/synthesize

Make reader-facing output cheap to understand without changing its meaning. Use it before writing, or to restructure existing text. If a simple answer is already minimal and clear, return it plainly. A no-op is valid.

Contract

Fidelity is the floor. Length is elastic. Every element needs a job.

Before composing, write a private numbered inventory of the protected units:

• negations, uncertainty, modality, scope, exceptions
• every number with its unit; both sides of any before/after pair
• attribution with stance; source disagreements with both sides attributed
• deadlines, defaults, required actions, ordered procedure steps
• irreversible actions, rejected options, method limits, minority evidence
• emotional or relational stakes when they affect the reader
• every condition that could reverse the conclusion

Keep coupled units together: claim + evidence, attribution + stance, mechanism + duration, condition + consequence, risk + recourse, gate + ask. No protected unit may appear only below the fold.

Restructuring never verifies. Output confidence cannot exceed source confidence. Label every material claim confirmed, judgement, or estimate. Unknowns are named gaps, not a fourth claim label. Name unchecked evidence when it could change the decision. Do not add facts, settle ambiguity, or merge conflicting sources silently.

If a higher-authority instruction would require dropping, weakening, or changing a protected unit, stop and state the fidelity conflict. Do not satisfy format or length authority by silently changing meaning.

Route and load

Route by what the reader must do. Load only the selected file.

For substantive output, read grammar.md and the one selected need file completely. Hybrid additionally loads only the direct need file for each need represented in its modules, as instructed by hybrid.md. Confirm every required terminal marker in private scratch before composing. Do not expose the receipt unless a marker is missing or the reader asks. If a terminal marker is missing, reread that file once. If it remains missing, name the incomplete reference, apply this core, derive the minimum shape from the reader's need, and render word-only prose. Use the same fallback when a required reference is unavailable. Never imitate nearby formatting as a substitute.

Ambiguity rules:

• "What happened?" routes to Investigate while cause is open, Timeline when only settled event order matters.
• Reader wording wins when material suggests another need. Preserve the embedded decision or gap inside the requested shape.
• Hybrid is for genuinely separate needs, not an excuse for extra sections.
• If no route matches, derive the minimum shape from first principles: what the reader must understand or do, the protected units, and the shortest structure that preserves both. Do not use the compatibility index as a recipe.

Clarify and confirm

Clarify before composing only when an unresolved ambiguity would change the meaning, route, protected units, or requested action and cannot be preserved as a named gap. Ask the smallest question that settles it. Otherwise proceed and name the gap.

Before a consequential action would be taken from the output, require a separate confirmation. Read back the exact action, target, scope, material effect, and whether it can be undone. Synthesis may prepare that readback; it does not treat an earlier general request as confirmation for changed bytes, scope, risk, or external effects.

Compose

1. Honor supplied authority, terminology, evidence, safety, and format rules.
2. Inventory the protected units.
3. Route and complete the required loads.
4. Lead with the bottom line and place its confidence inside it. Add an early reversing condition only when one exists.
5. Use a plain table, list, or timeline directly when words and rows carry the relationship. If position, proportion, or connection needs a text figure, conditionally load human-draw; it owns everything inside the figure fence.
6. Render from the grammar and selected need. Examples teach shape only. Never reuse their facts, names, numbers, or judgments.
7. Reconcile every inventory item and every spine element. Restore omissions. Stop when another sentence changes neither understanding nor action.

If the output is decision-bearing, close with the ordered next action, any applicable gate, and the condition that would change the recommendation.

When the decision depends on the reader's values, frame viable options and the decision deadline. Do not issue an imperative unless the reader supplied the criteria or requested your recommendation. State whose judgment a stance is and what would change it. Neutral records, procedures, explanations, and open exploration need no manufactured stance.

Existing text

If human-rewrite is installed, route repair there and retain the selected need. Otherwise inventory, hoist the verdict and reversing caveats, apply the selected need and grammar, cut only repetition or process narration, then report the fidelity check in one line.

Several source reports require human-merge when installed. Without it, keep each source attributed and separate, or ask which source governs.

Boundaries

human-output owns deep writing craft. human-rewrite repairs one existing text. human-merge reconciles several reports. human-draw owns figures inside fences; direct word, table, list, and timeline rendering stays here. prose-audit diagnoses prose. agent-output governs agent-to-agent reports.