Paul BakausandClaude Fable 5
36e3c05ca7
The ship40 concept pipeline had reversed the proven a-series mechanisms: the seed's roll decayed into a shortlist nomination that taste functions (model ranking, candidate floor, simulated user) then argmaxed into the safest card; the costume check returned as the Translation veto and carrier-removal test; and the 07-15 rewrite deleted the calibration, reflex-font lanes, color strategies, and commit-every-atom language that had held off the cream-editorial default since the alpha era. Five of six frozen craft directions converged on the same warm-paper family and both builders obeyed them. This lands the repair on top of the in-progress simplification: - new-work.md: the script assigns the build index again on both scopes; catalog challengers are fused (challenger supplies form and grammar, product supplies every fact, clarity wins conflicts) and weighed on the two proven axes only; attended runs present one fully committed direction with re-roll and an optional steer instead of a ranked lineup; the color-strategy picker, reflex-face list, saturated-look calibration, first-viewport thesis and memory test, commit-every-atom, scroll pacing, and prove-don't-claim return; the direction contract returns as five lean blocks audited by the separate-agent finish. - concept-seed.mjs: PROMOTED INDEX becomes ASSIGNED INDEX with build-assignment semantics; self re-roll only on named factual grounds. - craft-floor.md: hook-active sessions act on findings instead of re-auditing; the Refuse list is framed as category defaults the brief can earn; a closing commitment line keeps a ban list from being the last word before code. - codex.md / shape.md: contract references restored for flow coherence. Adopts the concurrent session's ceremony cuts, softened challenger instruction, seed SOURCE IDs and --candidate-count, detector-ownership fix, and the removal of the hook-side contract audit (the audit now belongs to the separate reviewer at finish). Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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Shape
Discover what should be made and how it should work, then return a confirmed design brief without code.
Phase 1: Discovery interview
Do not write code or choose visual direction yet.
Cadence
- Use the structured question tool when available; otherwise ask and stop.
- Ask two or three related questions per round, then wait. One round is the default; add a second only when the answers expose a material gap.
- Do not dump a questionnaire, repeat settled facts, or turn obvious facts into menus. Assert the likely reading and invite correction.
- A sparse prompt requires at least one answer round. A precise prompt may need only a compact confirmation.
Round 1: purpose, people, and outcome
Choose the two or three questions that most change the result:
- What is this surface or feature for, and what problem must it solve?
- Who specifically reaches it, in what situation and state of mind?
- What is the primary thing they must understand or do? What would success look like?
- What is uniquely true here that a neighboring product or generic template could not claim?
Round 2: material, behavior, and boundaries
Run only for material unresolved decisions:
- What real content, evidence, data, and assets must the experience carry? What are realistic minimum, typical, and maximum ranges?
- Which states and transitions matter: first-run, empty, loading, error, success, permissions, overflow, or expert use?
- What is the intended fidelity, breadth, and interactivity: exploration, production-ready screen, full flow, or broader surface?
- What must remain untouched? What would make the result feel wrong even if it looked polished?
- Which platform, framework, performance, accessibility, localization, or delivery constraints are binding?
Never ask for CSS values or canned aesthetic lanes. New-work owns visual-world and concept choices.
Phase 2: Resolve the design direction
For new surfaces, brand expansion, or replacement, follow new-work.md through visual authority, any world workshop, and concept choice. Reuse discovery, then return before its contract, persistence, or implementation. Inside an established world, use its concept process only when composition or interaction remains materially open.
Phase 3: Write the brief
Write the smallest useful brief:
- Job and audience: who arrives, their context, need, and visitor mode.
- Outcome and proof: primary task/action, success, real evidence, and product-specific truth.
- Selected direction: visual authority, structural/interaction thesis, sequence, focal moment, and implementation consequence.
- Scope and boundaries: fidelity, breadth, interactivity, named target, what remains untouched, and explicit anti-goals.
- States and ranges: realistic content/data ranges and material states.
- Interaction and layout: hierarchy, topology, responsiveness, affordances, feedback, and transitions; intent, not CSS.
- Constraints and open decisions: platform, delivery, accessibility, localization, reusable components, and choices a builder must not invent.
Use three to five bullets when the task is settled; use the full structure only for ambiguous, multi-screen, or standalone planning. Do not restate the conversation.
Confirm and stop
Present the brief for explicit confirmation or one correction round, then stop: shape never writes code or a direction contract.
When no human or structured answer mechanism exists, mark assumptions plainly, return the brief, and stop.