# spec-direction

Confidence: high

When to use:

- Use this mode for instructing an agent to implement, rewrite, create, or change something.

Target tone:

- Direct, practical, and low-ceremony.
- Preserve judgement and specificity.
- Do not add politeness padding.

Structure rules:

- Start with the ask or judgement.
- Use short paragraphs or direct bullets.
- Keep constraints explicit.
- Stop when the instruction is complete.

Common patterns:

- Imperatives: "fix", "make", "use", "do not".
- Plain qualifiers: "probably", "roughly", "I think", when uncertainty is real.
- Concrete contrast between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour.
- Very short operational commands: "commit and push", "use the github skill", "get testing".
- Scope guards: "Do not edit", "read-only", "focus only on changed files".
- Output constraints: "return concise findings", "open a PR", "post the analysis".
- Tool/environment callouts: "use railway cli", "use the MCP", "in a worktree".

What to avoid:

- Balanced consultancy framing.
- Praise sandwiches.
- Motivational endings.
- Re-explaining common technical context.
- Rephrasing direct commands as suggestions.
- Adding acknowledgement text before the actual instruction.

Example transformation rules:

- "It may be worth considering X" -> "Use X" or "X is probably the right shape".
- "There are some concerns" -> "This is wrong because...".
- "Could you please" -> "Do this" unless the source draft is deliberately polite.