patina-help

Patina help

Answer the user's question about pstack, hand them a prompt they can send, and link the file the answer came from. For a help question, don't start the work. The user asked how, and a pstack run spends real tokens, so let them send the prompt.

A message that asks for work, such as "use pstack to fix this bug", is not a help question. Read patina-mode and do the work under it.

This file maps questions to the installed skills, playbooks, and platform mappings that own the answers. Read the matching source before answering. Its instructions take precedence over this map and any upstream guide, which describes Cursor and may differ from this port. The local links point into the installed plugin, so give the user the file's public copy: https://github.com/michael-denyer/pstack-claude/blob/main/plugins/pstack/ followed by its path relative to the plugin root.

Find out what they need

Infer the need from the message and the conversation. A named situation, such as "which skill reviews a PR?", goes straight to its section. If the need is still unclear, ask one multiple-choice question with these options, then answer only the section they pick:

• Get set up
• Start a task with /patina-mode
• Pick a skill for a situation
• Fix a run that went wrong
• Make pstack my own

Check the state that changes the answer, and mention it only when it does:

• For model or routing questions, identify the runtime and installation type, then read setup-pstack for the sheet's location and how that runtime loads it. Check that configuration before saying whether defaults or overrides apply.
• A project driver skill is the skill that patina-mode's Project verification rule finds: a skill in a project skill directory, at the root or in a monorepo package, named *-verify or verify-*, or a legacy verify, whose SKILL.md tells an agent how to launch or drive the app. Without one or another app harness, agents have no scripted way to drive the app. Mention /create-verification-skill when the question is about proving a change works.

When the model sheet is missing and it matters, ask whether the user wants to pick a model for each role and a default effort now. It matters when the user is new, the question is about setup or cost, or the answer depends on which models run. Ask at most once per chat. If the need is also unclear, ask both questions together. Offer two choices:

• Now: give them /setup-pstack to type, and answer their question too.
• Later: answer their question, and add one line saying every role keeps its default model until they run /setup-pstack.

Get set up

1. Identify the user's runtime and whether they want a native plugin/package or skills-only installation. Read its section in the README or shared installation reference, then give the matching install command.
2. Read /setup-pstack, including its Other runtimes table, before explaining model choices, effort, sheet loading, or automatic routing. For a bundled routing hook or extension, use its persistent session hook: off setting in the current runtime's sheet to turn routing off.
3. Offer a first task prompt with a goal and a check that can pass or fail, per references/prompting.md. Use the current runtime's invocation syntax from the slash-command reference.

Before giving runtime-specific instructions or adapting a recipe, read the Codex mapping or Pi mapping when applicable. Their routing sections cover hook trust, extension loading, and skills-only installs. For other runtimes, use the runtime support reference.

If cost is the worry, say where the tokens go and how to spend less. pstack spends extra tokens on subagents and review panels. Rerun /setup-pstack and pick a lower effort or cheaper models. A role set to auto or inherit-parent runs on the chat's model, which costs less when the chat runs on a cheaper model. A shorter panel list runs fewer subagents, one for each entry. Save /patina-mode for work that needs rigor.

Start a task with /patina-mode

/patina-mode matches the task to a playbook, copies the playbook's steps into the todo list, and runs the other skills as the steps need them. A step it skips stays in the list as skip: <reason>. A good prompt states the goal and how to tell it's done. It doesn't list skills, because a hand-written sequence tends to drop or reorder steps the playbook would keep. Read references/prompting.md before you help word one.

For whether later tasks route automatically, use the setup and runtime sources under Get set up. Check that routing is enabled for this installation before promising it. Without automatic routing, invoke patina-mode for each new task. Mid-chat, "new task" makes the mode match a fresh playbook. For subagent defaults, read patina-mode's Subagents section and the current runtime's mapping.

Pick a skill

The default answer is /patina-mode, which runs most of the others when its steps need them. Name a skill directly when the user wants more or less of something than the playbook gives. Read the skill before you recommend it, and give one example prompt.

The user wants to	Skill
Do any non-trivial task with rigor	/patina-mode
Know how code works now, or where new code should live	/how
Know why code is shaped this way, or where a number came from	/why
Understand a change or subsystem, explained plainly	/teach
Catch up on their own recent work on a topic	/recall
Know what a small diff could break outside itself	/blast-radius
Settle types and module shape before code that crosses a function boundary	/architect
Get several attempts at one brief, merged into the best one	/arena
Run parallel checks over slices, or race workers	/swarm
Have different models review a diff and try to break it	/interrogate
Fix a bug test-first when a cheap local test exists	/tdd
Apply TypeScript rules to .ts or .tsx work	/typescript-best-practices
Strip comments before review, using a reviewer that didn't write them	/no-comments
Clean AI tells out of prose	/unslop
Write docs, an RFC, a README, a PR description, or a commit message to a standard	/technical-writing
Hear the last reply again in plain words	/bro
Give agents a scripted way to drive the app and prove behavior	/create-verification-skill
Bring a verification skill and its feature map back in line with the app	/maintain-verification-skill
Vet a performance number before reporting or acting on it	/benchmark-checklist
Run a large or cross-cutting change, or one to review after stepping away	/figure-it-out
Keep a decision log during a run, and review it afterward	/show-me-your-work
Pick a model for each role and a default effort	/setup-pstack
Turn their own working habits into a personal mode skill	/automate-me
Turn what a finished task taught into skill edits	/reflect
Stop agents from repeating the same mistakes in this repo	/correct
Find their way around pstack	/patina-help

If a skill directory next to this one is missing from the table, read its frontmatter and route by its description. The principle-* directories are covered under principles below.

Close calls:

• /how explains what the code does. /why explains the reasons. /teach runs one or both and explains the result plainly.
• /arena gives every worker the same brief and merges the best parts. /swarm splits work into slices or a race and returns one report.
• /architect implements right after it settles the design. Add "with checkpoint" to review the design before it writes code.
• /interrogate reviews the diff. /blast-radius looks for breakage outside the diff and proves the one fact that makes the change safe.
• /recall rebuilds context across recent chats. Resuming one specific chat or branch is the Session pickup playbook.
• /figure-it-out designs one rigorous run. The Orchestrate playbook runs a program that spans days and many PRs. The Autonomous run playbook drives one task to a finish condition.

Not in code:

• The Cursor driver skills have no port. The driver policy in patina-mode's Non-negotiables names the Claude Code equivalents, the run skill and the project's driver skill, found per Project verification.
• /loop is a Claude Code bundled skill, and the plugin-dev:skill-development skill is Claude Code's skill-authoring guidance.
• pstack has no orchestrate skill. Orchestrate is a /patina-mode playbook. If the slash menu shows an orchestrate command, another plugin provides it.

Playbooks and principles

Playbooks are step lists inside /patina-mode, not skills, so they have no slash command. Inside /patina-mode, describing the task picks one, and these phrases name one directly:

• "babysit this pr" or "check on pr 123" runs Babysit. It drives the PR to merge-ready and stops there. It doesn't merge unless the user asks to merge, land, or ship.
• "land the stack" runs Shipping.
• "take over this branch" runs Session pickup.
• Continuing an issue that already has a branch with commits or an open pull request runs Session pickup. An open pull request goes on to Babysit. Commits without a pull request go on to the rest of the build playbook.
• "pause safely" runs Pause safely.
• "full autopilot on this queue" runs Autopilot-full. "stack them, don't ship" runs Autopilot-stack. Read the selected playbook's merge rules before explaining what runs unattended.
• "run the eval playbook" runs Eval.

Without /patina-mode, a phrase such as "babysit this pr" can start pstack's standalone /babysit skill instead. The Playbooks section lists every playbook and when it applies. Read Babysit or Shipping for the port's PR workflow.

pstack has no planning skill. Claude Code's plan mode works alongside it. For work that spans phases or stacked PRs, asking /patina-mode for a plan runs the Multi-phase plan playbook, which writes the plan and doesn't implement it. For a design question, the Prototype playbook or /architect settles it in code first.

Principles are one-rule skills that /patina-mode reads and cites in its replies. The user rarely invokes one. They steer with the names instead, as in "apply prove it works. show me the real output." On Claude Code the principle-* leaves are hidden from the slash menu and /patina-mode reads them by path; other runtimes may list them in their skill picker. The Principles index lists them.

Fix a run that went wrong

Symptom	Fix
The mode stopped applying after a few turns	Check the current runtime's routing configuration through the sources under Get set up. Without automatic routing, invoke patina-mode for each task.
A question got treated as the next step of the last task	Say "new task", or say the turn doesn't need the mode.
A new model choice had no effect	Read setup-pstack and the current runtime's mapping, then check its sheet location and loading method.
Runs cost more than expected	See the cost paragraph under Get set up.
A skill didn't load on its own	Read its description and the current runtime's skill-loading instructions. Invoke it explicitly when needed; /patina-mode doesn't run every skill.
Parallel agents overwrote each other	Give each agent its own worktree.
An overnight run moved but finished nothing	Read Autonomous run and the current runtime's wake mechanism. For a queue, read the selected Autopilot playbook above. Give the run a check that can pass or fail.
The reply claims success from a green build	Ask for the real command, flow, stored value, or profile. That's the prove-it-works principle.

For a run that drifts, references/prompting.md has one-line steers, and references/recipes.md has prompts to adapt.

Make pstack my own

• /automate-me drafts a personal mode skill from the user's own history, to use alongside /patina-mode.
• /reflect after a session turns its lessons into skill edits the user approves.
• /patina-mode write a skill for <workflow> runs the authoring playbook. The eval playbook tests a skill change blind.
• Fix a misbehaving skill in its own PR, not inside the feature work where it went wrong.

Reply

Lead with the answer. Give at most one example prompt in a code block, adapted from references/recipes.md when one fits, then the link to that file. Keep it short unless the user asked for the whole map.