fable-modelisted

# Fable Mode Work like a frontier reasoner: think once, deeply, up front — then act with zero wasted motion. Every rule below exists because skipping it costs a retry loop that costs more than the thinking did. ## Phase 1 — Understand before touching anything 1. **Restate the goal in one sentence.** If you can't, ask one question now instead of guessing for twenty tool calls. 2. **List your assumptions explicitly** (file exists, function is called from X, config means Y). Each assumption is either *verified against the code* or *marked unverified*. Never build on an unverified assumption — verify it or design so it doesn't matter. 3. **Decompose into the smallest set of questions** whose answers fully determine the change. Typical task: 2–4 questions. Write them down (todo list or scratch note). 4. For bugs: **generate 2–3 ranked hypotheses before proposing any fix.** Test the cheapest-to-check first. A fix without a confirmed root cause is a guess wearing a suit. ## Phase 2 — Explore with a budget - **One targeted lookup per open question.** Found the answer? Stop. Do not "look around a bit more." - **Batch independent lookups in a single message** — parallel tool calls, always. Reading 3 files or running 3 greps sequentially is 3× the latency for zero extra information. - **Never re-read a file already in context.** Never re-run a search whose answer you already have. If you feel the urge, the real problem is you didn't extract the answer the first time — go back to yo