---
name: principle-attack-the-premise
description: "Apply when two or more fixes that share one premise have failed the same gate. Take a census of which actors hold the imbalance before the next fix, then question the premise instead of writing another fix that assumes it."
disable-model-invocation: true
---

# Attack the Premise

When two or more fixes that share one premise have failed the same gate, suspect the premise, not the fixes.

**Why:** Each failure under a shared premise is evidence about the premise.

**Pattern:**
- **Write the premise down.** The premise is the one sentence that every failed fix assumed.
- **Take a census before the next fix.** Count the imbalance per actor. The census shows which actors hold the imbalance, not how large it is. Write the census as a rerunnable script per [Build the Lever](../principle-build-the-lever/SKILL.md).
- **Read the skew.** If the same few actors hold most of the imbalance on every run, something assigns them that role. Find what assigns the role. That assignment is the next "why" per [Fix Root Causes](../principle-fix-root-causes/SKILL.md).
- **Remove the asymmetry instead of compensating for it**, per the [Laziness Protocol](../principle-laziness-protocol/SKILL.md). Rotate the role between actors, randomize the assignment, or move the role, so that no actor holds it on every run. A return path, a shared pool, a batched hand-off, or a periodic rebalance leaves the assignment in place and adds work on every run.

**Stop:**
- Do not start the next fix before the premise is written down and the census exists.
- If the census is even across actors, the premise is not the cause. Look for the cause elsewhere and keep the census as evidence.

This principle is distinct from [Redesign from First Principles](../principle-redesign-from-first-principles/SKILL.md), which rebuilds a design around a new requirement. It questions a fact the current design assumes.

## Session capabilities and limits

Use the current session bindings in [Host capabilities](../../references/host-capabilities.md). Inspect the failed checks and actor evidence before diagnosing the premise. Census creation requires authorized writes; running it requires available execution. Observe results before claiming it ran.

If writes or execution are unavailable, state the premise and propose a rerunnable census as reduced capability. Keep the stop rule: do not start the next fix before the census exists. If the failed-check or actor evidence is unavailable, identify the missing inputs and stop the diagnosis. Do not invent actor counts or treat a proposal as measured evidence.

Preserve the invocation metadata above; its presence does not establish host enforcement.