autonomous-chain-controller

Autonomous Chain Controller

Wrong skill? Single action -> invoke directly. Planning only -> plan-and-execute.

Announce at start: "I am using the autonomous-chain-controller to orchestrate the full workflow."

When to Use

• User gives vague task ("build X", "implement Y", "fix and ship Z")
• Task requires 3+ skills in sequence
• Full feature development lifecycle
• Multi-step refactoring

Example

# Example: Chain selection for "build login page"
echo "Task: build login page"
echo "Complexity: MEDIUM (5 skills)"
echo "Chain: brainstorming -> debate -> plan-and-execute -> TDD -> verify"
echo "Gate 1: brainstorming output has >=3 options? YES"
echo "Gate 2: debate scored all options? YES"
echo "Gate 3: plan has phases? YES -> continue"

Chain Protocol

Phase 1: Classify

Task: [request] Complexity: LOW (1-2) | MEDIUM (3-5) | HIGH (6+) Chain: [ordered skill list]

Phase 2: Select Chain

Task Type	Chain
New feature	brainstorming -> debate -> plan-and-execute -> TDD -> review -> verify
Bug fix	systematic-debugging -> TDD -> review -> verify
Distributed incident	debug-conductor -> (investigators forked) -> evidence-adjudicator -> failure-autopsy
Refactor	blast-radius-check -> plan -> TDD -> review -> verify
Content	brainstorming -> plan -> harsh-review -> verify
Investigation	adversarial-search -> investigation-state -> autopsy

Phase 3: Execute with Gates

Between EVERY skill:

• Previous output correct?
• TODOs logged? (todo-guardian)
• No regressions? (measurement-integrity)
• Correct branch?

Gate failure: retry < 2 -> retry / retry >= 2 -> think-twice / retry >= 3 -> HALT

Phase 4: Completion

All skills done + gates passed + verification + TODO sweep.

---

Failure Detectors

Detector	Signal	Action
Premature completion	Remaining skills	Block -> resume
TODO amnesia	Unlogged items	Pause -> extract -> resume
Branch drift	Wrong branch	HALT -> fix -> resume
Gate cascade	3x same failure	HALT -> autopsy -> escalate
Scope creep	>8 skills	Split into sub-chains

Anti-Patterns

Anti-Pattern	Detection	Correction
Skipped gate	No between-skill check	Add gate, re-run previous skill
Wrong chain selected	Output mismatches task	Re-classify, new chain
Premature completion	Skills remaining	Block until all complete
Scope creep	>8 skills in chain	Split into sub-chains

Failure Modes

Failure	Detection	Recovery
Wrong chain	Output mismatch	Re-analyze, new chain
Chain too long	>8 skills	Split into 2 sub-chains
Missing skill	Reference missing	Skip + log TODO
Retry loop	Repeated failure	think-twice, then escalate

Companion Skills

• plan-and-execute: Planning within chain
• brainstorming: Options at chain start
• debate: Design selection
• verification-before-completion: Final gate
• todo-guardian: Between-gate enforcement
• quantitative-decision-gate: Branch-point decisions
• failure-autopsy: Chain failure post-mortem