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 a line in `.bb/AGENTS.md` keeps it on.

This file maps questions to the skills and guide 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 plugin, which the user may not be able to open, so give the user a path they can open: `bb plugin source pstack` shows where the installed plugin lives, and the file sits at the same path under it.

## 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 `/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:

- When `bb pstack models` marks every role `(default)`, `/setup-pstack` hasn't run for this user, so every role uses its default model.
- A `FAIL` line from `bb pstack doctor` means a role points at a model this machine doesn't have. Mention it when the question is about a broken or slow run.
- `bb pstack checklist show` lists the thread's open playbook steps. Mention them when the user asks why a run stopped short or why `bb pstack gate pr` fails.
- No `verify-*` skill or other app harness in the project means agents have no scripted way to drive the app. Mention `/create-verification-skill` when the question is about proving a change works.

When the model configuration 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 with `bb plugin install <source>` (a catalog name, git URL, or local path), and `bb plugin enable pstack` if it shows as disabled.
2. Run [`/setup-pstack`](../setup-pstack/SKILL.md). It asks for a reasoning budget, maps a model to each role, and saves the pstack `models` setting. The configuration applies to new threads.
3. Start a real task with `/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 [README](../../README.md) and [guide page 1](../../docs/guide/01-setup.md) have the details. Offer to word their first prompt with them, per [`references/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-parent` runs on the thread's model, which saves tokens when the thread runs on a cheaper model. A shorter panel list runs fewer subagents, one for each entry. Save `/poteto-mode` for work that needs rigor.

pstack is built for bb. Its skills use the Agent Skills format, so other tools can read them. But most workflow skills, including `/poteto-mode`, `/how`, `/why`, and `/teach`, spawn bb threads with per-role models (`bb pstack spawn`), so those parts may not work there.

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

`/poteto-mode` matches the task to a playbook, has the plugin copy the playbook's steps into the thread's checklist, and runs the other skills as the steps need them. A step it skips is closed with a reason, and `bb pstack gate pr` fails while any step is open. 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 [`references/prompting.md`](references/prompting.md) before you help word one. [Guide page 2](../../docs/guide/02-poteto-mode.md) has examples.

Whether `/poteto-mode` stays on depends on how the user starts it:

- `/poteto-mode` in a message attaches the skill to that message. It fades as the chat moves on.
- A line in `.bb/AGENTS.md` (this workspace) or `~/.bb/AGENTS.md` (every project), such as "use the poteto-mode skill for every non-trivial task", keeps it in every thread's instructions. It also reaches casual turns, so word the line to name the work it applies to.
- Without that line, start each new task with `/poteto-mode`.

Mid-chat, "new task" makes the mode match a fresh playbook. `/poteto-mode` already uses poteto delegates for the threads its playbook steps spawn. To get the same style from a thread of your own, spawn a poteto delegate (`references/poteto-agent.md` in the poteto-mode skill).

## Pick a skill

The default answer is `/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 | [`/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) |
| Aim a task higher before starting: more expert, more outcome-focused, not overspecified | [`/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 a few plain sentences and small visuals, with enough context to decide each action item | [`/ketchup`](../ketchup/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, as parallel threads | [`/swarm`](../swarm/SKILL.md) |
| Spread new threads across machines by free concurrency slots | `bb pstack spawn --new-environment worktree`; inspect capacity with `bb pstack machines`. |
| 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) |
| 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`](../setup-pstack/SKILL.md) |
| 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 in pstack:

- `/deslop` is a separate skill, used when installed. Driving a browser is bb's `browser-automation` skill, and driving a CLI or TUI is bb terminals (`bb terminal`).
- `/loop` is a Claude Code built-in, and bb automations (`bb automation`) schedule runs. Skill authoring is bb's `skill-creator` skill.
- pstack has no `/orchestrate` skill. Orchestrate is a `/poteto-mode` playbook. If the slash menu shows `/orchestrate`, another plugin provides it.

## Playbooks and principles

Playbooks are step lists inside `/poteto-mode`, not skills, so they have no slash command. Inside `/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.
- "run the eval playbook" runs Eval.

From rahmanramsi/bb-pstack-plugin, MIT.

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