thedixitjain Complexity Detection
A deterministic scoring rubric. Five axes, 0–4 each, summed to 0–20.
Axes
| Axis | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Files touched | 0–2 | 3–5 | 6–10 | 11–20 | 20+ |
| Type | chore / format | refactor | feature | cross-cutting | architectural |
| Judgment required | mechanical | low-ambiguity | medium | high | critical (sec/prod) |
| Cross-component | single module | two modules | three modules | many within one repo | multi-repo |
| Novelty | known pattern | rare pattern | novel | research needed | unknown unknowns |
Total score maps to:
| Score | Depth |
|---|---|
| 0 – 6 | quick |
| 7 – 13 | standard |
| 14+ | thorough |
Override signals
Upgrade one step regardless of score when any of these are true:
- Security-sensitive: authentication, authorization, crypto, secrets, PII.
- Data migration that is not reversible.
- Public API shape change (breaking).
- Performance-critical hot path with an existing SLA.
Downgrade one step only when all of these are true:
- Zero new dependencies.
- Existing tests cover the change.
- No user-visible behaviour change.
- Single file, single function.
Per-depth defaults
| Depth | Token budget | Model tier | Review | Tests |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| quick | 8 000 | haiku | optional | smoke |
| standard | 20 000 | sonnet | required | unit + integration |
| thorough | 45 000 | sonnet/opus | mandatory | unit + integration + E2E |
These defaults are recorded in .cavekit/config.json under task_budgets
and consumed by the cavekit-router.cjs model router.
How agents score
The ck:complexity subagent (haiku) receives a task description and returns
a JSON blob:
{
"score": 11,
"depth": "standard",
"axes": {
"files": 2, "type": 2, "judgment": 2, "cross_component": 2, "novelty": 3
},
"overrides_applied": []
}
/ck:map calls this agent per task to set depth in the task registry. If
the agent produces a score in the "thorough" band with a novelty of 4 and a
security override, it may return needs_research: true, which /ck:map must
translate into an upstream ck:researcher task dependency before the work
itself.
Integration points
/ck:sketch— runs complexity scoring on the whole domain to set the kit'scomplexity:frontmatter./ck:map— runs it per task to assigndepth./ck:make— readsdepthto size the task budget and pick the review intensity.ck:complexityagent — pure-haiku worker; does nothing else.
Anti-patterns
- Using one depth for every task in a kit "for consistency." Cost up, signal down.
- Padding depth to "be safe" — if the budget is oversized, the model wastes tokens exploring. Right-size, then raise only when verification fails.
- Ignoring overrides — scoring a login flow as "quick" because it touches one file. Security overrides exist for exactly this reason.
Source: hashgraph-online/awesome-codex-plugins → plugins/JuliusBrussee/blueprint/skills/complexity-detection/SKILL.md