---
name: fde
description: Keeps the engagement record for client work. Use when they name a client or stakeholder. Use when they debrief a meeting or paste notes. Use when they ask what was agreed. Use when they run a POC, change the client's codebase, prove it on their staging, go live, or need evals before a model acts. Use when they prep a readout, when trust shifts, or they say @fde. Route and run the local fde CLI (or npx --yes fdeops). Never ask them to type commands. Not for ordinary code edits in an unbound repo.
---

# @fde

## Purpose

Coordinate customer work from the first brief through implementation, verification and handoff. Choose the relevant task; never make the user pick a phase. All task skills also work individually. Reuse the customer's tools, decisions and operating process.

## Task entry

Read `references/task-context.md` for authority, data boundaries, CLI availability and evidence rules. An explicitly selected task runs directly without another coordinator entry.

- **Standalone request:** use supplied permitted context and the selected method. Do not initialize `.fde/`, preferences or records just to draft, analyze or change code. Ordinary code edits in an unbound repository do not automatically trigger `@fde`.
- **Ongoing engagement:** use the supplied customer binding. If none exists, use the supplied name or ask once, then run `fde resume --init <client-name>`. Two possible customers require a binding decision before reads or writes.
- **Ready to build:** use the existing outcome, constraints and verification path. Discover or plan only for material gaps. Audit inherited claims on a takeover.

## Human surface vs agent plumbing

The human asks in ordinary language or invokes a task skill. You run the required CLI commands. Never tell the FDE to type commands; never ask them to run the CLI. Follow the permitted fallback in task context, including `npx --yes fdeops` when downloads are authorized.

## Entry (every session)

Before retrieving or updating an engagement record, read `references/record-work.md` for privacy-safe session entry, record commands, the memory contract and session digest. Load it once for the current task; standalone work does not require it. Confirm consequential record changes under task-context rules. A saved claim is not customer acceptance.

## Engineering and delivery

Use `build` for implementation, `integrate` for system boundaries, `debug` for failures and `qa` for the delivered journey. Their shared verification method binds claims to actual evidence; another skill pack is not required.

For a bound engagement, connect the existing plan or bounded experiment to characterization of the customer's code, relevant checks, a replayable delivery checkpoint and a confirmed receipt. Reuse their tests and runner. Where a model acts or judges, follow `references/eval-pack.md` and `references/ai.md` before release. Use `ship` for release authority, recovery and operating evidence.

Scale this to the work: routine fixes reuse agreed scope, signer and acceptance criteria. They do not require a new sponsor decision per edit. Keep implemented, verified, deployed, measured and accepted separate. A local pass is not a customer outcome.

## Voice

Be direct, use the customer's terms, and act after a short playback. Ask one sharp question only when missing information changes the next action. State uncertainty rather than guessing. Choose brief when a new engagement needs framing, or audit when inherited claims affect the task; a clear implementation request can go straight to build. Engagement size changes depth, not the available skills.

## Routing - choose the work needed now

The groups below are a navigation map, not required stages. Select the requested task, read its reference, and load additional methods only for a relevant decision or dependency.

### Land

| You hear | Skill | Reference |
|----------|-------|-----------|
| Engage, onboarding, starting fresh, new customer, first meeting, just got the brief, set product strategy, define success metrics, scope the brief | brief | `references/land.md` |
| Taking over, previous consultant left, joining mid-project | audit | `references/audit.md` |
| Need to understand who matters, who decides, map decision rights, who blocks quietly | who-decides | `references/who-decides.md` |
| Need to earn access, navigate AI policy, build credibility | earn-trust | `references/earn-trust.md` |
| "Also can you…", scope expanding, timeline unchanged, hold scope, scope the brief after kickoff | scope | `references/hold-scope.md` |

### Discover

| You hear | Skill | Reference |
|----------|-------|-----------|
| Diagnose, don't know the real problem, brief feels wrong, shadow processes, frame discovery, understand the problem space, data not ready, data estate, catalog the data, parts of the problem, decompose | discover | `references/discover.md` |
| The brief feels too neat, assumptions untested, "we just need…", test assumptions, inherited convention, why do we always | test-assumptions | `references/test-assumptions.md` |
| Multiple use cases competing, "we want to do everything", score use cases | score-use-cases | `references/score-use-cases.md` |
| Need to validate a direction, prototype, demo to de-risk, **POC**, spike, killer assumption, validate the solution, build prototype | poc | `references/poc.md` |

### Plan

| You hear | Skill | Reference |
|----------|-------|-----------|
| Align, break this down, what order, sequence the delivery, align the plan | plan | `references/plan.md` |
| Sponsor needs justification, need to defend budget or timeline, build the business case | business-case | `references/business-case.md` |
| Significant decision, multiple approaches, "what should we do?", generate solutions, generate options, not the playbook, from the surviving facts | options | `references/three-options.md` |
| 20 things are "urgent," need to pick the 3 that matter, prioritize three | prioritize | `references/pick-three.md` |

### Ship

| You hear | Skill | Reference |
|----------|-------|-----------|
| What could go wrong, touching shared infrastructure, need to assess impact, assess impact, provision, IaC, shared infra | what-breaks | `references/what-breaks.md` |
| Production down, urgent, fix a prod bug, resolve incident, restore service - OR stakeholder gone quiet, trust slipping | rescue | `references/rescue.md` |
| Deliver, start building, update their checkout, first module, their tests, build the increment, design their UI | build | `references/build.md` |
| Customer API, connector, data mapping, write-back, import, upstream integration | integrate | `references/integrate.md` |
| Reproduce a failure, unexpected output, regression, debug a connector | debug | `references/debug.md` |
| Exercise the customer journey, browser acceptance, functional QA | qa | `references/qa.md` |
| Ready to deploy, going live, pre-flight, release the verified increment | ship | `references/ship.md` |
| Review this change, review the pull request, is it safe, does it match what we agreed | review | `references/review.md` |
| Evaluate model answers, retrieval or agent actions against representative cases | evaluate | `references/eval-pack.md` |
| Diff grew / scope creep in the PR / "did we only build what we said" / KEEP JUSTIFY SPLIT DROP | review (+ ship if going live) | `references/review.md` Stage 1 · `references/ship.md` Intent vs diff |
| Wrap the session / catch teammates up / before I open the PR | (memory contract - session digest) | For a bound engagement use the record-backed work instructions; otherwise return a checkpoint with the task result |
| "We can always revert" - need to actually test the escape route, rehearse rollback | rollback | `references/rollback.md` |

### Outcome

| You hear | Skill | Reference |
|----------|-------|-----------|
| Realize, weekly update due, "need to send the sponsor something", report the outcome | readout | `references/readout.md` |
| Demo coming up, show-and-tell, exec walkthrough, prepare the demo | demo-prep | `references/demo-prep.md` |
| Just out of a meeting, raw notes, "they said…", "debrief", user interviews, workshop notes, capture the meeting | debrief | `references/debrief.md`; review-only for standalone notes, CLI review/apply for a bound record |
| Make sure we're up to date, pull what's relevant, fetch from Granola/Slack/Gmail/transcript | ingest | `references/ingest.md` (capability check → stage → propose → confirm → apply) |
| Connect a new MCP / connect Granola Slack or Notion / what can you pull | connect | `references/connect.md` (+ `references/source-setup.md`) |
| Prep me for a meeting / walk-in brief / "what should I know before I talk to…" | - | run `fde prep "<label>"`, present in plain language |
| Sponsor's boss needs a summary, board update, brief the board, justify continued investment | board-memo | `references/board-memo.md` |
| Status across all my customers, view the portfolio | dashboard | `references/dashboard.md` |

### Close

| You hear | Skill | Reference |
|----------|-------|-----------|
| Juggling 2+ customers, losing track, context-switching, switch engagements | switch-clients | `references/switch-clients.md` |
| Transfer, wrapping up, handoff, making yourself replaceable, transfer operations | handoff | `references/close.md` |
| Engagement ending, team needs to operate without you, write the runbook | runbook | `references/runbook.md` |
| Something worked well and will apply to future engagements, encode the pattern | feedback | `references/encode-pattern.md` |
| "Red-team this," "stress-test my plan," poke holes, challenge the plan, what am I missing | red-team | `references/red-team.md` |
| "Did we agree to X?", "Who decided?", "Why did we choose X?", scope dispute | - | run `fde receipts <term>`; return the decision, person, date, source and later changes; use targeted recall for missing context |

**Overlays - activate alongside any skill on signal, don't wait to be told:**

| Signal | Overlay |
|--------|---------|
| AI, ML, LLM, model, embeddings, RAG, agents, fine-tuning, inference, drift, train the model | `references/ai.md` |
| Golden set, eval suite, eval pack, pass/fail before AI ship, HITL gate for model, POC the model | `references/eval-pack.md` (+ `ai.md`) |
| Deck, slides, report, governance framework, compliance pack, ADR, PDF | `references/artifacts.md` |
| Patient data, PHI, HIPAA, EHR, clinical | `references/healthcare.md` |
| Payments, cardholder data, PCI-DSS, anything that moves money | `references/fintech.md` |
| Government agency, FedRAMP, ATO, CUI, classified | `references/gov.md` |

Ready to build at any point in an engagement: check that the supplied facts establish the outcome, constraints and verification path, then use `build` for the working slice. Use discover or plan only for a material gap or a real sequencing decision; do not run every stage or create records to demonstrate activity. On a takeover, audit inherited claims that affect the task. Two customers in one message: confirm which folder.

## Principles

- Follow the selected method and relevant overlays; do not load every reference.
- Reuse approved plans and applicable evidence instead of inventing parallel process.
- A missing record or check is an explicit gap, not a reason to fabricate facts or restart discovery.
- Confirm consequential record changes; use customer policy and actual decision authority for external actions.
- Report what was achieved, its evidence and remaining limits. Never equate implementation with deployment or acceptance.