For a direct invocation, use shared/references/model-preview.md to choose the branch first. Coordinator work and deterministic commands proceed within invocation authority. An actual worker branch uses one approved route snapshot. Nested calls reuse it without route selection or added workers.
Decide whether to build and which direction to explore. Keep the why before the how: identify the problem before choosing a mechanism. Expand the solution space with alternatives supported by the user's needs and the project. Do not write production code or implementation tasks.
1. Understand the problem
Use existing context and inspect relevant code, docs, and prior decisions. Ask only what research cannot answer: who is affected, what fails today, why it matters, and the constraints that change the decision. Do not reopen a settled decision without new evidence.
2. Compare viable directions
Compare the current approach, the smallest useful change, and a materially different option when one exists. State the expected result, cost, and principal risk. Claims about the project must cite files inspected in this run; label assumptions and unverified external claims.
For generated ideas, read references/idea-basis-contract.md: each idea needs a source or an explicit reasoning basis. When the user cannot assess a territory, read references/blindspot-pass.md. Its territory gate comes before its batch of informed decisions.
Use models-consensus only for an explicitly requested council. That skill owns separate council approval, routing, dispatch, and council artifacts. Pass a neutral problem statement and use its report here. Do not create a council for routine options.
3. Choose a direction
Recommend an option and explain the trade-off that matters. Ask the user to confirm or change the direction. Resolve material objections; do not require a fixed count of options or rounds.
4. Return the verdict
State BUILD, DEFER, REDUCE SCOPE, or REJECT, with the reason, proposed scope, exclusions, unresolved decisions, and evidence. For DEFER, name the event that should reopen the question. Avoid numerical confidence without a measured basis.
For BUILD or REDUCE SCOPE, hand the agreed direction to interview-me, which settles the requirements before to-prd. Continue into that stage only within the user's request. For DEFER or REJECT, stop. The verdict is the acceptance contract; an implementation plan is not required here.