Refocus

Refocus

Keep the user's goal and completion criteria as the authority for deciding what to do next. Keep this skill active throughout the task, including continuations and context compaction.

When to check

• Refocus immediately when this skill becomes active, then at least once every 60 minutes of wall-clock time during active work. Check sooner when work branches into an unplanned investigation, repeated retries, or optional polish.
• Read the current time from an available clock tool or system clock. Record the last completed check and the next deadline in the existing task state or handoff; do not estimate elapsed time from turns or token counts.
• Check the clock at work-unit boundaries and before and after long tool calls or waits. Use bounded waits so a running build or test does not postpone the check until it finishes; do not cancel useful work just to refocus.
• On resume or after compaction, re-read this skill and the recorded state and refocus before new work. If the timestamp is missing or a clock is unavailable, refocus immediately and at every work-unit boundary until timing is available. Do not claim the hourly deadline was verified without clock evidence.

The check

1. Re-read the actual goal statement, the user's latest corrections, and the accepted plan and completion criteria. Preserve the full requested outcome.
2. Compare current work and recent changes with that goal. Identify scope creep: unrelated cleanup, speculative features, widening investigations, repeated checks without new evidence, or polishing beyond the requested result. Ask which remaining requirement the current action satisfies or unblocks.
3. Stop pursuing detours that do neither. Briefly record useful unrelated findings in the existing tracker if appropriate; do not turn recording them into another task. Keep required dependencies, fixes, and verification in scope. Do not discard work or lower completion criteria to finish sooner.
4. Choose the shortest sound next step toward an unmet requirement and resume it. If every requirement is verified, finish. If progress needs a user decision, state the specific blocker using the active workflow's rules.
5. Record the check time, goal, any scope correction, and next step in a few lines in the existing task state. Set the next deadline no later than 60 minutes from this check. Include a brief progress update when the plan changes; keep the assessment short enough to support timely completion.

Refocusing does not require renewed permission for already authorized work. Preserve the user's stop requests and the active workflow's approval boundaries.