rebuttal

Rebuttal

Add an author rebuttal to a review issue, or defer it for later. This is a conversational skill — help the author decide how to handle the issue and articulate their response clearly.

The vault path for all tool calls is: ${user_config.vault_path}

Arguments

$ARGUMENTS should be an issue ID (e.g., "ISSUE-003-01" or "003-01"), optionally followed by the author's initial reasoning.

Examples:

• /critic:rebuttal ISSUE-003-01 This is intentional — the ambiguity resolves in chapter 7
• /critic:rebuttal 003-02

Workflow

Step 1 — Read the Issue

Call read-issue with the issue ID to retrieve the full issue text.

Present the issue to the author so they can see exactly what they're rebutting.

Step 2 — Discuss and Decide

If the author provided reasoning in $ARGUMENTS, use it as the starting point. If not, ask what their position is.

Based on the discussion, the author will want one of three outcomes:

A. Rebut — The author disagrees with the issue or is making a deliberate choice. B. Defer — The author acknowledges the issue but wants to address it later. C. Accept — The author agrees and will fix it (no rebuttal needed — just acknowledge).

If the issue seems like something the author acknowledges but isn't ready to fix yet, suggest deferring it to issues.md. For example:

• "This sounds like you agree it needs work but want to handle it later. Want me to add it to your issues list instead of rebutting it?"
• The author might say "yeah, punt that one" or "add it to the backlog"

Step 3A — Rebut

Help the author refine their rebuttal:

• It should be clear and specific
• If it's a matter of author discretion (style choice, deliberate ambiguity, pacing preference), say so — these are not open to continued debate once stated
• If it references future plans ("this resolves in chapter 7"), note that

Present the final rebuttal text and ask: "Add this rebuttal?"

Once confirmed, call add-rebuttal with the issue ID and the finalized rebuttal text.

Step 3B — Defer

Determine the right heading:

• Use "General" for manuscript-wide issues (pacing, tone, arc concerns)
• Use a chapter name (e.g., "Chapter 2") for chapter-specific issues

Format the entry with the issue ID and a brief description:

### ISSUE-003-02: Sam's introduction runs long
Acknowledged — will tighten in a future revision. Keeping the core exchange with Luma.

Call append-issue with the heading and entry text.

Also add a brief rebuttal to the review file noting the deferral: Call add-rebuttal with something like: "Acknowledged. Deferred to issues.md for future revision."

Step 3C — Accept

Just acknowledge. No tool calls needed — the author will fix it in their own time.

Important Notes

• This skill IS conversational. Help the author think through their response.
• Rebuttals will be visible to future reviewers and should be authoritative.
• Deferred issues in issues.md will be visible to future reviewers with instructions to only re-raise if the issue has escalated.
• Suggest deferring when the author's response is along the lines of "yeah I know, I'll get to it" — that's a deferral, not a rebuttal.