p3-stack contributor guide

p3-stack adapts pstack by poteto for T3 Code. Same skills, same language, rewired to T3's native orchestration.

A skill reads as if it were written for T3 Code first. Keep pstack's sentences verbatim wherever they still apply. Replace every Cursor mechanism with the T3 Code equivalent below.

Delegated workers

If you are a delegated worker, your brief names exactly one file. Write only that file, create parent directories as needed, and run no git commands. Report back the file path, its line count, and the changes you made to pstack's version.

Cursor to T3 Code map

Everything else in pstack transfers as written: the principles, the playbook shapes, the brief template, the reply style, the autonomy rules. Adopt it.

Role names

Code work reads its line in p3-models.md: feature, refactoring, bug-fix, perf-issue, hillclimb. Prose and judgment read judgment and prose; the hardest changes read hardest tasks.

Panels and investigators: how explorer, how explainer, why investigators, why synthesizer, arena runners, arena cross-judge pool, swarm workers, architect runners, interrogate reviewers, reflect tooling, reflect judgment, divergent, synthesizer.

Keep these names exactly.

Writing rules

• Thin over complete. Keep the shortest file that still changes behavior. Cut Cursor-only edge-case protocol and forge-specific branches before cutting any rule.
• pstack's voice: terse, declarative, lowercase-friendly, no filler.
• Frontmatter: name, one-line description, disable-model-invocation: true where the source has it. Drop Cursor UI fields (icon, color, mode, reminder).
• Use T3 tool names exactly: delegate_task, task_status, watch_pull_request, link_pull_request, schedule_task, t3_thread_launch, t3_thread_read, t3_thread_search, preview_*, device_*.
• Delegation briefs are self-contained. T3 child agents get only the brief, never the parent's context. Say this where pstack says "every brief stands alone".
• Never bullet a Cursor tool into a skill, even as a fallback.

Layout

• skills/<name>/SKILL.md is a skill. skills/principle-*/SKILL.md are the short principles.
• skills/p3-mode/SKILL.md is the mode router; its playbooks live in skills/p3-mode/playbooks/.
• agents/ holds prompt briefs for delegated roles (p3-agent.md, comment-sicko.md), not harness agent definitions.

T3 tool quick reference

• Delegation: delegate_task, task_status, task_cancel, orchestrator_capabilities
• Threads: t3_thread_launch, create_threads, t3_thread_list, t3_thread_read, t3_thread_search, t3_thread_send, t3_thread_wait, t3_thread_fork, t3_thread_merge_back, t3_thread_interrupt, t3_thread_organize, t3_thread_update, t3_thread_configure
• Worktrees: t3_worktree_status, t3_worktree_list, t3_worktree_handoff
• Pull requests: link_pull_request, list_thread_pull_requests, watch_pull_request, unwatch_pull_request, unlink_pull_request
• Schedules: schedule_task, list_scheduled_tasks, update_scheduled_task, delete_scheduled_task, run_scheduled_task_now
• Queue: t3_queue_list, t3_queue_read, t3_queue_edit, t3_queue_reorder, t3_queue_cancel, t3_queue_promote_to_steer
• Preview: preview_open, preview_navigate, preview_snapshot, preview_click, preview_type, preview_press, preview_scroll, preview_wait_for, preview_status, preview_resize, preview_set_appearance, preview_recording_start, preview_recording_stop, t3_preview_list, t3_preview_close
• Devices: device_list, device_open, device_screenshot, device_close
• Pending requests: t3_pending_request_list, t3_pending_request_read, t3_pending_request_respond

Definition of done for a skill

1. Every step names a T3 mechanism or a vendor-neutral habit. Grep for Cursor, Task tool, subagent_type, cloud agent, .cursor, agent-transcripts, AskQuestion, icon:, claude-, grok-, gpt-, /loop. None may remain.
2. It is shorter than the pstack source unless the T3 rewrite genuinely needs the lines.
3. Frontmatter matches the rules above, and references to other skills resolve to files in this repo.