# Legal Wayfinder > Decision-map decomposition for legal matters too big or too foggy for one session. Charts a map (destination, decisions so far, fog, out-of-scope) plus decision tickets under bcc-output/YYYY-MM-DD-/wayfinder/, then works tickets one at a time until the route to the deliverable is clear, then hands off to execution. Trigger when: charting a big legal matter (/legal-chart), working the next decision ticket (/legal-way), or a briefing is too foggy for a static execution plan. Do NOT trigger for: normal matters that fit /briefing or /legal-5step, quality-gate loops (legal-goal / legal-loop), or single-question research. - Skill: `fedec65/legal-wayfinder` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add fedec65/legal-wayfinder` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/fedec65/legal-wayfinder/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Research & Search - Author: fedec65 (https://skillmd.com/u/fedec65) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/fedec65/legal-wayfinder --- # Legal Wayfinder — Decision Maps for Big Legal Matters A big legal matter arrives wrapped in fog: the route from intake to deliverable is not visible yet. Wayfinding finds that route by resolving **decisions** — not by executing work slices. The map is the plan; execution happens only after handoff. **Plan, don't do.** Every ticket resolves a decision. Supporting memos and prototypes are linked as assets, but no client deliverable is drafted inside the map. A matter may override this in the map's **Notes** (carrying execution into the map); absent that, produce decisions, not deliverables. **Refer by name.** In everything the attorney reads, refer to a ticket by its title, never a bare id. Ids ride inside the linked name: `[Limitation period open?](tickets/t01-limitation-period-open.md)`. ## Storage Everything lives inside the matter folder — never in memory keys, never synced anywhere: ``` bcc-output/YYYY-MM-DD-/wayfinder/ map.md tickets/ t01-limitation-period-open.md t02-forum-choice-zh-or-federal.md assets/ ← research memos, prototype outlines linked from tickets ``` ## The Map (`map.md`) ```markdown --- matter: status: charting | working | ready-for-handoff | handed-off privacy-mode: strict | balanced | cloud classifier: ollama | none jurisdiction: federal | language: DE | FR | IT | EN --- ## Destination <1–2 lines: the deliverable this matter is finding its way to. Fixes scope; every session orients to it before choosing a ticket.> ## Notes ## Decisions so far ## Not yet specified ## Out of scope ``` The map is an **index, not a store**: a decision lives in exactly one place — its ticket. The map gists and links. ## Tickets (`tickets/tXX-.md`) ```markdown --- id: t01 title: Limitation period open? type: research status: open blocked-by: [] claimed-in: "" --- ## Question ## Resolution ``` ### Ticket types | Type | Mode | Resolves | Rules | |------|------|----------|-------| | `research` | AFK | A fact a decision waits on (precedent, statute, deadline) | Researcher agent + MCP servers; memo in `assets/`; R1 (citations only via `swiss-caselaw:cite`) and R2 (verbatim quotations) enforced | | `grilling` | HITL | Client facts, priorities, risk appetite | Conversation with the attorney, one question at a time. **Never answer for the human** — an agent that answers its own grilling questions has broken the ticket | | `prototype` | HITL | "How should it look/behave" | Cheap concrete artifact to react to — outline of the Klageschrift, rough clause structure — linked from `assets/` | | `task` | HITL or AFK | Work that unblocks a decision (gather contract file, obtain court records) | Precise checklist for attorney/client, or driven alone where possible; resolution records what was done and resulting facts later tickets depend on | ## Frontier and claiming The **frontier** is every ticket with `status: open`, empty `claimed-in`, and all `blocked-by` tickets `status: resolved` or `ruled-out`. `/legal-way` picks the lowest-numbered frontier ticket unless the attorney names one. Claim by setting `claimed-in` to a session stamp (ISO date + time) **before any work**; refuse a ticket already claimed. One ticket per `/legal-way` invocation — research tickets are the only exception (they may be batched or fired in parallel by `/legal-chart`). ## Fog of war The map is deliberately incomplete. Beyond the live tickets lies fog — questions you can sense but cannot phrase sharply yet because they hang on open decisions. The test: - **Ticket** when the question is already sharp — even if blocked. - **Not yet specified** when it is not yet phrasable that sharply. Never pre-slice fog into ticket-sized pieces; one patch may graduate into several tickets, or none. Resolving a ticket graduates whatever it made sharp: create new tickets (create-then-wire blocking edges in a second pass), and clear each graduated patch from **Not yet specified** so it lives only as its ticket. ## Out of scope Fog gathers only toward the destination; work beyond it is out of scope and never graduates. When a live ticket turns out to sit past the destination, set it `status: ruled-out` (not resolved) and add one line to **Out of scope**: gist + why + link. It stays out of **Decisions so far** — a scope boundary is not a step on the route. ## Edge cases - **Outgrown ticket**: if resolving a ticket sprawls beyond one session's worth, split it — create the successor tickets plus any fresh fog, and close the original `resolved` with a pointer to its children in the Resolution. - **Stale research**: a research resolution in fast-moving law may note `revalidate: true`. Re-open it only by creating a fresh ticket referencing the old one — never by editing a recorded resolution. ## Privacy (Anwaltsgeheimnis) The map's `privacy-mode` governs every ticket; the PreToolUse hook keeps guarding writes regardless. `classifier` is probed once at chart time (`ollama_check_status`) — never re-probed per ticket. Degradation follows the `privacy-routing` decision matrix: | Content | classifier: ollama | classifier: none | |---------|--------------------|------------------| | PUBLIC | cloud preferred | cloud OK | | CONFIDENTIAL | local preferred | anonymize → cloud + warning | | PRIVILEGED / undeterminable (strict) | local required | no automated clear: stay local-only, or ask the attorney directly before any cloud call | A research ticket touching privileged facts with no classifier does not hard-fail the map: convert to conversation — ask the attorney to reformulate the question in anonymous terms, then proceed as CONFIDENTIAL. Fail closed; never "just send it". ## Handoff Hand off only when every ticket is `resolved` or `ruled-out` and the fog is empty. A claimed ticket still counts as open — in-flight work in another session blocks handoff. When `/legal-way` reaches that state, set `status: ready-for-handoff` and — instead of stopping — emit a **handoff pack**: destination + Decisions so far + linked assets, shaped to feed the orchestrator's Briefing-Sourced Execution protocol. Route to `/legal-5step` or the orchestrator. With `--gate`, pre-build a `/legal-goal` record so execution runs under the worker–evaluator loop from day one. Set `status: handed-off` once the pack is delivered. ## Honest termination Never present an unresolved map as clear. If the map is dead — fog non-empty, nothing graduatable, no open tickets — surface it to the attorney: the destination needs redrawing or external input is missing (which is itself a `task` ticket). ## Plugin Scope Constraint For all wayfinding tasks, use **exclusively** BetterCallClaude agents, skills, and MCP servers. Do not delegate legal work to generic or external skills, agents, or tools outside this plugin.