astack help

Answer the user's question about astack, give them a prompt they can send, and point to the file the answer came from. This is a help question, so do not start the analysis. A run spends real tokens, so let the user send the prompt.

A message that asks for work, such as "analyze why signups fell last week", is not a help question. The skill astack:analyst-mode runs that work, but it cannot load on its own. Tell the user to type /astack:analyst-mode <task>.

This file maps questions to skills and playbooks. Those files own the details. Read the file you route to before you quote it, and trust it when it disagrees with this map.

Find out what they need

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

• Get started
• Start an analysis with /astack:analyst-mode
• Pick a skill or playbook for a data task
• Fix a run that went wrong
• Make astack my own

Check the repo state that changes the answer. Mention it only when it matters:

• No pyproject.toml or uv.lock in the analysis repo means the reproduction rules have no pinned environment yet. Offer uv init before the first re-run.
• No .git directory means the folder is not a git repo. The PR steps need git init first. A remote is optional.
• No formal verification skill in the project means no property is checked past what tests reach. Mention /astack:create-formal-verification-skill when the question is about a race, an invariant, or another case tests rarely hit. When one exists and the code it covers changed after the commit it records as last in sync, mention /astack:maintain-formal-verification-skill if the question touches that code.

Get started

1. Install the astack plugin the way your Claude Code setup installs plugins.
2. Start a real analysis with /astack:analyst-mode, a question, the data source, and a check that can pass or fail.

Installing changes nothing until the user types a skill. Most astack skills load only when the user types /astack:<name>, or when analyst-mode runs them. The principle skills (principle-*) can also load on their own when their description fits the work.

If cost is the worry, say where the tokens go. Analyst-mode spends extra tokens on subagents and review panels. Use /astack:analyst-mode for work that needs rigor. A question you can answer with one query needs no mode at all.

Start a task with /astack:analyst-mode

Analyst-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 question, the grain or data source, and the done check. It does not list skills, because a hand-written order tends to drop steps. Read references/prompting.md before you help word a prompt. Example prompts are in references/recipes.md.

If the mode drifts after several turns, type /astack:analyst-mode again with the task. Say "new task" when the subject changes, so the mode does not treat the message as the next step of the last one.

Pick a skill

The default answer is /astack:analyst-mode, which runs most of the other skills when its playbook needs 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.

Close calls:

• how explains the data flow and the code. why explains the reasons and the history. 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 settles shapes before the code. The prototype playbook builds a throwaway sketch to settle a design by running it.
• recall rebuilds context across recent chats. catch-up covers only this chat since the user's last message.

Pick a playbook

Playbooks are step lists inside /astack:analyst-mode. They have no slash command. Describe the task, and analyst-mode picks one. These are the routes:

Close calls:

• investigation answers a question with evidence and changes nothing. metric-investigation decomposes one metric's move. eda profiles a dataset with no question yet.
• tdd is a test-first fix for one wrong number with a cheap local test. data-quality-check is a standing set of checks on data or pipeline output.

Principles

The principle skills are one-rule skills that analyst-mode reads and cites in its replies. The user rarely types them. They steer with the names instead, as in "apply prove it works, show me the real output." Typing a principle's slash command, such as /astack:principle-prove-it-works, loads that one on demand.

Fix a run that went wrong

For a run that drifts, references/prompting.md has one-line steers.

Make astack my own

• /astack:reflect after a session turns its lessons into skill edits that the user approves.
• /astack:correct makes a repeated mistake impossible in this repo, starting with architecture, then types, then a check.
• Ask analyst-mode to author a skill for a workflow the user repeats. It runs the authoring-a-skill playbook.
• Fix a misbehaving skill in its own PR, not inside the analysis 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 name the file the answer came from. Keep it short unless the user asked for the whole map.