Topping Out: Distill

Score Logbook cards. Preview halt-shaped bullets. Write nothing until the owner approves the exact bullets.

Two destinations

• Product lessons (about this codebase): the repo's constitution, which the repo profile names (AGENTS.md, or CLAUDE.md where that is the constitution). If CLAUDE.md is only @AGENTS.md, write AGENTS.md and leave CLAUDE.md alone.
• Method lessons (about how Topping Out works): a proposed change to RULES.md in the Topping Out package (the foreman rules) or Foreman-Playbook.md / Builder-Playbook.md. Show it as a diff; the package is changed only on the owner's word.

Halt

• Preview first. No write until the owner approves the exact bullets.
• No auto-synced "distillation" section, no HUD, no "run /f-distill to refresh" inside the constitution or the rules.
• Preview mode (from /f-signoff Step 3.2a): steps 1 to 3 only, written to <day folder>/DISTILL-PREVIEW.md with its date and the cards it read; it asks nothing and writes nowhere else. The owner applies it later with /f-distill, which re-scores before showing the bullets (cards may have changed).
• A card never overrides a rule by itself: a bullet that contradicts an existing rule is shown as a proposed change to that rule, with both texts.
• Not f-card. Not f-dream.

1. Gather

Read foreman/logbook/logbook_index.md and foreman/logbook/logbook_links.md, and the current constitution and Topping Out's RULES.md.

2. Score (a ranking heuristic)

The multipliers can push a score past 100: it orders candidates, it isn't a probability or a percentage. Inputs a card type doesn't have count as 0 (BUILD has no confidence: use 0 and rely on relationships, recency and impact).

confidence (0–100)             × 0.25
relationship_count (cap 10)    × 2.5
recency (<14d=100, <30=80, <90=60, else 40) × 0.15
actionability                  × 0.15
impact (CRITICAL=100, HIGH=75, MEDIUM=50, LOW=25) × 0.20

× 1.5 anti-pattern · × 1.4 CRITICAL · × 1.3 cross-cluster · × 1.2 HIGH · × 0.7 product-specific

Prefer CRITICAL/HIGH on ties. One card, one bucket. Caps: 5 anti-patterns, 5 insights, 3 methods, 3 recent (last 14 days), 3 builds (last 30 days).

3. Preview

Halt-shaped bullets only (one or two lines, NEVER/ALWAYS), each tagged with its destination (the repo's constitution, or Topping Out's RULES.md and playbooks) and its source card ids. Also list HIGH/CRITICAL cards that missed the cutoff only on recency or relationship decay; don't auto-promote them.

Ask: Proceed with these bullets?

4. Write (after the owner's go)

Merge the approved bullets into the existing NEVER/ALWAYS (or matching) sections of each destination. No new "Distillation" heading. Record in each source card's front matter distilled: <date> -> <destination>.

5. Report

Cards analysed, bullets written per destination, the aged-out table (or empty).