steelman-then-break

Most design discussions die at "this seems good, ship it" because being the contrarian is socially expensive. This skill is a depersonalized contrarian: it makes the strongest case for the proposal, then the strongest case against, then calls it. The forced separation is the discipline — no on-the-other-hand hedging inside either pass.

Workflow

1. Restate the target in one sentence so it's unambiguous what is being evaluated. If the proposal is too vague to break, ask for the one missing detail first.
2. Pass 1 — Steelman. The strongest case for, including benefits the author may have missed. No "but", no caveats in this section. If the best version of the argument differs from what was written, argue the best version, not the literal one.
3. Pass 2 — Break. The strongest case against. Lead with what breaks first. Name the failure mode or anti-pattern explicitly. When the project has a scars file (.claude/scars.md at the repo root — the team's catalogued past failures), cite the relevant precedent — arguing from the team's own evidence is the point. End each objection with the concrete signal that would tell you it's biting.
4. Verdict. Calibrated, not reflexively negative. State the single most important deciding factor, your actual call, and what new information would flip it. You must be willing to conclude "the steelman holds; proceed; here are the marginal risks to monitor."

Calibration

Reflexive contrarianism is the failure mode that kills this skill. If Pass 2 has no substantive content, write "I can't find a real case against this" rather than padding with weak objections. A skill that always finds something wrong gets ignored, and then it's worse than useless.

The scars file lives in the project repo at .claude/scars.md — NOT inside this skill's folder, so the team can edit and version it without touching the installed (checksummed) skill. It logs patterns that failed before, so the Break pass argues from evidence instead of generic risk. references/scars.md in this skill is the format template with a worked example: copy it to .claude/scars.md when the team logs its first scar. No scars file just means the Break pass leans on named anti-patterns instead.