Orient Map

/orient-map

> What changed since I last looked? > Answers with — the delta since your last-look anchor · done → here → next · a TREE when you are on a branch. > Does not answer — how far along (/orient-status) · what is stuck (/orient-gaps) · what comes next (/orient-roadmap). > Owns for the family — the topology fields: on_branch, cursor_node, fork_node, ahead, behind, trunk_ref.

Computes a fresh, honest read of the shape of the work — what changed since your last look, and the done → here → next trajectory rendered as a path on the trunk or a TREE on a branch — and returns it as one ephemeral bundle (a structured YON record + a human markdown read + a small visual). It is the orient- family's topology lens: it owns branch detection and the diff-of-trees so its siblings don't recompute them. Emits the trajectory + delta slices of the shared record at [references/orient-spec/orient-record.yon](references/orient-spec/orient-record.yon).

> Structured execution spec: [protocol.yon](protocol.yon). Read it for the canonical steps, rules, and gates; this file is the human-readable, self-sufficient explanation. The two must stay in sync — if you edit one, update the other and refresh the @STAMP date.

The shared record, render contract, worked fixtures, and value validator travel inside [references/](references/). The repository-only round-trip guard is release evidence; its absence from an installed copy does not block execution.

When to use

• "Show me the map / what's the shape / done-to-here-to-next" on a project, repo, plan, or task.
• "What changed since I last looked" — the delta is the headline; you want the diff-of-trees, not a fresh full read.
• "How deep down a branch / side-quest am I" — you need the branch stack and the fork point, not a flat file list.

How it works (self-sufficient — works without protocol.yon)

orient-map delegates the gathering to a bounded, read-only subagent so the calling session (a human's, or an agent orienting itself) never sees the search/inference noise — only the result bundle comes back. Nothing is stored; every call recomputes from current reality. It is delta-first: the change since your last look leads, and the raw file-tree is demoted (the IDE already owns that).

1. Take the last-look anchor and intent as inputs, never prompt for them. The anchor (the reference endpoint the delta is measured from — a git ref, a timestamp, a HEAD@time) is caller-supplied or git-inferred, never written to disk. Intent (the goal / what "done" means) gates the trajectory: if intent can't be grounded, render the path but cap every intent-dependent node to guessed and never emit a confident tree from the void. Never fabricate a goal or an anchor.

1. Spawn one bounded subagent (read-only, depth-1, single wave; budget ≤ ~8–12 tool calls, hard timeout ~60–90s, stop at the first evidence tier that gives a confident answer). It runs the cheap-first evidence ladder and returns this signal (not raw logs):

• git tier → branch, merge-base (the fork point), ahead/behind vs the trunk, the commit subjects on this branch (the branch-lane nodes), and the diff/name-status since the anchor (the delta).
• plan/doc tier → from a PLAN.md/checklist: the phase nodes (done → frontier → next) and any active sub-phase below the trunk phase (a plan-level branch).
• conversation/folder tier → a side-quest that never became a git branch; file mtimes for the live frontier; the folder name.

Every attested node/edge/change comes back with a re-runnable source:line/git-ref proof.

1. Detect topology — this skill is the authority (every other slice reads these, none recompute them): set on_branch when EITHER (a) git — current branch ≠ base and ahead > 0, with fork_node = merge-base; OR (b) plan-level — an active sub-phase below the trunk phase; OR (c) a side-quest that never became a git branch. When no base exists, on_branch = unknown — honest, never assumed-trunk. Fill cursor_node (here), fork_node, ahead, behind, trunk_ref.

1. Compute the delta off the ATTESTED substrate only (git/mtime), never off prose — a stochastic read must not invent phantom deltas. Emit changes, the mandatory honest-negative no_change_zones (the parts that did not move — silently omitting it implies false completeness), and — when on a branch — missed_while_away (what landed on the trunk while you were off on the branch; for a delta-first branch read this is the second-most-valuable datum after the change set). Tier-tag a whitespace-only or trivial change ◌ and a real diff ◆.

1. Tag every field with a provenance tier — ◆ git-attested · ◐ inferred · ◌ guessed — and fail closed: set gate_status (enum: ready | blocked | stalled | degraded | indeterminate) to degraded or indeterminate with a sentinel value — never a plausible verdict and never a bare 0/false — on barren evidence. A no-substrate subject draws a NO SUBSTRATE card, not a structural tree.

1. Emit the bundle to the consumer that asked — one record, three faces, never all three at one reader. The YON record is the AGENT face and goes to an agent consumer only; a human gets the plain-language read plus the visual (widget when available, ASCII twin otherwise) and never sees the record, a raw record field, a node-id, or a gate enum. See Record emission below for the YON face (agent-only); the markdown read follows the worked examples; the visual face is rendered per the [render-face contract](references/orient-spec/family-behaviors.md) (Claude Code only): for a human on Claude Code with the visualize tool present on an explicit invocation, build the widget from the kit — call mcp__visualize__read_me once, then emit via mcp__visualize__show_widget a hand-SVG spine on the trunk / tier-encoded tree on a branch, the cursor the dominant node, ◆◐◌ tier glyphs as redundant (non-color) encoding; an agent consumer gets the YON record only; any other runtime / no tool / indeterminate handler_type gets the ASCII twin (fail-closed). The information-complete ASCII trajectory twin is always emitted — it is the only render in a no-SVG channel and carries every node, change, and zone the widget does (worked trio at [references/orient-spec/examples/orient-map.{ascii.txt,widget.svg}](references/orient-spec/examples/)). On a branch, ETA refuses to forecast the trunk (trunk eta: n/a — not on this path). The footer is one evidence-derived line — and only ever suggests a skill that is actually installed (fall back to a plain prose hint or /orient-status//plan-create otherwise). The footer's four faces, the staleness short-circuit (anchor unchanged → "no change" without a full sweep), the neutral re-look signal, and handoff-feeder routing follow the shared [references/orient-spec/family-behaviors.md](references/orient-spec/family-behaviors.md).

Record emission (the YON face — AGENT consumers only; never printed to a human)

The structured face is the trajectory + delta slices of [references/orient-spec/orient-record.yon](references/orient-spec/orient-record.yon) (schema_version = orient-record/1). Reserved tags only — custom tags like @SNAPSHOT/@TREE are parser-rejected. Tree nodes are @CFG id=node.; list fields (nodes, edges, changes, no_change_zones) go in a sidecar @MAP, never an in-set bracket-list (an in-set bracket-list corrupts the record silently and still validates). Never run yon format on an emitted instance — CANON mode is destructive on set-internal lists and the corruption still validates clean. Validate with --profile exec. Minimal skeleton (tree on a branch):

@CFG id=orient | set=[schema_version=orient-record/1,computed_at:ts=…,ephemeral:bool=true,tool=orient-map,tier=orient,scope=…,evidence_mode=git-only,gate_status=ready,gate_confidence_floor=git-attested,family_used=orient-map,family_suggested_next=orient-status,family_reason_code=lost_thread,overall_trust=med,degraded:bool=false]
@CFG id=subject | set=[name=…,kind=monorepo,purpose=…,purpose_source=readme,intent_status=stated,parent_subject=…]
@CFG id=trajectory | set=[layout=tree,on_branch:bool=true,trunk_ref=main,cursor_node=n3,fork_node=n2,ahead:int=2,behind:int=0]
@CFG id=node.n1 | set=[kind=done,label=…,lane=trunk]
@CFG id=node.n2 | set=[kind=fork,label=…,lane=trunk]
@CFG id=node.n3 | set=[kind=here,label=…,lane=branch]
@MAP name=edges | pairs=["n1"->"n2","n2"->"n3"]
@CFG id=delta | set=[anchor_kind=git,anchor_ref=HEAD@2h,anchor_confidence=approx,window=2h]
@MAP name=changes | pairs=["c1"->"…","c2"->"…"]
@MAP name=no_change_zones | pairs=["z1"->"…"]
@MAP name=missed_while_away | pairs=["m1"->"…"]   # on a branch: trunk commits since the fork — omit on trunk
@MAP name=provenance | pairs=["trajectory.on_branch"->"git-attested:high:git-rev-parse"]

On barren evidence the envelope degrades honestly and carries the reason: gate_status=indeterminate, degraded:bool=true, degrade_reason="no git, no plan" — and the visual is the NO SUBSTRATE card, never a structural tree. A full worked instance ships at [references/orient-spec/examples/orient-record.example.yon](references/orient-spec/examples/orient-record.example.yon).

Output — worked examples (markdown face)

On a branch (the tree — the case orient-map exists for):

🧭 open-skills — public skills repo.   ↳ within: main      [identity: ◆ git]
## Δ since HEAD@2h — 2 commits, 3 files                    ◆ git `diff --name-status`
  ~ orient-record.yon, family-manifest.yon  (real diff)    ◆
  · README, subagent-protocol             (no change)      ◌ unchanged
  ↟ main: 1 commit landed while you were away (missed)     ◆ trunk diff since fork

main ──●────●·······································          ◆ trunk faint
            └─▶ feat/orient ●━━━●━━━📍 fix-pass            ◆ ahead 2, behind 0
                P0-contract  cold-vet  (here)
            ╌╌▶ rejoins main                                ◐ not yet merged
trunk eta: n/a — not on this path.
**→ Next:** finish the fix pass, then re-validate.
Trust: ◆◆◌ · ⚠️ lean here: the rejoin point (inferred — branch not yet merged) · next → /orient-status

On the trunk (the spine — no branch):

🧭 some-cli — a git repo on `main`.                        [identity: ◆ git]
## Δ since HEAD@1d — 1 commit, 1 file                       ◆ git `diff`
done ──●────●────📍 here ────○ next                         ◆ git log
       v0.1   v0.2   release-prep   docs
**→ Next:** the release-prep node is the frontier.
Trust: ◆◆◐ · ⚠️ lean here: the "next" node (inferred from an open TODO, not a commit).

Barren / no-substrate (honest degradation is the success case):

🧭 ToDo — a folder (no git, no plan).                      [identity: ◌ guessed]
┌───────────────────────────────┐
│  NO SUBSTRATE                  │   no commits, no plan — nothing to map.
│  can't draw a trajectory.      │
└───────────────────────────────┘
**→ Next:** init git or name the goal, and the shape becomes visible.
Trust: ◌◌◌ · ⚠️ lean here: every line — no durable topology exists.  [gate: indeterminate · degrade_reason: no git, no plan]

The ASCII trajectory + the trust trailer with the ⚠️ lean your scrutiny here line (naming the single load-bearing guess) is mandatory on every output; the no_change_zones honest-negative is never silently dropped.

Boundaries

• Not /orient-status — that reports position + remaining + a banded ETA (where you stand); orient-map reports the shape + the delta (how you got here and what moved). They share one sweep's topology; orient-map is the authority on on_branch/fork/cursor. For the single next move after a gap (resume-pointer + one action + counter-case), that's /orient-status --resume — orient-map gives the change-shape, not the one-move terminator.
• Not an IDE file-tree — the editor already renders the raw directory tree live; orient-map renders the diff-of-trees (what changed) and the branch stack (where you forked), not the file listing.
• Not /plan-deep-dive — that walks an existing plan phase-by-phase for quality; orient-map reads the current trajectory against whatever evidence exists (often no plan) and shows the delta.
• Not /reflect, not insight-* — those THINK / DECIDE; orient-map only SEES and reports NOW. After it, reach for /orient-status for the ETA on the node you're on, or /plan-create to act on the next node.
• Read-only. It never mutates state; the last-look anchor is caller-supplied or git-inferred, never written to disk by default.

Rules

• MUST be delta-first — lead with the change since the last-look anchor; demote the raw file-tree (the IDE owns it).
• MUST render a path on the trunk and a TREE on a branch, with the branch-stack depth; on_branch = unknown when no base exists — never assumed-trunk.
• MUST own and emit the topology fields (on_branch, cursor_node, fork_node, ahead, behind, trunk_ref) so sibling slices don't recompute them; on a branch ETA refuses to forecast the trunk.
• MUST compute the delta off the attested (git/mtime) substrate only — never off prose — so an agent never gets a phantom delta; MUST emit no_change_zones (the honest negative) explicitly, and on a branch MUST emit missed_while_away (the trunk commits since the fork).
• MUST take intent as input and gate intent-dependent nodes when it's absent — never fabricate a goal; below a grounding threshold draw a NO SUBSTRATE card, not a structural tree.
• MUST tag every field with a provenance tier and fail closed — gate_status = degraded/indeterminate with a sentinel, never a plausible verdict — on zero evidence.
• MUST, when the consumer is an agent (handler_type = agent), emit a record conformant to references/orient-spec/orient-record.yon (reserved tags; tree nodes as @CFG id=node.; list fields as sidecar @MAP; never yon format an instance). A human consumer gets the plain-language read plus the visual instead — never the record, a raw record field, a node-id, or a gate enum.
• MUST emit the ASCII trajectory + the trust trailer with the ⚠️ lean here load-bearing-guess line; the visual's ASCII twin is mandatory.
• MUST NOT print the YON record — or any raw record field, node-id, gate enum, @CFG line, or @MAP line — into a human-facing reply. The record is the agent face (handler_type = agent); the human face is the plain-language read plus the visual (widget when available, ASCII twin otherwise). Per references/orient-spec/orient-contract.md §1 (token discipline) and family-behaviors.md §6.
• MUST render the visual face per the render-face contract (Claude Code only, via mcp__visualize__show_widget): agent → YON record only; human + Claude + tool + explicit invocation → widget + ASCII twin; other runtime / no tool / indeterminate handler_type → ASCII twin (fail-closed). The widget and ASCII twin are projections of one node-structure (same nodes + ◆◐◌ tier glyphs, non-color), chrome-compliant, checked by the repository-only tools/orient-roundtrip.mjs release guard when running from a clone; installed copies retain this as an emitter obligation.
• MUST delegate gathering to a bounded, read-only, depth-1 subagent and return only the bundle (no raw search noise), with a re-runnable proof on every attested field.
• The family footer MUST only suggest an installed skill.

> Next skills. On completion, run the Next Skills protocol (next-skills/SKILL.md): surface the next-skills recommendations from front-matter for the caller to pick. Offer only — never auto-invoke.

> Self-improvement. On completion, run the Self-Improvement Protocol

…

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: allemaar
• Source: allemaar/open-skills
• License: Apache-2.0
• Homepage: https://allemaar.com

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.