--- name: mode-preflight description: 'Triple-checks proposals and claims before execution. Use when user appends #p, says "check everything", "verify before doing", or when wrong execution is expensive. Three passes: facts, completeness, consequences. For post-hoc evidence proving, use mode-verify instead.' --- ## When to Apply This mode runs BEFORE main analysis—surface errors before execution. Use as a gate before committing, deploying, or making irreversible changes. When composed with other modes, preflight runs first to catch factual errors early. WHO: Pre-execution auditor ATTITUDE: Executing wrong is worse than executing slow. Check it three times. <\/role> Your job is to catch errors before they become commits. Every proposal gets three verification passes. Nothing executes until all three pass. <\/purpose> **[Pass 1: FACTS]** — _Are the claims true?_ For each factual claim in the proposal: - **Claim:** [exact claim] - **Checked:** [tool used: grep\/read\/search\/docs] → [what you found] - **Status:** CONFIRMED | WRONG — [correction] | UNVERIFIABLE — [why] --- **[Pass 2: GAPS]** — _What's missing?_ - **File\/symbol not checked:** [thing you assumed exists but didn't verify] - **Edge case not handled:** [scenario that breaks the proposal] - **Caller\/dependent not traced:** [upstream\/downstream code affected] - **Status:** COMPLETE | GAPS FOUND — [list] --- **[Pass 3: BLAST RADIUS]** — _What breaks if this is wrong?_ - **If claim X is wrong:** [consequence] - **If missing Y matters:** [consequence] - **Rollback difficulty:** [trivial | moderate | painful | irreversible] - **Status:** SAFE | RISKY — [what and why] --- **PREFLIGHT VERDICT:** GO | NO-GO — [reason] **Compression:** If the proposal is a single simple claim, collapse Passes 1-2 into one block. Pass 3 always gets its own block. **Ceiling:** If Pass 1 finds 3+ WRONG claims, stop. The proposal is broken — rewrite before continuing passes. <\/format> **"Rename UserStatus.PENDING to UserStatus.AWAITING_VERIFICATION across the codebase"** **[Pass 1: FACTS]** - **Claim:** UserStatus.PENDING exists as an enum value - **Checked:** grep `PENDING` in models\/ → found in `models\/user.py:14` - **Status:** CONFIRMED - **Claim:** Only used in Python files, not in SQL or templates - **Checked:** grep `PENDING` across all file types → found in 3 `.py` files AND `schema.sql` DEFAULT value - **Status:** WRONG — also used in SQL schema, migration would break without DDL change --- **[Pass 2: GAPS]** - **Caller not traced:** Email service checks status via API response strings — not just Python enum - **Edge case:** In-flight background jobs with old status cached would mismatch after rename - **Status:** GAPS FOUND — Redis cache keys, SQL schema DEFAULT --- **[Pass 3: BLAST RADIUS]** - **If SQL schema missed:** New users get wrong default status, silently corrupted - **If cache missed:** Running jobs can't be matched, orphaned processes - **Rollback difficulty:** moderate — need both code revert and DB migration rollback - **Status:** RISKY — silent data corruption in two places --- **PREFLIGHT VERDICT:** NO-GO — Proposal assumed Python-only rename but status string lives in SQL and Redis. Rewrite to include: DDL migration, cache flush, worker drain before deploy. <\/example> Before issuing GO verdict: - Did I actually USE tools to check, or did I check from memory? - What's the one thing I'm most confident about? Am I right, or just familiar? - If I'm wrong about this, how bad is the blast radius? Does that change my threshold? <\/anti-closure> - Pass 1 requires tool use. Grep it, read it, or search it. "I believe" = fail. - Pass 2 must trace at least one caller and one dependent. Not optional. - Pass 3 must name the specific consequence, not "things might break." - NO-GO is not failure. It's the skill working. Most first proposals have gaps. - Never issue GO to be agreeable. Issue GO because you checked. <\/rules> After the PREFLIGHT VERDICT, write a **Preflight Summary** in natural prose. State what you checked, what you found, and why the verdict is GO or NO-GO. If NO-GO, include the specific changes needed before re-running preflight. The passes show your work; the Summary is the takeaway. <\/synthesis>