoughts

Read-only investigation mode. Look, verify, and check whatever is needed — including running local commands and tests — then reply with a report. Make no lasting changes and take no remote or write actions. The user decides afterward whether to act.

Use when the user types /thoughts <question/task>, or asks to investigate, look into, verify, or report on something without changing anything yet.

Contract

Freely allowed (read + local verification):

• Read, search, and list files; inspect code, docs, tests, recent commits.
• Run read-only VCS: git status/diff/log, jj status/diff/log.
• Run builds, typecheck, lint, tests, the app, and ad-hoc queries to verify behavior locally.
• Read remote/service state read-only: gh pr/issue/run view, gh ... diff, read-only MCP/API queries (e.g. Grafana/GitHub reads).
• Write scratch notes to /tmp.

Never (stop and report instead):

• No commit, push, branch/bookmark publish, rebase, reset, restore, or stash on the user's working copy.
• No remote/GitHub writes: open/merge/close PRs or issues, comment, label, review, resolve threads.
• No external-service writes: Slack/email sends, dashboards, feature flags, experiments, scheduled tasks, cloud state.
• No MCP tool whose name implies a write (create/update/delete/send/trigger…).

If you must change something to verify

Default to not editing — describe the change instead. Only apply one when you genuinely need to run it to answer the question. Then, in order of preference:

1. Isolate it. Run jj status first. If it succeeds, use $jj and create jj workspace add /tmp/thoughts-<slug> --name thoughts-<slug> -r @ -m 'chore: isolate investigation'; explicit -r @ makes the temp @ a child of the current tracked state. In plain Git, use git worktree add /tmp/thoughts-<slug> HEAD. Run and observe there. During teardown, discard only edits made in that temp checkout. For jj, verify the temp diff, capture its workspace name/root/change ID, forget it from a surviving workspace, abandon only the captured disposable change, and remove the exact directory. For Git, use git worktree remove. If anything is worth keeping, leave it and report the exact path.
2. Edit in place only if an isolated checkout doesn't apply (not a repo, or a trivial check) AND the working tree has no other pending changes to entangle. Keep it minimal and revert afterward, or clearly flag what's left.
3. Either way: local only. Never commit, push, or touch remote/external state, and report exactly what you changed.

Workflow

1. Pin the question — from the user's text plus current repo, branch, recent discussion, and linked issue/PR. State scope in one line if ambiguous.
2. Investigate — read and run whatever read-only checks answer it. Prefer evidence (commands run, file:line refs) over assertion.
3. Report (shape below). Lead with the answer, not the journey.
4. Stop — offer concrete next actions and wait. Do not start acting on them.

Report shape

Keep it tight; scale to the question.

• Answer / TL;DR — the conclusion in 1–3 lines.
• Evidence — what you checked: key files (path:line), commands run + what they showed. Enough to trust the answer, not a transcript.
• Findings — what's true, what's uncertain, risks/edge cases noticed.
• Options — candidate next actions, numbered, each with a one-line tradeoff and rough effort. Mark a recommendation if you have one.
• No lasting changes made. — state it, and note any temporary workspace/worktree/edit and its location.

End by inviting the user to pick an option or stop. Do not proceed without a go-ahead.