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Staircase-Routing (Up-and-Down / Walking Bass Routing)

The Staircase-Routing skill (also referred to as Up-and-Down Routing or Walking Bass Routing) isolates the directory document inspection strategy for AI agents.

When an agent enters a directory or works on a file, it uses this strategy to locate authoritative context, rules, and signpost documents before modifying code or taking action.

1. Signpost Document Standards

By default, Staircase-Routing looks for standard signpost documents:

• Global & Project Controls: CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, START.md, RULES.md
• Project Overview & Tasks: README.md, TODO.md, NOTIZ.md, BEWEISNOTIZ.md
• Custom User Buzzwords: Configured via staircase-config.json or config.json.

2. Traversal Algorithm

                           [ Root / Workspace Level ]
                           ┌────────────────────────┐
                           │   CLAUDE.md / RULES.md │ ◄── (Step 2: Read Root Signpost)
                           └───────────▲────────────┘
                                       │ (Staircase Up)
                           ┌───────────┴────────────┐
                           │ Subfolder / Target Dir │ ◄── (Step 1: Start at CWD)
                           └───────────┬────────────┘
                                       │ (Staircase Down)
                           ┌───────────▼────────────┐
                           │ Child / Module Dir     │ ◄── (Step 3: Discover Sub-Signposts)
                           │   module-rules.md      │
                           └────────────────────────┘

Step 1: Current Working Directory (CWD) Inspection

• Inspect the directory of the target file or active working directory.
• If signpost documents exist, read them immediately.

Step 2: Upward Traversal (Staircase Up)

• If no signpost document is found in CWD, move up to the parent directory (..).
• Repeat step-by-step upward until a root signpost document (CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md) or the workspace boundary is reached.
• Read all discovered root signposts to establish global directives and project rules.

Step 3: Downward Inspection (Staircase Down)

• From the established root directory, step downward into child directories relevant to the task.
• Discover specialized module-level signposts, domain rules, or component configs. Read them.

3. User-Configurable Buzzwords (staircase-config.json)

Agents can read a local or global staircase-config.json to customize target signposts:

json
{
  "signpost_filenames": [
    "CLAUDE.md",
    "AGENTS.md",
    "START.md",
    "RULES.md",
    "README.md",
    "TODO.md"
  ],
  "custom_buzzwords": [
    "SECURITY",
    "POLICY",
    "GOVERNANCE",
    "PIPELINE"
  ],
  "max_upward_depth": 10,
  "exclude_directories": [
    "node_modules",
    ".git",
    "__pycache__",
    "dist",
    "build",
    "archive"
  ]
}

4. Integration with letter-hooker & Scheduled Tasks

staircase-routing is embedded as a core preflight bootloader in the letter-hooker skill and the antigravity-kontext-and-workflow-loader-and-divider scheduled task, ensuring agents always locate and obey signpost documents before initiating edits.