ralphctl-alignmentlisted

# Alignment > Concept from [Martin Fowler — "Alignment"](https://martinfowler.com/articles/structured-prompt-driven/alignment.html). > Adapted for ralphctl's three phases. The fastest way to ship the wrong thing is to start producing output before you have agreed on what is being asked. Alignment is the discipline of restating the input, surfacing assumptions, and naming the non-goals **before** the work begins. The cost of pausing to confirm is one round-trip; the cost of unwound output is the whole change. ## When this applies - **Refine** — refinement is itself an alignment exercise. Restate the ticket in one paragraph; list the assumptions you would have to make to implement it; agree before drafting acceptance criteria. A criterion built on a wrong premise is worse than a missing one. - **Plan** — confirm the planner's read of the requirements before generating tasks. Repo selection, scope boundaries, and dependency assumptions all need to land before task decomposition starts. - **Execute** — re-read the task spec's verification criteria before writing code. The contract is the arbiter; if your read of it differs from what's written, surface the conflict in a `<note>` rather than guessing. ## What to do 1. **Restate the input.** One paragraph. What you understood, in your own words. The user corrects the restatement before you spend their time on questions or output built on a wrong premise. 2. **List the assumptions.** Every implicit choice you would