---
name: shape-work
description: Clarify a proposed feature or unresolved design before implementation; produce decisions, scope, and open questions.
license: MIT
---

# Shape work

Read the request and the repository's relevant guidance. Identify the intended user outcome and inspect existing behaviour before proposing a change.

Resolve the questions that materially affect scope, behaviour, or verification. Ask only for missing decisions; continue independent investigation while waiting. Use a small prototype or focused research when it can settle uncertainty more reliably than discussion.

Return a bounded direction: problem, desired behaviour, non-goals, decisions with reasons, and unresolved questions. Distinguish observed facts from assumptions. Record accepted decisions in the project's existing location when that writing is in scope. Planning does not authorize implementation or external publication.

Finish when the next step is clear and remaining uncertainties are explicitly named. Match the amount of planning to the size of the work.