steer

What this skill does

# Steer Skill

Project Profile Recalibration via Calibration Drift Audit — when the user wants to refresh the user-global or project-local project-profile rule layer based on observed Cognitive Partnership Move calibration drift in a target session, scan calibration moves for Constitution overapplication, Extension misapplication, and existing-profile drift, surface per-cluster evidence for user-constituted verdict, assemble a profile diff, and write an updated rule file with timestamped backup. Type: `(CalibrationDriftOpaque, AI, INDUCE-with-inscription, SessionCalibrationMoves) → UpdatedProjectProfile`.

Invoke directly with `/steer` when the user wants the project profile to track observed calibration practice rather than remain frozen at initialization time.

## Definition

**Steer** (Periagoge specialization, "turning the helm"): A dialogical act of resolving the opacity of project profile drift into a recognized profile update, where AI scans target session calibration moves against the existing project-profile rule layer, classifies each move into drift clusters, presents per-cluster evidence for user-constituted verdict, assembles a diff over the six profile variables, and inscribes the approved diff back into the rule file — profile mutation belongs to the user's per-cluster verdict and final approval acts.

This skill is a Periagoge family extension. Generic Periagoge (`/induce`) crystallizes an unnamed essence from an instance set into a session-text abstraction. Steer narrows the instance axis to *Cognitive Partnership Move calibration moves observed in a target session* and extends the output axis with a writable rule inscription step — the inscribed `project-profile.md` becomes the new prejudgment baseline for the next invocation. This closing of the loop (audit → inscription → next invocation reads the inscribed baseline) is referred to as **Circular Return** in this skill: the inscribed artifact becomes the prejudgment input the next audit reads from, making the operation self-referential across sessions. The dialectical triangulation core is preserved (Phase 3 per-cluster verdicts and Phase 5 final approval realize the Confirm / Dismiss / Reorient pattern), but the write step crosses the `preserves`/`mutates` boundary that `/induce` itself respects.

This skill stands in time-axis dual relationship to `/probe` (prospective fit recognition). Both refuse AI-side resolution and treat user recognition as the constitutive act. The writable persistence layer is what makes Steer useful for keeping the profile current as a project's needs change.

Phase 3 per-cluster recognition is verification-category — the user verifies the AI's classification accuracy of an already-detected drift cluster, not a forward-trajectory selection. The Differential Future Requirement does not apply to the per-cluster verdict gate by the same logic that exempts Anamnesis Phase 2 recognition gates (past-identity synthesis, not future-trajectory commitment): a 1-correct option structure (was-drift / was-aligned) is legitimate by purpose because downstream diff assembly is a deterministic consequence of the verdict, not a user-selected trajectory. Phase 5 final approve gate IS forward-looking (write or not write) and follows the Differential Future Requirement.

## When to Use

Invoke this skill when:
- The project profile was set at initialization but the user senses observed calibration practice has drifted from the inscribed defaults
- The user wants to refresh `~/.claude/rules/project-profile.md` (user-global) or `.claude/rules/project-profile.md` (project-local) based on a recent session's calibration moves
- The user wants empirical evidence about which Cognitive Partnership Move axes (Constitution / Extension / six profile variables) need recalibration
- A target session contains enough calibration moves (gate interactions, auto-resolutions, agent boundary actions) to support a meaningful audit

Skip when:
- The deficit is forward-looking (use `/probe` for prospective deficit recognition)
- The audit target is past protocol contract integrity rather than calibration drift in Cognitive Partnership Move
- The session contains too few calibration moves to support audit (Phase 0 deactivates with no-op note)
- The user wants in-conversation abstraction crystallization without rule inscription (use `/induce` directly)
- The user wants accumulated session analytics without profile-update focus (use `/report` or `/dashboard`)

## Distinction from Adjacent Skills

| Skill | Time axis | Subject | Operation | Output | Persistence |
|-------|-----------|---------|-----------|--------|-------------|
| `/probe` | Prospective (present situation) | Deficit recognition fit review | RECOGNIZE | ProtocolRoute or FitReviewNote | Session text |
| `/induce` | In-process (instance set) | Abstraction crystallization | INDUCE | CrystallizedAbstraction | Session text |
| `/steer` | Retrospective (target session) | Cognitive Partnership Move calibration drift | INDUCE extended with writable inscription, with routing to operational layer when finding shape mismatches | UpdatedProjectProfile, NoUpdateNote, DiffArtifact, or OperationalLayerRecommendation | Writable rule file (Approve disposition) or session text (other dispositions) |

The skill family coexists by operation and persistence — none replaces the others. Steer is for keeping the project profile current with observed practice; the other skills serve forward-looking or in-conversation needs.

## Protocol

### Phase 0: Scope Determination

Determine the audit scope before scanning. Three decisions:

- **Target session** — default is the current session only; the user may pass a session_id argument to target a different session
- **Layer** — `user_global` (`~/.claude/rules/project-profile.md`) or `project_local` (`.claude/rules/project-profile.md`); when both files exist, default to the layer the user invoked from (project_local when CWD is inside a project with a local file, user_global otherwise); the user may override
- **Cross-session evidence** — default off; reading prior session calibration history beyond the target session requires explicit user confirmation

If the user invocation does not specify scope, present a Constitution interaction soliciting the three decisions before proceeding to Phase 1. If scope is fully specified, accept it and proceed.

Phase 0 is otherwise silent. If the target session contains fewer than the minimum-viable calibration move count (default: 3 moves), deactivate with a brief no-op note and route the user to invoke `/steer` against a richer session.

### Phase 1: Prejudgment — Load Existing Profile

Read the existing project-profile rule file at the chosen layer:

- For `user_global`: `~/.claude/rules/project-profile.md`
- For `project_local`: `.claude/rules/project-profile.md`

Parse the existing six profile variables (revision_cost, deploy_fan_out, dependency_lock_in, runtime_persistence, hermeneutic_circle_availability, notation_maturity) and the calibration result (Extension-default vs Constitution-default vs mixed). When the file does not exist, treat the existing profile as the empty profile P_∅ — the audit then operates as a first-time profile induction rather than a recalibration.

Phase 1 emits no surfacing. The loaded profile becomes the prejudgment baseline against which Phase 2 trial inscription operates.

### Phase 2: Trial Inscription — Scan and Classify

Scan the target session for calibration moves and classify each into a drift cluster.

Scan procedure:
1. Read the target session transcript (`~/.claude/projects/{slug}/{session-id}.jsonl`)
2. Extract calibration move candidates — gate interactions (Constitution / Extension presentations per TOOL GROUNDING), auto-resolutions where AI proceeded without user gate, agent boundary actions (Skill / Agent / SendMessage invocations), Standing-authority delegations
3. For each candidate, identify the move kind (Constitution / Extens