War Room Checkpoint Skill

Lightweight inline assessment for determining whether a decision point within a command warrants War Room escalation.

Purpose
When Commands Should Invoke This
Invocation Pattern
Checkpoint Flow
Confidence Calculation
Profile Thresholds
Output Format
Examples

Verification

Run make test-checkpoint to verify checkpoint logic works correctly after changes.

Purpose

This skill is not invoked directly by users. It is called by other commands (e.g., /do-issue, /pr-review) at critical decision points to:

Calculate Reversibility Score (RS) for the current context
Determine if full War Room deliberation is needed
Return either a quick recommendation (express) or escalate to full War Room

When Commands Should Invoke This

Command	Trigger Conditions
`/do-issue`	3+ issues, dependency conflicts, overlapping files
`/pr-review`	>3 blocking issues, architecture changes, ADR violations
`/architecture-review`	ADR violations, high coupling, boundary violations
`/fix-pr`	Major scope, conflicting reviewer feedback

Invocation Pattern

Skill(attune:war-room-checkpoint) with context:
  - source_command: "{calling_command}"
  - decision_needed: "{human_readable_question}"
  - files_affected: [{list_of_files}]
  - issues_involved: [{issue_numbers}] (if applicable)
  - blocking_items: [{type, description}] (if applicable)
  - conflict_description: "{summary}" (if applicable)
  - profile: "default" | "startup" | "regulated" | "fast" | "cautious"

Checkpoint Flow

Step 1: Context Analysis

Analyze the provided context to extract:

Scope of change (files, modules, services affected)
Stakeholders impacted
Conflict indicators
Time pressure signals

Step 2: Reversibility Assessment

Calculate RS using the 5-dimension framework:

Dimension	Assessment Question
Reversal Cost	How hard to undo this decision?
Time Lock-In	Does this crystallize immediately?
Blast Radius	How many components/people affected?
Information Loss	Does this close off future options?
Reputation Impact	Is this visible externally?

Score each 1-5, calculate RS = Sum / 25.

Step 3: Mode Selection

Apply profile thresholds to determine mode:

if RS <= profile.express_ceiling:
    mode = "express"
elif RS <= profile.lightweight_ceiling:
    mode = "lightweight"
elif RS <= profile.full_council_ceiling:
    mode = "full_council"
else:
    mode = "delphi"

Step 4: Response Generation

Express Mode (RS <= threshold)

Return immediately with recommendation:

response:
  should_escalate: false
  selected_mode: "express"
  reversibility_score: {rs}
  decision_type: "Type 2"
  recommendation: "{quick_recommendation}"
  rationale: "{brief_explanation}"
  confidence: 0.9
  requires_user_confirmation: false

Escalate Mode (RS > threshold)

Invoke full War Room and return results:

response:
  should_escalate: true
  selected_mode: "{lightweight|full_council|delphi}"
  reversibility_score: {rs}
  decision_type: "{Type 1B|1A|1A+}"
  war_room_session_id: "{session_id}"
  orders: ["{order_1}", "{order_2}"]
  rationale: "{war_room_rationale}"
  confidence: {calculated_confidence}
  requires_user_confirmation: {true_if_confidence_low}

Confidence Calculation

For escalated decisions, calculate confidence for auto-continue:

confidence = 1.0
- 0.10 * dissenting_view_count
- 0.20 if voting_margin < 0.3
- 0.15 if RS > 0.80
- 0.10 if novel_domain
- 0.10 if compound_decision
+ 0.20 if unanimous (cap at 1.0)

requires_user_confirmation = (confidence <= 0.8)

Profile Thresholds

Profile	Express	Lightweight	Full Council	Use Case
default	0.40	0.60	0.80	Balanced
startup	0.55	0.75	0.90	Move fast
regulated	0.25	0.45	0.65	Compliance
fast	0.50	0.70	0.90	Speed priority
cautious	0.30	0.50	0.70	Higher stakes

Command-Specific Adjustments

Command	Adjustment	Rationale
do-issue (3+ issues)	-0.10	Higher risk with multiple issues
pr-review (strict mode)	-0.15	Strict mode = higher scrutiny
architecture-review	-0.05	Architecture inherently consequential

Output Format

For Calling Command

Return a structured response that the calling command can act on:

## Checkpoint Response

**Source**: {source_command}
**Decision**: {decision_needed}

### Assessment
- **RS**: {reversibility_score} ({decision_type})
- **Mode**: {selected_mode}
- **Escalated**: {yes|no}

### Recommendation
{recommendation_or_orders}

### Control Flow
- **Confidence**: {confidence}
- **Auto-continue**: {yes|no}
{user_prompt_if_needed}

Integration Notes

Calling Commands Should

Check checkpoint response's requires_user_confirmation
If true: present confirmation prompt and wait
If false: continue with orders or recommendation
Log checkpoint to audit trail

Failure Handling

If checkpoint invocation fails:

Log warning with context
Continue command execution without checkpoint
Do NOT block the user's workflow

Audit Trail

All checkpoints are logged to:

~/.claude/memory-palace/strategeion/checkpoints/{date}/{session-id}.yaml

Examples

Example 1: Low RS (Express)

Input:

source_command: "do-issue"
decision_needed: "Execution order for issues #101, #102"
issues_involved: [101, 102]
files_affected: ["src/utils/helper.py", "tests/test_helper.py"]

Assessment:

Reversal Cost: 1 (can revert commits)
Time Lock-In: 1 (no deadline)
Blast Radius: 1 (single utility module)
Information Loss: 1 (all options preserved)
Reputation Impact: 1 (internal)

RS: 0.20 (Type 2)

Response:

should_escalate: false
selected_mode: "express"
recommendation: "Execute in parallel - no dependencies detected"
confidence: 0.95
requires_user_confirmation: false

Example 2: High RS (Escalate)