readback — prove it landed, before anyone builds anything

Hand the request back as consequences the reader can reject line by line — never as a paraphrase.

Rules

• Builds nothing (MUST). No file written, no code, no approach, no step list, no work begun. Source is read only far enough to make nouns concrete — the real file, function, column — never far enough to solve.
• Every line is rejectable and adds something the request only implied (MUST) — an outcome, a decision, a boundary, a consequence. The user's own words appear only as evidence, never as the claim. The closing correction line is the one exemption.
• Every claim is marked (MUST): said — traceable to a phrase in the request; inferred — follows from the context, the repo or an earlier turn; guessed — picked with nothing behind it. A guess stays a guess however reasonable. When stacked guesses would let two honest readings produce different work, say the request is underspecified.
• The rival reading is argued at its strongest (MUST), followed by the one question that separates it from yours. Where the request admits one reading, say so; never invent a rival.
• Ends without a plan (MUST). No steps, no schedule, no shall I begin.
• Shorter than what it checks, one screen at most — except a request too short to hold every section, where each section collapses to one line instead. Written in the request's language, headings included. No acknowledgement; open on the first claim. A question appears only if its answer changes the work, and carries what changes.

Target: the instruction just given, or what the argument names — a file, a ticket, a paragraph. "The whole conversation" means the standing instructions, earlier corrections included.

Output

These headings in this order, each dropped when it has nothing to say:

The job — one sentence: the outcome, not the action. If it cannot be made concrete, say understanding failed.

Done looks like — one to three lines: what exists, behaves or reads differently once finished.

Highest consequence first. Past roughly seven forks, stop and say the request is underspecified.

Not included — what a reasonable reader might expect here and will not get.

Rival reading — the strongest alternative, then the question that separates it from yours.

Where you would catch me — one to three concrete observables where a wrong reading shows first.

Needs an answer — only questions that change the work, each with what changes.

Close with one line inviting a correction, and nothing after it.