principle-build-the-lever

Files (1)

• SKILL.md

SKILL.md (first lines)

# Build the Lever

Read [the workflow contract](../../references/workflow-contract.md).

When the work isn't trivial, build the tool that does it instead of doing it by hand.

A codemod, generator, or script does the work the same way every time and reruns for free. The tool is one artifact a reviewer can read and rerun to check the work. Hand-done changes can only be re-verified by redoing them. A deterministic script turns "trust me" into "run this".

Default to building the lever. Skip it only when the task is trivial, a couple of obvious edits you can see at a glance.

- Do the first unit by hand to learn the recipe, then build the tool. Prove it by rerunning it on that unit and diffing against your hand-done version. Make the lever safe to rerun.
- Codemod or script for edits, generator for repetitive files, a dump-to-sqlite query for analysis, a rerunnable check for verification.
- A deterministic lever beats fan-out. If the tool can process every unit in one pass, run it yourself. Don't fan out delegates to hand-apply what a script can do.
- When you fan work out to subagents, write the lever as a skill they all read: the recipe, the verification contract, and the do-not-touch fences in one artifact. Keep it outside the delegates' write scope so they can't quietly edit the contract.
- Applying this principle produces a file. If you cited it and there is no codemod, script, generator, or delegate skill in the diff, you didn't apply it.
- Keep the lever with durable work when useful; commit only under the user's authorization and repository policy.

The bar is triviality, not repetition. A one-off still earns a lever when the lever is what makes the work checkable. Per [Subtract Before You Add](../principle-subtract-before-you-add/SKILL.md), build the smallest script that does or proves the job, never a framework.

Distinct from [Correct](../correct/SKILL.md), which makes recurring mistakes structurally harder. This is throughput and reviewability on the work in front of you. For verification itself, see [Prove It Works](../prove-it-works/SKILL.md).

From matthewyjiang/rho-pstack, MIT.

More from matthewyjiang/rho-pstack