envelope

# Envelope Sort an incoming request into one of three envelopes — **A: Ship**, **B: Ask one focused question**, **C: Propose first** — and act accordingly. ## When to use - The principal gives a directive and you're tempted to respond with multiple clarifying questions - The work involves a fork in the road and you're tempted to present multiple options - Before posting any "should I…?" question - Triggered by Caddy on prompts like: "should I", "before I start", "is this clear", "is this OK", "couple options", "two paths", "ambiguous", "not sure if you want", "want me to", "ship vs ask", "decision tree", "fork in the road" ## The decision tree (run top-to-bottom) ``` 1. Is the request unambiguous? YES → step 2 NO → can I resolve the ambiguity by reading code/data/docs? YES → resolve, then step 2 NO → ENVELOPE B: ask exactly one focused question with options spelled out 2. Is the change reversible? YES → step 3 NO → is the irreversibility expensive? (data loss, schema migration, deploy, broken contract) YES → ENVELOPE C: propose first, wait for sign-off NO → step 3 3. Is the change bounded to a known surface area? YES → step 4 NO → can I re-scope to a bounded version? YES → propose the bounded version + ship that NO → ENVELOPE C: propose first 4. Do I have full context to make the change correctly? YES → ENVELOPE A: SHIP NO → load missing context (search/read/query); re-evaluate 5. Af...