Orientation

Before you can act wisely, you must understand where you are.

Philosophy

Why Orient?

The danger isn't ignorance—it's false confidence.

An agent that dives into action without understanding context will:

• Make assumptions that don't hold
• Solve the wrong problem
• Miss crucial constraints
• Repeat mistakes others already learned from

Orientation isn't bureaucracy. It's the difference between a surgeon who reads the chart and one who doesn't.

The First Law of Orientation:
├── You don't know what you don't know
├── Projects have hidden assumptions
├── Context shapes correct action
└── Reading first costs minutes; mistakes cost hours

What Orientation Is (And Isn't)

Orientation is reconnaissance, not deep investigation.

Orientation answers:      Orientation doesn't answer:
├── What is this?         ├── How does this work? (→ dive)
├── What matters here?    ├── What should we build? (→ engineering)
├── Who came before?      ├── Is this code correct? (→ validation)
└── Where should I look?  └── What needs fixing? (→ housekeeping)

Orientation points you in the right direction. Other skills take you there.

Core Concepts

Entry Points

Every project has documents that reveal its nature. Priority order:

Agent-specific (highest signal):
├── CLAUDE.md     → Written for you
├── AGENTS.md     → Written for any agent
└── .claude/      → Claude-specific config

Project docs (context):
├── README.md     → What this is
├── CONTRIBUTING.md → How to work here
└── docs/         → Deeper knowledge

Structure signals (implicit):
├── package.json / pyproject.toml / Cargo.toml → Stack
├── .github/workflows/ → CI/CD exists
└── docker-compose.yml → Containerized

Skills Discovery

Skills live in predictable locations:

Project-level:          User-level:
├── .claude/skills/     ├── ~/.claude/skills/
├── .cursor/skills/     ├── ~/.cursor/skills/
└── .agents/skills/     └── ~/.agents/skills/

Each skill has a SKILL.md with frontmatter describing when to use it.

Memory Context

If .memory/ exists, past agents left knowledge:

.memory/
├── context.md    → Current state, active concerns
├── notes/        → What was learned
├── decisions/    → Why things are this way
└── sessions/     → What happened before

Read context.md first—it's the handoff from previous sessions.

The Orientation Process

1. SCAN: What documents exist?
      ↓
2. READ: What do they say about working here?
      ↓
3. DISCOVER: What skills and memory are available?
      ↓
4. ASSESS: What's the project type and health?
      ↓
5. REPORT: Summarize findings, suggest starting points

Output Format

After orientation, provide:

markdown
## Project Overview
[1-2 sentences: what this is]

## Key Entry Points
- CLAUDE.md: [what it tells you]
- README: [what it tells you]

## Available Skills
| Skill | When to use |
|-------|-------------|
| [name] | [trigger] |

## Project Type
- Stack: [technologies]
- Notable: [CI, Docker, etc.]

## Suggested Starting Points
1. [Based on context]
2. [Based on context]

Health Diagnosis

Part of orientation is noticing what's missing:

| Finding | Implication | |---------|-------------| | No CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md | Future agents will struggle | | Stale docs (>6 months) | Information may be wrong | | Empty .memory/ | No institutional knowledge preserved | | Missing README | Project purpose unclear |

When issues exist, note them and suggest housekeeping for resolution.

Orientation is read-only—it diagnoses but doesn't treat.

Integration

orientation
     │
     ├─► "How does X work?" ──► dive
     ├─► "What should we build?" ──► engineering
     ├─► "Ready to commit" ──► refining
     ├─► "Docs need updating" ──► housekeeping
     └─► "What happened before?" ──► memory

Understanding, Not Rules

| Tension | Resolution | |---------|------------| | Speed vs Thoroughness | Match depth to unfamiliarity. New project? Read everything. Familiar? Skim for changes. | | Comprehensive vs Focused | Start broad (what is this?), narrow to relevant (what matters for my task?). | | Reading vs Doing | Orientation is fast. Skipping it feels faster but costs more in mistakes. |

The goal isn't to check boxes. It's to build enough mental model to act wisely.

Reference

See reference/ for:

• examples.md - Sample orientation reports