ce-pov
Judge a supplied subject against the project's evidence and constraints. Use when assessing an external-adoption question, a holistic take on a document, or a supplied approach set. Use for an oracle panel to consult other models and reconcile their opinions. Use ce-explain for understanding and ce-
By everyinc · 621 installs
npx skills add everyinc/compound-engineering-plugin --skill ce-pov
Source repository · Upstream listing
Form a Point of View
Produce a decisive, project grounded point of view in the subject's own shape: a graded verdict on an external adoption question, a holistic take on a document, or a position on a supplied approach set. The subject is whatever this skill was invoked with, in the prompt or the conversation. Stay read only while forming and reconciling the POV. You are done when the POV is delivered with its attribution and required disclosure, or when an explicit blocker is returned. Use ce bakeoff to develop competing solutions, ce ideate to explore opportunities, or ce brainstorm to establish goals. The year is 2026 , for source recency.
Grounding is not optional
Never issue a POV you did not earn against the project's own context. Every subject must meet the minimum project evidence (the project floor ) in references/method.md . An external adoption verdict must also meet the full external evidence bar there. A document or approach set POV must verify against outside sources any external claim its bottom line depends on. Nothing the conversation asserts substitutes for grounding.
Consumer and interaction
Deliver a supported position in the form the intended consumer can use. Lead with the decision and preserve the evidence, material tradeoffs, uncertainty, and conditions that determine it. Make identifiers understandable without requiring the reader to reopen the subject. A person's request may need a brief answer or a shareable document; another workflow may need a decision embedded in its own work.
When contributing to an ongoing workflow, return the result and leave continuation to its owner, the calling workflow. Do not add follow up or panel offers to that return. An explicit oracle or named peer request still runs the panel, including when it comes from a calling workflow.
Identify the question and return the result
Identify the question from the request and conversation, then look up facts you can verify. Do not interview the user to work out what to assess. If missing information would change the recommendation and you cannot find it, return Blocked — missing context . Explain what is missing, why it matters, and what would resolve it. The calling agent decides whether to ask for clarification or take another action. This applies whether the user invokes ce pov directly or another agent calls it; no separate non interactive mode is needed.
Artifact Root
Resolve <root the first time you compose a <root / path; a read of <root /solutions/ counts as composing one. Pass the resolved path to scouts, never the config. A non git project has no <root , so its prior decision scan uses local ADRs and design docs instead.
<! ce docs root:start
Resolve the CE artifact root <root before composing any artifact path.
Read docs root from <repo root /.compound engineering/config.yaml only ( <repo root = git rev parse show toplevel ). Do not read it from config.local.yaml . Unset <root is docs , exactly as before.
Validate a set value: a repo relative directory whose real, symlink resolved path stays inside the repo and is neither the repo root nor under .git/ . Otherwise stop with an error naming docs root and the value never fall back to docs .
Use <root as the sole artifact location: create it if absent, compose each path as <root /<subdir with this skill's own subdirectory, and never also read docs .
<! ce docs root:end
Phase 0: Frame and Classify
Read references/intake.md now, before any grounding. It defines the output mode, what a calling workflow passes in, orientation and framing, sizing, and what to do when the question has no bounded answer. Settle the subject and the POV intent there (adopt / migrate / compare / is this our problem / Document take / Approach set / explainer); an intent that belongs to another skill finishes at intake, and one that continues records how reversible the decision is. Read references/boundaries.md when this skill's fit is in doubt.
Phase 1: Ground
Read references/grounding.md now, before grounding by either path. It defines the model tiers (the POV reasoning itself is never dispatched), where scratch files may go, what scouts receive and how many run, which capabilities gate which steps, and how grounded facts are kept apart from unconfirmed ones.
Send scouts directly to candidate specific current evidence, never a generic repo profile. They search in their own context and return a dossier path plus a gist, which you read on demand. Where the facts the verdict depends on are already located, confirm them with bounded reads of the authoritative source instead of dispatching scouts; unscoped or noisy grounding still dispatches. A claim made in the conversation is a pointer to check, never self verifying. The prior decision scan ( <root /solutions/ , ADRs, design docs) stays mandatory on either path.
When the judgment requires an explanation of unresolved behavior or design rationale, invoke ce explain . Pass the question, its scope, and the decision it informs. Use adequate current evidence instead of repeating an investigation. Treat its cited findings as evidence to assess under the same grounding standard, not as authority for the recommendation. Keep ownership of the judgment here. If ce explain is unavailable, gather the evidence directly or report what is missing.
Phase 2: Verify Grounding
Read references/method.md now , before reasoning about the POV. It defines the Verify and POV steps, the skeptic stance, tiering, and the evidence check. Apply that check over the grounded evidence. If the evidence falls short, no subject shape may return a confident result; that reference names the result each shape returns instead.
Phase 3: Point of View
First form ce pov's own independent POV under the active subject shape contract in references/method.md , but do not emit it. Freeze that position. Keep it out of an independent peer's initial context; expose it only when the task is to critique that position, or in a later reconciliation round.
A panel request is an explicit ask to consult or reconcile other models: a panel, a cross check, or oracle , anywhere in the invocation context. Declining one, or merely mentioning one, is not a request. When a panel is requested, or when a POV formed without one may qualify for a proactive offer, read references/cross model panel.md before resolving participation or deciding whether to offer. Finish the panel branch before composing the result. A POV that follows a panel request states which peers ran, or that none did and why. A POV with no panel request carries no panel note.
Only then deliver the position with the content required by references/method.md . Adapt its presentation to the intended use; cite supporting evidence rather than reprinting dossiers or raw peer output.
Phase 4: Deliver and return
The judgment is the deliverable; implementation is not. A calling workflow receives the result and control back. For a requested write up or continuation, read references/followup.md ; it defines artifact delivery and what authority a downstream action needs. Do not require a next step choice to complete a POV.