leegmoore · Oct 17, 2026 · Oct 12, 2026 · Oct 13, 2026 · Oct 17, 2026 · Oct 17, 2026
diff --git a/FORK-SYNC-LOG.md b/FORK-SYNC-LOG.md
@@ -8,27 +8,27 @@ One table per sync. One row per upstream commit that touches `pstack/` or the co
 |---|---|---|---|---|
 | `ea32d95` | feat(pstack): show /ketchup decisions as before/after visuals (#570) | adapt (planned) | D | /ketchup visuals, rendered with T3 html_render |
 | `08bd59b` | refactor(pstack): cut unneeded sections from seven skills (#571) | adapt (planned) | D | section cuts, kept where fork text is T3-specific |
-| `de2dba6` | fix(pstack): rename Comment Sicko agent id so Grok can spawn it (#486) | take (planned) | B | agent id rename, harmless under delegate_task |
-| `87c8103` | fix(pstack): respect fenced code blocks in plan checks (#536) | adapt (planned) | B | plan checker fix, keep the origin/lim re-read rule (Trunk row) |
-| `ff8f83d` | fix(watch-pr): paginate review threads instead of reading only the first 100 (#484) | take (planned) | B | watch-pr pagination bug, babysit still uses watch-pr on GitHub |
-| `bc697d0` | fix(pstack): drop "Must always apply." from unslop description (#572) | take (planned) | B | unslop description fix |
-| `cf9a111` | fix(pstack): worktree-audit checks MERGED against the default branch, not origin/main (#574) | adapt (planned) | B | worktree audit uses the default branch (Trunk row) |
-| `2bd5dd4` | fix(pstack): make the /poteto-mode chat the runner, poteto-agent a delegate (#575) | adapt (planned) | B | the chat runs the playbook, keep absolute install paths (Install row) |
+| `de2dba6` | fix(pstack): rename Comment Sicko agent id so Grok can spawn it (#486) | take | B | agent file and README renamed, no-comments already spawns by file |
+| `87c8103` | fix(pstack): respect fenced code blocks in plan checks (#536) | adapt | B | test fixture re-reads origin/lim, not origin/main (Trunk row). The drift check caught it |
+| `ff8f83d` | fix(watch-pr): paginate review threads instead of reading only the first 100 (#484) | take | B | cherry-picked unchanged |
+| `bc697d0` | fix(pstack): drop "Must always apply." from unslop description (#572) | take | B | applied by hand, the fork keeps its named-only sentence |
+| `cf9a111` | fix(pstack): worktree-audit checks MERGED against the default branch, not origin/main (#574) | adapt | B | merged with --threads. The base comes from GitHub's default branch, then origin/HEAD, because origin/HEAD here still says main. Upstream's origin/main and origin/master guesses are removed on purpose, so with neither lookup available the script stops and asks for -b (Trunk row) |
+| `2bd5dd4` | fix(pstack): make the /poteto-mode chat the runner, poteto-agent a delegate (#575) | adapt | B | runner and delegate wording in poteto-mode, poteto-agent and README, with delegate_task and absolute paths (Subagents and Install rows) |
 | `e5a02f8` | feat(pstack): add Agent Plugins v1 root manifest (#576) | skip (planned) |  | Cursor marketplace manifest, the fork installs per user (Install row) |
-| `c49b37a` | fix(pstack): create-verification-skill readiness means the app is usable (#573) | take (planned) | B | verification-skill readiness fix |
+| `c49b37a` | fix(pstack): create-verification-skill readiness means the app is usable (#573) | take | B | applied by hand onto the fork's .agents/skills paths |
 | `1b6d44f` | chore(pstack): bump to 0.15.20 (#581) | skip (planned) |  | version bump, versions are not used by the per-user install |
-| `364a77e` | fix(pstack): tell agents where bundled leaf skills live (#577) | adapt (planned) | B | superseded by the fork's absolute paths (Install row), take any remaining wording |
+| `364a77e` | fix(pstack): tell agents where bundled leaf skills live (#577) | adapt | B | leaf paths given as ~/.agents/skills/<name>/SKILL.md instead of ../<name> (Install row) |
 | `997ffc7` | chore(pstack): bump to 0.15.21 (#584) | skip (planned) |  | version bump |
-| `b93e811` | fix(pstack): let poteto-agent find poteto-mode, drop ignored frontmatter, document the / menu (#597) | adapt (planned) | B | wording taken, path lookup superseded by absolute paths (Install row) |
-| `7d8d909` | feat(pstack): add /in-your-own-words to play back the goal before work (#602) | adapt (planned) | B | new skill /in-your-own-words, made visible and named-only (Skill visibility row) |
+| `b93e811` | fix(pstack): let poteto-agent find poteto-mode, drop ignored frontmatter, document the / menu (#597) | adapt | B | poteto-agent wording taken. Plugin-folder search skipped (Install row). The fork never had the mode and reminder keys. The slash-menu README line is Cursor-only |
+| `7d8d909` | feat(pstack): add /in-your-own-words to play back the goal before work (#602) | adapt | B | visible and named-only (Skill visibility row) |
 | `d00ba6e` | feat(pstack): shorten /ketchup replies and build them on real visuals (#595) | adapt (planned) | D | /ketchup rewrite, T3 visuals |
-| `36cecbf` | feat(pstack): propose a cheap always-on signal after a deep debugging dig (#604) | take (planned) | B | debugging signal suggestion |
+| `36cecbf` | feat(pstack): propose a cheap always-on signal after a deep debugging dig (#604) | take | B | cherry-picked unchanged |
 | `3177dab` | chore(pstack): bump to 0.15.22 (#605) | skip (planned) |  | version bump |
-| `dbf4981` | refactor(pstack): reword /in-your-own-words around goals and the problem (#606) | adapt (planned) | B | /in-your-own-words rewording |
+| `dbf4981` | refactor(pstack): reword /in-your-own-words around goals and the problem (#606) | adapt | B | taken with 7d8d909, version bump left out |
 | `c86f349` | refactor(pstack): make /ketchup read like /bro in 150 words (#609) | adapt (planned) | D | /ketchup rewrite |
 | `ce649c0` | feat(pstack): match subagent effort to the job, drop Graphite from orchestrate, and cut playbooks to principles (#613) | adapt (planned) | C | effort rule as lower-only, no Claude fast (Speed row), Graphite out, swarm cadence, shorter playbooks with T3 steps kept |
 | `8043881` | pstack: autopilot loops catch the operator up with /ketchup (#616) | adapt (planned) | C | autopilot loops use /ketchup |
-| `79afd75` | feat(pstack): add /sharpen (#615) | adapt (planned) | B | new skill /sharpen, made visible and named-only (Skill visibility row) |
+| `79afd75` | feat(pstack): add /sharpen (#615) | adapt | B | visible and named-only (Skill visibility row) |
 | `1e5c90a` | chore(pstack): bump to 0.15.24 (#617) | skip (planned) |  | version bump |
 | `afd51cf` | feat(pstack): have /ketchup explain changes with screenshots, videos, and diagrams (#628) | adapt (planned) | D | /ketchup screenshots and videos via T3 tools |
 | `6ce45c5` | chore(pstack): bump to 0.15.25 (#614) | skip (planned) |  | version bump |

diff --git a/pstack/README.md b/pstack/README.md
@@ -111,6 +111,8 @@ start each task thread with [`/poteto-mode`](./skills/poteto-mode/SKILL.md). it
 |---|---|
 | [`/poteto-mode`](./skills/poteto-mode/SKILL.md) | default entry point for any non-trivial task. |
 | [`/poteto-help`](./skills/poteto-help/SKILL.md) | you're new to pstack, or unsure which skill, playbook, or principle fits. finds out what you're trying to do, answers that part, and hands you a prompt to type. runs only when you type `/poteto-help`. |
+| [`/in-your-own-words`](./skills/in-your-own-words/SKILL.md) | you want the agent to play back your goal and the problem before it starts. runs only when you type `/in-your-own-words`. |
+| [`/sharpen`](./skills/sharpen/SKILL.md) | you want a task approached the way a top expert would, aimed at what you're really after, without overspecifying it or deciding your choices for you. |
 | [`/how`](./skills/how/SKILL.md) | you want a walkthrough of how a subsystem works. |
 | [`/why`](./skills/why/SKILL.md) | you want to know why something was built this way. discovers available MCPs at run time and queries each evidence category in parallel (source control, issue tracker, long-form docs, real-time chat, infra observability, error tracking, analytics warehouse). |
 | [`/recall`](./skills/recall/SKILL.md) | you're starting or resuming work and want your recent context on a topic rebuilt from your own chat history and the shared record, handed back as a tight current-state brief. |
@@ -191,11 +193,11 @@ help:              /poteto-help which skill should i use to review this branch?
 
 ## the `poteto-agent` and Comment Sicko subagents
 
-pstack also ships a subagent that runs my style end to end. spawn it from a parent agent via [`subagent_type: "poteto-agent"`](./agents/poteto-agent.md). it reads `poteto-mode` in full, including its inline principles index, before doing any work. substituting `generalPurpose` skips that read and drifts.
+[`/poteto-mode`](./skills/poteto-mode/SKILL.md) runs in the chat that receives it. that chat owns the playbook, the todo list, and every `delegate_task` spawn.
 
-[`/poteto-mode`](./skills/poteto-mode/SKILL.md) and [`subagent_type: "poteto-agent"`](./agents/poteto-agent.md) route through the same wrapper.
+pstack also ships [`poteto-agent`](./agents/poteto-agent.md) as the wrapper for delegates spawned during a run. a delegate's brief tells it to read `~/.agents/skills/poteto-mode/SKILL.md` in full, including its inline principles index, before any work. do not spawn `poteto-agent` to run the playbook itself.
 
-pstack also ships [Comment Sicko](./agents/comment-sicko.md), a read-only comment reviewer available as `subagent_type: "Comment Sicko"`. usually invoke it through [`/no-comments`](./skills/no-comments/SKILL.md), not directly.
+pstack also ships [Comment Sicko](./agents/comment-sicko.md), a read-only comment reviewer spawned as a `delegate_task` child. usually invoke it through [`/no-comments`](./skills/no-comments/SKILL.md), not directly.
 
 ## principles
 

diff --git a/pstack/agents/comment-sicko.md b/pstack/agents/comment-sicko.md
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ---
-name: Comment Sicko
+name: comment-sicko
 description: A deranged comment-hater that savors deletion and condemns workaround code.
 ---
 

diff --git a/pstack/agents/poteto-agent.md b/pstack/agents/poteto-agent.md
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 ---
 name: poteto-agent
-description: Routing target for `/poteto-mode` and any request for poteto's style. Spawn a fresh `poteto-agent` for each new task, and resume one only in the strict cases that poteto-mode's Subagents section names. Reads the `poteto-mode` skill's `SKILL.md` in full before any work, including its inline Principles index. Substituting `generalPurpose` skips that read and drifts.
+description: Delegate wrapper for code-writing and helper tasks spawned as `delegate_task` children during a `/poteto-mode` run. Not the runner for `/poteto-mode` itself. Spawn a fresh `poteto-agent` for each new task, and resume one only in the strict cases that poteto-mode's Subagents section names. Reads `~/.agents/skills/poteto-mode/SKILL.md` in full before any work, including its inline Principles index. A delegate that skips that read drifts.
 ---
 
 # Poteto subagent
 
-You are operating as poteto-mode's full agent style. Read the `poteto-mode` skill's `SKILL.md` in full before doing any work, including its inline Principles index. Navigate to a leaf `principle-*` skill whenever you apply that principle.
+You are operating as poteto-mode's full agent style. The chat that receives `/poteto-mode` owns the playbook, the todo list, and every `delegate_task` spawn. You are one of its delegates. Read `~/.agents/skills/poteto-mode/SKILL.md` in full before doing any work, including its inline Principles index. Every skill it names is at `~/.agents/skills/<name>/SKILL.md`. Read a leaf `principle-*` skill whenever you apply that principle.
diff --git a/pstack/skills/create-verification-skill/SKILL.md b/pstack/skills/create-verification-skill/SKILL.md
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ If the checkout doesn't build or start as-is, fix that first (or report it preci
 
 Write `.agents/skills/verify-<app>/SKILL.md` with YAML frontmatter (`name: verify-<app>` and a `description` that names the app, the surface, and when to reach for it — without frontmatter the skill never registers) and these sections, each grounded in what the interview actually found (no placeholders left):
 
-- **Launch:** the exact command that starts the app for verification, and how to tell it's ready (a log line, a port answering, a prompt). Include teardown. For a short-lived CLI or TUI there is no server to keep alive: launch means build the binary (or install deps) once, then start each drive in its own isolated PTY or tmux session.
+- **Launch:** the exact command that starts the app for verification, and how to tell it's ready (a log line, a prompt). Launch must reach a usable state from an empty data dir, including any migrations and seed data. Ready means usable, not just that a process answers. A database health check can pass while its init scripts are still running. Include teardown. For a short-lived CLI or TUI there is no server to keep alive: launch means build the binary (or install deps) once, then start each drive in its own isolated PTY or tmux session.
 - **Doctor:** one read-only check that answers "is this instance worth driving?" — process up, right version/build, port owned by us, auth valid. An agent runs this first whenever anything looks off.
 - **Drive:** the harness recipe with real selectors/commands from this repo, not examples. Prefer stable handles (ARIA labels, data attributes, prompt strings, route paths) over coordinates and tab order.
 - **Evidence:** what to capture for a proof and where it goes. State the proof standards: exercise the real user path, not internal setters or test-only endpoints; capture the action and the resulting state, not just the final screen; verify side effects (files written, rows inserted, messages sent) alongside what's visible; mocks only where a production boundary already isolates the external system. When the safe path is a dry-run or test mode, verify what it actually skips by observing (files, network, git refs) rather than trusting its name: some dry-runs still touch the network or open a browser.
@@ -32,11 +32,11 @@ Write `.agents/skills/verify-<app>/SKILL.md` with YAML frontmatter (`name: verif
 
 ## 3. Seed the feature map
 
-Create `.agents/skills/verify-<app>/features/README.md` plus one file per user-facing feature you can identify (aim for the top 3-5 to start, from routes, commands, menus, or docs). Follow the shape in [`references/feature-map-example/`](references/feature-map-example/), with a README index and one file per feature. Each file answers, from the user's point of view: what the feature is, how to reach it, how to drive it with the harness, and what observable end state proves it works. The four H2s are `Sub-features`, `How to get to it (user POV)`, `Driving it with <harness>`, and `Gotchas`. The map is the repo's maintained verification source; a proof that drives one convenient entry point is incomplete when the map lists others.
+Create `.agents/skills/verify-<app>/features/README.md` plus one file per user-facing feature you can identify (aim for the top 3-5 to start, from routes, commands, menus, or docs). Follow the shape in [`references/feature-map-example/`](references/feature-map-example/), with a README index and one file per feature. Each file answers, from the user's point of view: what the feature is, how to reach it, how to drive it with the harness, and what observable end state proves it works. The four H2s are `Sub-features`, `How to get to it (user POV)`, `Driving it with <harness>`, and `Gotchas`. If the seed data lacks a precondition that a journey needs, the journey reports a failure and the reason goes in that feature's `Gotchas`. Never weaken the journey to make it pass. The map is the repo's maintained verification source; a proof that drives one convenient entry point is incomplete when the map lists others.
 
 ## 4. Prove the generated skill before handing it over
 
-Run its own instructions end to end once: launch, doctor, drive ONE mapped feature (one is enough; the map exists so later runs can cover the rest), capture evidence, clean up. After cleanup, confirm the evidence still exists at the named location — a cleanup that eats the proof fails this step. Fix what fails, and run the generated cleanup after every failed iteration too, so broken attempts don't strand processes and ports. A generated skill that was never executed is a draft, not a deliverable.
+Run its own instructions end to end once: launch, doctor, drive ONE mapped feature (one is enough; the map exists so later runs can cover the rest), capture evidence, clean up. After cleanup, confirm the evidence still exists at the named location — a cleanup that eats the proof fails this step. Fix what fails, and run the generated cleanup after every failed iteration too, so broken attempts don't strand processes and ports. A generated skill that was never executed is a draft, not a deliverable. If you proved it in a stand-in for the real target (a container in place of a fresh VM, a local stack in place of a remote one), list every setup step the stand-in did that the target will not. Those steps stay unverified until a run on the real target covers them.
 
 ## 5. Offer the maintenance loop
 

diff --git a/pstack/skills/in-your-own-words/SKILL.md b/pstack/skills/in-your-own-words/SKILL.md
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+name: in-your-own-words
+description: "Restate in your own words what you think the user's goals are and what problem they're trying to solve. Use for /in-your-own-words. Use only when the user or another skill names it."
+---
+
+Restate in your own words what you think the user's goals are and what problem they're trying to solve.
diff --git a/pstack/skills/poteto-help/SKILL.md b/pstack/skills/poteto-help/SKILL.md
@@ -58,6 +58,8 @@ The default answer is `/poteto-mode`, which runs most of the others when its ste
 | The user wants to | Skill |
 |---|---|
 | Do any non-trivial task with rigor | [`/poteto-mode`](../poteto-mode/SKILL.md) |
+| Check that the agent understood their goal and the problem before it starts | [`/in-your-own-words`](../in-your-own-words/SKILL.md) |
+| Aim a task higher before starting: more expert, more outcome-focused, not overspecified | [`/sharpen`](../sharpen/SKILL.md) |
 | Know how code works now, or where new code should live | [`/how`](../how/SKILL.md) |
 | Know why code is shaped this way, or where a number came from | [`/why`](../why/SKILL.md) |
 | Understand a change or subsystem, explained plainly | [`/teach`](../teach/SKILL.md) |

diff --git a/pstack/skills/poteto-help/references/recipes.md b/pstack/skills/poteto-help/references/recipes.md
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ Swap in the real paths, skills, and done checks. Informal wording works.
 ## Understand
 
 - `/poteto-mode read <thread>. restate the underlying issue in your own words, in plain english.`
+- `/in-your-own-words <long or messy ask>`
+- `/sharpen <your task>`
 - `/poteto-mode investigate why <symptom>. give me what we know, what data you used, and your best hypotheses. don't change any code yet.`
 - `use /how to understand <subsystem>. then use /why to find out why it broke recently.`
 - `/recall my work on <topic> from last week, then read <issue>.`