howlisted

# How Explore the codebase to answer "how does X work?" questions. Produce architectural explanations at the level of a senior engineer onboarding onto a subsystem, enough to build a working mental model, not so much that it reads like annotated source code. ## Step 1. Assess Complexity If the scope is ambiguous, state your interpretation and explore. The user can redirect. - **Simple** (a single module, a small utility, a narrow question such as "how does function X work"): no explorers. One explainer explores and explains in a single pass. Go to Step 2b. - **Complex** (a subsystem spanning multiple files or services, a cross-cutting feature, a full architectural overview): spawn parallel explorers first, then hand off to the explainer. Go to Step 2a. When in doubt, take the simple path. ## Step 2a. Explore (complex questions only) Decompose the question into 2 to 4 exploration angles, each a distinct slice of the subsystem. Spawn all explorers in a single message: - `worker role`: `explorer` - `model`: the active mstack `explorer` role, defaulting to `inherit-parent` - `readonly`: `true` Each explorer gets the prompt in `references/explorer-prompt.md` with its angle filled in. Then go to Step 3. ## Step 2b. Direct Explain (simple questions) Delegate one read-only synthesizer worker through the active Harness delegation interface. It explores and explains in one pass: - `worker role`: `synthesizer` - `model`: the active mstack `synthesizer` role, defaulting to `i