choosing-toolslisted

# Choosing Tools Tool selection runs on fit, not volume. This skill states the dispatch policy once, centrally, so no individual skill has to argue for its own attention — descriptions describe, and this protocol ranks them. This is a **flexible** skill: the procedure below is the default shape of the decision, and the judgment inside each step is yours. ## When this runs At task starts and direction changes — the moments where work could take a shape: build, fix, migrate, refactor, review, plan, audit. **Inside a long autonomous task the internal phase shifts are direction changes too** — design→build→run→report each invite a quick re-check and a one-line naming of the active discipline, rather than riding the opening dispatch for hours. It does not run on conversational turns, follow-up messages inside an active task, or questions answerable directly. A dispatch check on "hang on" is ceremony, not selection. ## The dispatch procedure 1. **Name the task in one phrase.** "Schema change with downstream consumers", "unexplained test failure", "new feature, shape unclear". The phrase is what candidates get ranked against. 2. **Shortlist candidates.** Installed skills whose triggers plausibly match. When unsure what is installed, get a live inventory rather than recalling from memory — an inventory skill when one is installed (e.g. session-workflow's toolkit-awareness), else the harness's skill listing or a repo's `AGENTS.md` index already in context. 3. *