howlisted

# How Explore the codebase to answer "how does X work?" questions. Produce clear architectural explanations at the level of a senior engineer onboarding onto a subsystem. Enough to build a working mental model, not annotated source code. Two modes: 1. **Explain** (default). Explore the codebase and produce a clear explanation 2. **Critique.** Explain first, then spawn multiple models to independently identify architectural issues ## Explain Mode ### Step 1. Understand the Question and Assess Complexity Parse what the user is asking about: - "How does the rate limiter work?", a subsystem - "How do we handle billing for on-demand usage?", a feature flow - "How is the auth service structured?", an architectural overview - "Walk me through what happens when a user submits a form", a runtime trace Identify the scope. If ambiguous, state your best-guess interpretation before exploring. Don't ask. Let the user redirect if you're off. **Assess complexity to decide the approach:** - **Simple** (a single module, a small utility, a narrow question like "how does function X work"): skip explorer agents; the explainer explores and explains in a single pass. Go to Step 2b. - **Complex** (a subsystem spanning multiple files/services, a cross-cutting feature, a full architectural overview): spawn parallel explorer agents first, then hand off to the explainer. Go to Step 2a. When in doubt, lean simple. You can always spawn explorers if the explainer hits a wall. ### Step 2a. Explo