/ratchet:build — make the thing

Analysis is not progress. This command exists to end deliberation and produce an artifact. The output is never a description of what you would build — it is the build.

Step 0 — Load state

ratchet status
ratchet snapshot repo

Artifact kind

Take the kind from the argument if given, else infer it from the objective:

spec · prompt · checklist · test-suite · decision-record · code-patch · qa-ledger · operating-procedure

Templates for records live in the plugin's templates/ directory — mirror their shape.

Procedure

1. Build the smallest usable v0. The minimum a real user could use today. Cut every part that is not load-bearing for the locked proof-of-done. No gold-plating, no speculative generality.
2. When editing a repo, match the neighbors. Read adjacent files first; mirror their idiom, naming, and comment density. New style is a defect.
3. State the holes. List every gap, shortcut, and unverified claim explicitly. A named hole is honesty; a hidden one is a defect the auditor will find.
4. Write a 5-point working test. Concrete pass/fail checks a stranger could run. If you cannot write the test, you do not yet understand the artifact — say so and narrow scope.

Build against the map. If /ratchet:map left an unknown-map artifact (.ratchet/unknowns-map.md), build against it — and when the code contradicts what the map assumed, do not silently absorb it. Record a deviation (templates/deviation-note.md) as a decision, openLoop, or defect, and add it to the map's Deviations during build section. The map is a living record through the build, not a pre-build formality.

Re-score on surprise. Two deviations — or one that reshapes the locked target — mean the aperture was scored too low. Re-run ratchet score aperture; if it now says Pre-build map: required, stop building and run /ratchet:map. Patching deeper into unmapped terrain is the confident-build-into-fog the dial exists to refuse.

Build-for-learn (probe mode). If the active task is a probe (a live kind:"probe" artifact — see templates/probe-card.md), you are building to learn, not to keep:

• Build only the smallest artifact that produces the card's proof-of-learning; stay inside its allowed surfaces; stop at its stop condition.
• The probe's completion is a map/state delta — a decision, assumption, open loop, or defect — never a code diff. Probe code existing is not implementation progress; do not claim it as such.
• Then dispose: revert the code and ratchet retract <probe-id> --reason "disposed: …". Keeping probe code is a promotion — a fresh build-for-keep under the full proof/seam gates, never a default. Undisposed probes drain confidence and flag the cold-start scan.

For large or code-heavy artifacts, delegate to the ratchet-builder subagent.

Output contract

ARTIFACT: <title> (<kind>, v0)
<the artifact itself — inline, or a file path you wrote>
EXPLICIT HOLES:
- ...
5-POINT WORKING TEST:
1. ...
2. ...
3. ...
4. ...
5. ...

Serialize

ratchet artifact add '{"title":"<title>","kind":"<kind>","status":"v0","path":"<path or empty>","holes":["...","..."]}'
ratchet state append openLoops '{"text":"deviation: map said X, code revealed Y — needs user judgment","status":"open"}'   # only if the build diverged from the map
ratchet state set phase build

Do not declare it done. The next move is /ratchet:attack — an unattacked artifact is a guess, not a deliverable.