poteto-help

Poteto help

Before resolving models or delegating, read T3 execution. It defines global configuration, capacity selection, and transport constraints.

Answer the user's question about p3-stack, hand them a prompt they can send, and link the file the answer came from. For a help question, don't start the work. The user asked how, and a p3-stack run spends real tokens, so let them send the prompt.

A message that asks for work, such as "use p3-stack to fix this bug", is not a help question. Read poteto-mode, do the work under it, and mention once that invoking /poteto-mode keeps the work in this style.

This file maps questions to the skills and playbooks that hold the answers. Those files own the details. Read the file you route to before you quote it, and trust it when it disagrees with this map. Resolve these links against the installed file and link that absolute path. For public links use hcaiano/p3-stack at the reviewed revision, with the normalized skills/... path; never guess the installed revision.

Find out what they need

Infer the need from the message and the conversation. A named situation, such as "which skill reviews a PR?", goes straight to its section. If the need is still unclear, ask one multiple-choice question with these options, then answer only the section they pick: get set up, start a task with /poteto-mode, pick a skill for a situation, fix a run that went wrong, or make p3-stack my own.

Check the state that changes the answer, and mention it only when it does. Without a project or global pstack-models.md, the bundled capacity defaults apply. No verify-* skill or other app harness in the project means agents have no scripted way to drive the app; mention /create-verification-skill when the question is about proving a change works.

Get set up

1. Install by cloning the repo and running ./install.sh. It uses the Skills CLI to install into ~/.agents/skills/, preserving an existing unslop; ./install.sh --project /path/to/repo targets a project's .agents/skills/ instead.
2. Optionally run /setup-pstack to choose automatic selection, candidate pools or fixed models per role. It writes pstack-models.md; reasoning overrides are optional. The adapter reads changes before the next delegation wave.
3. Start a real task with /poteto-mode, a goal, and a check that can pass or fail.

The personal global instructions enable poteto-mode by default. Installation alone does not enable it on other setups. The fork README has installation details. Offer to word their first prompt with them.

If cost is the worry, say where the tokens go and how to spend fewer. p3-stack spends extra tokens on subagents and review panels. Rerun /setup-pstack and pick a smaller budget or cheaper models. A role set to auto or inherit-parent runs on the parent thread's model, which saves tokens when that model is cheaper. A shorter panel list runs fewer subagents, one for each entry. Save /poteto-mode for work that needs rigor.

Start a task with /poteto-mode

/poteto-mode matches the task to a playbook, copies the playbook's steps into the todo list, and runs the other skills as the steps need them. A step it skips stays in the list as skip: <reason>. A good prompt states the goal and how to tell it's done. It doesn't list skills, because a hand-written sequence tends to drop or reorder steps the playbook would keep.

With the personal global default enabled, describe each task normally; /poteto-mode remains available explicitly. Mid-chat, "new task" makes the mode match a fresh playbook. /poteto-mode already uses the poteto-mode skill's references/poteto-agent.md for the delegates its playbook steps spawn. To get the same style from a delegate of your own, open its brief with the poteto-mode skill's references/poteto-agent.md.

Pick a skill

The default answer is /poteto-mode, which runs most of the others when its steps need them. Name a skill directly when the user wants more or less of something than the playbook gives. Read the skill before you recommend it, and give one example prompt.

The user wants to	Skill
Do any non-trivial task with rigor	/poteto-mode
Know how code works now, or where new code should live	/how
Know why code is shaped this way, or where a number came from	/why
Understand a change or subsystem, explained plainly	/teach
Catch up on their own recent work on a topic	/recall
Know what a small diff could break outside itself	/blast-radius
Settle types and module shape before code that crosses a function boundary	/architect
Get several attempts at one brief, merged into the best one	/arena
Run parallel checks over slices, or race workers, as delegated child tasks	/swarm
Have several models review a diff and try to break it	/interrogate
Fix a bug test-first when a cheap local test exists	/tdd
Apply TypeScript rules to .ts or .tsx work	/typescript-best-practices
Strip comments before review, using a reviewer that didn't write them	/no-comments
Clean AI tells out of prose	/unslop
Write docs, an RFC, a README, or a commit message to a standard	/technical-writing
Write a PR title and description	/write-pr (from hcaiano/skills)
Hear the last reply again in plain words	/bro
Give agents a scripted way to drive the app and prove behavior	/create-verification-skill
Bring a verification skill and its feature map back in line with the app	/maintain-verification-skill
Vet a performance number before reporting or acting on it	/benchmark-checklist
Run a large or cross-cutting change, or one to review after stepping away	/figure-it-out
Keep a decision log during a run, and review it afterward	/show-me-your-work
Pick a model for each role and a reasoning budget	/setup-pstack
Turn their own working habits into a personal mode skill	/automate-me
Turn what a finished task taught into skill edits	/reflect
Stop agents from repeating the same mistakes in this repo	/correct
Build a page whose buttons wake a bot over a webhook	/make-bot-ui
Find their way around p3-stack	/poteto-help

If a skill directory next to this one is missing from the table, read its frontmatter and route by its description. The principle-* directories are covered under principles below.

Close calls:

• /how explains what the code does. /why explains the reasons. /teach runs one or both and explains the result plainly.
• /arena gives every worker the same brief and merges the best parts. /swarm splits work into slices or a race and returns one report.
• /architect implements right after it settles the design. Add "with checkpoint" to review the design before it writes code.
• /interrogate reviews the diff. /blast-radius looks for breakage outside the diff and proves the one fact that makes the change safe.
• /recall rebuilds context across recent threads. Resuming one specific thread, delegated task, or branch is the Session pickup playbook.
• /figure-it-out designs one rigorous run. The Orchestrate playbook runs a program that spans days and many PRs. The Autonomous run playbook drives one task to a finish condition.

Not in p3-stack: p3-stack has no /orchestrate skill. Orchestrate is a /poteto-mode playbook.

Playbooks and principles

Playbooks are step lists inside /poteto-mode, not skills, so they aren't invoked by name. Inside /poteto-mode, describing the task picks one, and these phrases name one directly; the Playbooks section of poteto-mode lists every playbook and when it applies:

• "babysit this pr" or "check on pr 123" runs Babysit. It drives the PR to merge-ready and stops there. It doesn't merge unless the user asks to merge, land, or ship.
• "land the stack" runs Shipping. "take over this branch" runs Session pickup. "pause safely" runs Pause safely. "run the eval playbook" runs Eval.
• "full autopilot on this queue" runs Autopilot-full. "stack them, don't ship" runs Autopilot-stack.

p3-stack has no planning skill. For work that spans phases or stacked PRs, asking /poteto-mode for a plan runs the Multi-phase plan playbook, which writes the plan and doesn't implement it. For a design question, the Prototype playbook or /architect settles it in code first.

Principles are one-rule skills that /poteto-mode reads and cites in its replies. The user rarely invokes one. They steer with the names instead, as in "apply prove it works. show me the real output." Typing /principle-<name> still loads one on demand.

Fix a run that went wrong

Symptom	Fix
The mode stopped applying after a few turns	Check that the global instructions load poteto-mode; invoke it explicitly in an older session.
A question got treated as the next step of the last task	Say "new task", or say the turn doesn't need the mode.
A new model choice had no effect	Check for a project override. The next delegation wave reads the file; running children keep their original selection.
Runs cost more than expected	See the cost paragraph under Get set up.
A skill didn't load on its own	The global instructions load poteto-mode, which selects the needed skills. Explicit skill names remain available; the mode does not run every skill.
Parallel agents overwrote each other	Use supported child-workspace isolation; report unavailable isolation. Top-level threads require an explicit user request.
An overnight run moved but finished nothing	It needs a check that can pass or fail, not a duration.
The reply claims success from a green build	Ask for the real command, flow, stored value, or profile. That's the prove-it-works principle.

Make p3-stack my own

• /automate-me drafts a personal mode skill from the user's own history, to use alongside /poteto-mode. /reflect after a session turns its lessons into skill edits the user approves. /poteto-mode write a skill for <workflow> runs the authoring playbook, and the eval playbook tests a skill change blind.
• Fix a misbehaving skill in its own PR, not inside the feature work where it went wrong.

Reply

Lead with the answer. Give at most one example prompt in a code block, then the link to that file. Keep it short unless the user asked for the whole map.