poteto-help

Files (3)

• SKILL.md
• prompting.md · references/
• recipes.md · references/

SKILL.md (first lines)

# Poteto help

Answer the user's question about pstack, hand them a prompt they can send, and link the file the answer came from. For a help question, don't start the work. The user asked how, and a pstack run spends real tokens, so let them send the prompt.

A message that asks for work, such as "use pstack to fix this bug", is not a help question. Read [poteto-mode](../poteto-mode/SKILL.md), do the work under it, and mention once that `/poteto on` keeps it on.

This file maps questions to the skills and reference pages that hold the answers. Those files own the details. Read the file you route to before you quote it, and trust it when it disagrees with this map. The links here point into the installed package, which the user may not be able to open, so give the user the file's path and installed location as well as the link.

## Find out what they need

Infer the need from the message and the conversation. A named situation, such as "which skill reviews a PR?", goes straight to its section. If the need is still unclear, ask one multiple-choice question with these options, then answer only the section they pick:

- Get set up
- Start a task with `/skill:poteto-mode`
- Pick a skill for a situation
- Fix a run that went wrong
- Make pstack my own

Check the state that changes the answer, and mention it only when it does:

- No configured role in `~/.pi/agent/pstack.json` means `/setup-pstack` hasn't run for this user, so every role uses its default model.
- No `verify-*` skill or other app harness in the project means agents have no scripted way to drive the app. Mention [create-verification-skill](../create-verification-skill/SKILL.md) when the question is about proving a change works.
- No formal verification skill in the project means no property is checked past what tests reach. Mention `/create-formal-verification-skill` when the question is about a race, an invariant, or another case tests rarely hit. When one exists and the code it covers changed after the commit it records as last in sync, mention `/maintain-formal-verification-skill` if the question touches that code.

When the model rule is missing and it matters, ask whether the user wants to pick a model for each role and a reasoning budget now. It matters when the user is new, the question is about setup or cost, or the answer depends on which models run. Ask at most once per chat. If the need is also unclear, ask both questions together. Offer two choices:

- Now: give them `/setup-pstack` to type, and answer their question too.
- Later: answer their question, and add one line saying every role keeps its default model until they run `/setup-pstack`.

## Get set up

1. Install the package with Pi's package mechanism, from the project or the user's Pi configuration.
2. Run `/setup-pstack`. It asks for a reasoning budget, maps an available model and thinking level to each role, and writes `pstack.json`. The configuration applies to new sessions.
3. Start a real task with `/skill:poteto-mode`, a goal, and a check that can pass or fail.

Installing changes nothing until the user invokes a skill. Only `/setup-pstack` loads from the user's words. The [Pi adapter](../../adapters/pi/harness.md) and [migration plan](../../docs/migration-plan.md) have the details. Offer to word their first prompt with them, per [prompting.md](references/prompting.md).

If cost is the worry, say where the tokens go and how to spend fewer. pstack spends extra tokens on subagents and review panels. Rerun `/setup-pstack` and pick a smaller budget or cheaper models. A role set to `inherit` or unset runs on the chat's model, which saves tokens when the chat runs on a cheaper model. A shorter review panel runs fewer subagents, one for each seat. Save `/skill:poteto-mode` for work that needs rigor.

pstack began on Cursor. Its skills use the Agent Skills format, so other tools can read them. This Pi package replaces Cursor subagents with pi-subagents, Custom Modes with `/poteto on` and `/poteto off`, and Cursor transcripts with Pi sessions, so parts written against Cursor features may not behave the same way.

## Start a task with `/skill:poteto-mode`

`/skill:poteto-mode` matches the task to a playbook, copies the playbook's steps into the todo list, and runs the other skills as the steps need them. A step it skips stays in the list as `skip: <reason>`. A good prompt states the goal and how to tell it's done. It doesn't list skills, because a hand-written sequence tends to drop or reorder steps the playbook would keep. Read [prompting.md](references/prompting.md) before you help word one.

Enter on `/skill:poteto-mode` attaches the skill to one message. Explicit skill invocation does not change persistent mode.

- `/poteto on` enables persistent mode for later turns until `/poteto off`.
- `/poteto status`, or `/poteto` without arguments, reports the current state.
- `/poteto-mode` remains a deprecated alias throughout 0.3.x and 0.4.x and will be removed in 0.5.0. Every invocation warns first. Pi 1.4 has no public command API to hide it from completion, so it remains visible with a `[已弃用]` description.

Link the Pi skills docs when this comes up. Mid-chat, "new task" makes the mode match a fresh playbook. `/skill:poteto-mode` already uses `poteto-agent` for the subagents its playbook steps spawn. To get the same style from a subagent of your own, spawn it with `agent: "pstack.poteto-agent"`.

## Pick a skill

The default answer is `/skill:poteto-mode`, which runs most of the others when its steps need them. Name a skill directly when the user wants more or less of something than the playbook gives. Read the skill before you recommend it, and give one example prompt.

| The user wants to | Skill |
|---|---|
| Do any non-trivial task with rigor | [`/skill:poteto-mode`](../poteto-mode/SKILL.md) |
| Check that the agent understood their goal and the problem before it starts | [`/in-your-own-words`](../in-your-own-words/SKILL.md) |
| Get a prompt rewritten deeper, not bigger, before sending it: what a top professional would add, their raw material and methods, and an outside check. It returns the prompt and doesn't do the task | [`/sharpen`](../sharpen/SKILL.md) |
| Know how code works now, or where new code should live | [`/how`](../how/SKILL.md) |
| Know why code is shaped this way, or where a number came from | [`/why`](../why/SKILL.md) |
| Understand a change or subsystem, explained plainly | [`/teach`](../teach/SKILL.md) |
| Catch up on their own recent work on a topic | [`/recall`](../recall/SKILL.md) |
| Catch up on what changed in this chat since their last message, in plain words and small visuals, with every item waiting on them listed and decidable from the reply alone | [`/ketchup`](../ketchup/SKILL.md) |
| Catch up like `/ketchup`, in a short silent video of slides, with the waiting calls as text under it | [`/ketchup-video`](../ketchup-video/SKILL.md) |
| Know what a small diff could break outside itself | [`/blast-radius`](../blast-radius/SKILL.md) |
| Settle types and module shape before code that crosses a function boundary | [`/architect`](../architect/SKILL.md) |
| Get several attempts at one brief, merged into the best one | [`/arena`](../arena/SKILL.md) |
| Run parallel checks over slices, or race workers, in isolated worktrees | [`/swarm`](../swarm/SKILL.md) |
| Have different models review a diff and try to break it | [`/interrogate`](../interrogate/SKILL.md) |
| Fix a bug test-first when a cheap local test exists | [`/tdd`](../tdd/SKILL.md) |
| Apply TypeScript rules to `.ts` or `.tsx` work | [`/typescript-best-practices`](../typescript-best-practices/SKILL.md) |
| Strip comments before review, using a reviewer that didn't write them | [`/no-comments`](../no-comments/SKILL.md) |
| Clean AI tells out of prose | [`/unslop`](../unslop/SKILL.md) |
| Write docs, an RFC, a README, a PR description, or a commit message to a standard | [`/technical-writing`](../technical-writing/SKILL.md) |
| Hear the last reply again in plain words | [`/bro`](../bro/SKILL.md) |
| Give agents a scripted way to drive the app and prove behavior | [`/create-verification-skill`](../create-verification-skill/SKILL.md) |
| Bring a verification skill and its feature map back in line with the app | [`/maintain-verification-skill`](../maintain-verification-skill/SKILL.md) |
| Formally verify a race, invariant, or other property that tests rarely reach | [`/create-formal-verification-skill`](../create-formal-verification-skill/SKILL.md) |
| Bring a formal verification back in line after the code it covers changed, and learn whether a failure is drift or a bug | [`/maintain-formal-verification-skill`](../maintain-formal-verification-skill/SKILL.md) |
| Show a PM or designer what the user sees as a chart checked by a TLA+ model, with the shortest path to each state that breaks a rule | [`/statechart`](../statechart/SKILL.md) |
| Vet a performance number before reporting or acting on it | [`/benchmark-checklist`](../benchmark-checklist/SKILL.md) |
| Run a large or cross-cutting change, or one to review after stepping away | [`/figure-it-out`](../figure-it-out/SKILL.md) |
| Keep a decision log during a run, and review it afterward | [`/show-me-your-work`](../show-me-your-work/SKILL.md) |
| Pick a model for each role and a reasoning budget | `/setup-pstack` |
| Turn their own working habits into a personal mode skill | [`/automate-me`](../automate-me/SKILL.md) |
| Turn what a finished task taught into skill edits | [`/reflect`](../reflect/SKILL.md) |
| Stop agents from repeating the same mistakes in this repo | [`/correct`](../correct/SKILL.md) |
| Find their way around pstack | `/poteto-help` |

If a skill directory next to this one is missing from the table, read its frontmatter and route by its description. The `principle-*` directories are covered under principles below.

Close calls:

- `/how` explains what the code does. `/why` explains the reasons. `/teach` runs one or both and explains the result plainly.
- `/arena` gives every worker the same brief and merges the best parts. `/swarm` splits work into slices or a race and returns one report.
- `/architect` implements right after it settles the design. Add "with checkpoint" to review the design before it writes code.
- `/interrogate` reviews the diff. `/blast-radius` looks for breakage outside the diff and proves the one fact that makes the change safe.
- `/recall` rebuilds context across recent chats. `/ketchup` covers only this chat since the user's last message. Resuming one specific chat or branch is the Session pickup playbook.
- `/figure-it-out` designs one rigorous run. The Orchestrate playbook runs a program that spans days and many PRs. The Autonomous run playbook drives one task to a finish condition.

Not shipped as skills in this package:

- `/deslop`, `control-cli`, and `control-ui` come from Cursor's `cursor-team-kit`. Here `/unslop` and `/no-comments` cover the local cleanup, and app verification uses the operator's available browser or CLI driver.
- `/loop` and `/setup-pstack` are Pi extension commands. `/create-skill` is not shipped; use the manual authoring procedure in the [Pi adapter](../../adapters/pi/harness.md).
- pstack has no `/orchestrate` skill. Orchestrate is a `/skill:poteto-mode` playbook. If the slash menu shows `/orchestrate`, another plugin provides it.

## Playbooks and principles

Playbooks are step lists inside `/skill:poteto-mode`, not skills, so they have no slash command. Inside `/skill:poteto-mode`, describing the task picks one, and these phrases name one directly:

- "babysit this pr" or "check on pr 123" runs Babysit. It drives the PR to merge-ready and stops there. It doesn't merge unless the user asks to merge, land, or ship.
- "land the stack" runs Shipping.
- "take over this branch" runs Session pickup.
- "pause safely" runs Pause safely.
- "full autopilot on this queue" runs Autopilot-full. "stack them, don't ship" runs Autopilot-stack.

From jiangkoumo/pi-pstack, MIT.

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