rpi-plan-critique

RPI Plan Critique

Goal

Return one substantive, evidence-grounded credibility assessment of an RPI implementation plan. Complete the material assessment as quickly as the supplied evidence permits by default; broaden depth only when the user explicitly requests deep. The critique is read-only with respect to the plan and writes only the caller-specified critique artifact.

Flow

1. Confirm the exact task identity, plan, evidence, requirements, decisions, dependencies, task Requirements, critique output path, and critique depth supplied by the caller. Use standard when depth is omitted. Use deep only when the caller records explicit user direction; otherwise downgrade an unsupported deep request to standard and record the limitation.
2. Before assessment, inspect the plan's Critique Disposition, supplied parent state when available, and critique output path for the same task. A prior started, Complete, Partial, or Blocked execution record or existing critique artifact means the invocation was consumed. Return the existing execution status, verdict or limitation, path, depth, and provenance to the caller without writing or reassessing. When task identity cannot establish whether existing evidence belongs to this task, return Blocked rather than risking a second invocation.
3. Read the plan and directly relevant supplied evidence. Do not perform open-ended research, browse for additional concerns, or infer missing evidence as fact.
4. Define the supplied inputs and criterion boundary, then assess the full boundary once across requirements, research, phase and task Goals, task Requirements, Details, References, dependencies, decisions, risks, and missed concerns.
   • In standard, assess the complete supplied boundary while prioritizing implementation blockers, contradictions, missing dependencies or acceptance coverage, unsupported scope or architecture, and material risks. Follow direct evidence and omit plan restatement, cosmetic feedback, exhaustive strengths, and low-impact suggestions so the complete evidence-supported actionable set is recorded with minimal elapsed work.
   • In deep, trace supplied evidence more broadly, stress-test alternatives and boundaries, and include substantive lower-severity concerns. Deep remains one assessment and does not widen research authority.
   • In either depth, return one complete finding set rather than serializing findings across critique passes.
5. Write the critique using templates/plan-critique.md. Use severity-graded PC-xxx findings keyed to relevant requirement, research, phase, or task IDs. For each actionable finding, name the smallest useful change, action owner, exact resolving evidence, and whether it is a direct planner correction or needs a significant or divergent user decision.
6. Record critique execution as Complete, Partial, or Blocked, separately from the Pass, Revise, or Blocked verdict. A passing critique may identify residual risks that the planning parent has explicitly accepted.

Inputs

• Plan path
• Caller requirements and task context
• Supplied research, evidence pointers, draft details, and decisions
• Dependencies and task Requirements
• One critique output path
• Critique depth and provenance: standard by default or deep from explicit user direction

Success criteria

• The critique distinguishes evidence-backed concerns from missing evidence.
• Critique depth and provenance are recorded. Standard completely assesses the material supplied boundary while minimizing low-value work; deep occurs only from explicit user direction.
• Re-entry preflight returns existing same-task critique evidence without writing or reassessing and blocks when task identity cannot safely distinguish it.
• Findings identify substantive gaps rather than structure, formatting, or cosmetic preferences.
• The critique records its inputs, criterion boundary, coverage assessment, and limitations.
• Each actionable finding has a severity, related IDs, evidence, impact, and smallest useful change.
• Each actionable finding identifies its action owner, exact resolving evidence, and whether it is a direct correction or requires a significant or divergent user decision.
• The critique returns one complete actionable finding set for the supplied boundary; cosmetic preferences and separately withheld late findings do not create serial passes.
• The invocation is terminal for its task: Complete, Partial, or Blocked consumes the one critique slot, and no retry or closure critique is requested.
• The closeout identifies the highest-impact finding, action owner, smallest next action, and whether a user response is required.
• The plan remains unchanged.

Constraints

• Do not edit the plan, research, changes, or review records.
• Do not perform research beyond the supplied inputs. Route a material research gap to the planning parent as a Blocked or Revise finding.
• Do not grade formatting, document cosmetics, or template adherence unless the issue conceals a substantive planning risk.
• Confirmed user requests and answers outrank critique advice. A conflicting recommendation is rejected when current user direction already resolves it. Classify a significant or divergent issue as a user decision only when current user direction does not resolve it.
• Do not invoke this skill recursively, ask for a same-task rerun, or perform a closure assessment. Missing evidence is a finding or Blocked result, not permission for another invocation.
• Use plain-text workspace-relative paths in the output artifact.

Conversation guidance

• In standard mode, suppress continual updates unless a blocker prevents completion. In deep mode, provide concise updates only at meaningful boundaries. Explain the assessment action and why it matters, material findings, blockers, and relevant artifact links without narrating low-level actions.
• Do not ask the user questions during critique. Record any significant or divergent decision need in its finding and return it to the planning parent or standalone caller for disposition.
• Use a small status marker such as ✅, ⚠️, or ⛔ only when it improves scanning, and pair it with text.
• At closeout, separate critique execution status, Complete, Partial, or Blocked, from its Pass, Revise, or Blocked verdict. Identify the highest-impact finding, its action owner, the smallest next action, and whether a user response is required. A planner-owned revision does not require user input.
• Advise /compact only when stale tool output or completed assessment detail outweighs useful current context and the plan and critique artifact are current. When advising it, name the state and artifact pointers to retain. Otherwise omit compaction guidance.
• When dispatched by rpi-plan, return the verdict to the planning parent and do not ask the user to invoke planning again. In a standalone invocation, do not invoke a peer stage. State /rpi-plan only when a revision needs the planning parent. Otherwise state the explicit stop or no-handoff reason. In an active rpi-quick or confirmed automatic RPI Agent context, return the verdict to the parent so it can continue after gates and required confirmations pass.
• For every relevant existing artifact, use the two-cell row | [actual/workspace-relative/path.ext](actual/workspace-relative/path.ext) | Short description |, using that artifact's actual workspace-relative path as both link text and destination; omit unavailable files and render the table immediately before the final ## Next Steps section. End with ## Next Steps: state the exact eligible user command, active-parent action, blocker-clearing action, or that no user action is required. When compaction is warranted, tell the user to run /compact before the next RPI command; otherwise omit compaction guidance.

Stop rules

• Return Blocked when supplied evidence cannot support a decision-critical assessment; do not request another critique.
• Return Revise when substantive findings require a plan change; the parent disposes findings without a closure critique.
• Return Pass when the plan is credible for implementation and any residual risks are explicitly accepted.
• Stop after writing and returning one Complete, Partial, or Blocked assessment. Every status consumes the invocation.

Handoff

Return critique depth and provenance, execution status, verdict, output path, severity summary, highest-impact finding, action owner, smallest next action, and user-response status to the planning parent. When rpi-plan dispatched the critique, the parent revises directly, obtains a significant or divergent user decision when required, and finalizes without another critique. A standalone critique may advise /rpi-plan for needed revision but does not invoke it.

Final response contract

Return critique depth and provenance, execution status, Pass, Revise, or Blocked verdict, the critique output path, severity counts, one highest-impact PC-xxx finding, its action owner, the smallest recommended next action, and whether a user response is required. Do not reproduce the full critique in the response. Follow the Conversation guidance section for parent return, standalone advice, conditional compaction advice, the linked artifact table, and final next steps.