hacking-workflowlisted

# Hacking Workflow ## Overview **Core principle:** Real work runs a loop with **decision and evidence gates**. Resolve choices that materially affect the result, then keep moving until fresh evidence supports the outcome. This skill is the spine; each phase is its own skill it hands off to. **This is the front door.** When a build starts, run the loop. Right-size the ceremony to the work (a spike skips most of it), the host's capabilities, and the active authority boundaries. Skills guide technique; they do not grant permission. System, user, host, and repository policy decide which actions and capabilities are available. ## Classify First (right-size the loop) Classify the path and state it briefly when that helps the user follow the work. Complexity can only *upgrade* the path, never downgrade it. | Path | What it is | Loop | |---|---|---| | **Spike** | "Can this even be done?" throwaway probe | `spike-and-stabilize` only, report back. Skip the rest. | | **Bounded** | A clear, contained change | Shape briefly → build → verify → finish. Skip the plan doc. | | **Architectural** | New system, many parts, real design choices | The full loop below. | ## The Loop Track the whole thing in **beads** from the first phase (**using-beads**) — file the work, close as you go. ``` Phase 0 — SHAPE resolve unclear intent and consequential design choices → shaping when needed. GATE: no unresolved choice that materially changes the result. Phase 1 — ISOLATE protect co