Gabe Help — Suite Entry Point

Purpose

Answer one question: "What should I do next with the Gabe Suite?"

Scan the current project environment, detect what's configured, what's missing, and where the user is in their workflow. Then recommend specific commands with reasoning.

This is NOT a man page. It reads the actual state and gives contextual advice.

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Procedure

Step 1: Environment Scan

Check each probe silently. Do NOT run commands that modify anything.

Probe	How	Result
Git repo	Check if .git/ exists	yes / no
Uncommitted changes	git status --porcelain (if git repo)	count of changed files, or clean
Alignment initialized	Check if .kdbp/ or .kdbp/VALUES.md exists	yes (with maturity from BEHAVIOR.md) / no
User values	Check if ~/.kdbp/VALUES.md exists	yes (count of values) / no
Cognitive profile	Check if ~/.claude/gabe-lens-profile.md exists	yes (suit name) / no
Checkpoint ledger	Check if .kdbp/LEDGER.md exists	yes (count of entries) / no
Deferred items	Check .kdbp/deferred-cr.md or .planning/deferred-cr.md	count of unresolved items / none
GSD planning	Check if .planning/PROJECT.md exists	yes / no
Active phase	Look for .planning/phases/*/PLAN.md without VERIFICATION.md	phase number or none

Step 2: Classify Situation

Based on the scan, classify into one of these situations:

Situation	Conditions	Primary recommendation
New machine	No ~/.kdbp/VALUES.md, no ~/.claude/gabe-lens-profile.md	Set up user-level tools first
New project	Git repo exists, no .kdbp/	Initialize alignment
Configured, idle	.kdbp/ exists, no uncommitted changes, no active phase	Start work or run health check
Mid-work	Uncommitted changes exist	Review before committing
Pre-PR	Changes staged or branch ahead of main	Review + prepare to ship
Deferred debt	Deferred items exist (any count)	Surface and triage deferred items
Post-milestone	GSD planning exists, no active phase	Retro + health check

Multiple situations can be true simultaneously (e.g., "mid-work" + "deferred debt"). List all that apply, ordered by priority.

Step 3: Output

GABE HELP — [project name from BEHAVIOR.md or directory name]

┌─ Environment ───────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Git repo:        ✅ [branch name]                    │
│ Changes:         [N files modified | clean]          │
│ Alignment:       ✅ Initialized (maturity: MVP)      │
│                  or ❌ Not initialized                │
│ User values:     ✅ N values | ❌ Not set up          │
│ Cognitive suit:  ✅ Spatial-Analogical | ❌ Default    │
│ Checkpoints:     ✅ N entries | ❌ No ledger           │
│ Deferred items:  ⚠️ N pending | ✅ None               │
│ GSD planning:    ✅ Phase N active | ❌ Not found      │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Situation: [classified situation(s)]

Suggested next:

  1. /command — [why this, based on current state]
  2. /command — [why this]
  3. /command — [why this]

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Recommendation Logic

New Machine (first-time setup)

1. /gabe-lens calibrate     — Find your cognitive suit (one-time, ~3 min)
2. /gabe-align init-user    — Set your universal values (one-time, ~5 min)
3. /gabe-align init [name]  — Initialize this project (if in a project)

New Project (no .kdbp/)

1. /gabe-align init [name]  — Set values + behavior + maturity for this project
2. /gabe-health             — Baseline: know where the fragile spots are
3. /gabe-lens annotate [key-file] — Gabe Blocks for the hardest parts (optional)

Configured, Idle

1. /gabe-health             — Periodic check: has anything drifted?
2. /gabe-review deferred    — Any accumulated debt to address?
3. /gabe-align evolve       — Review value patterns from checkpoint history

Mid-Work (uncommitted changes)

1. /gabe-review             — Risk-price your current changes before committing
2. /gabe-review brief       — Quick confidence score if you want speed
3. /gabe-align shallow      — Quick values check on what you're about to ship

Pre-PR (branch ahead of main)

1. /gabe-review             — Full review with confidence score + triage
2. /gabe-review fix         — Auto-fix all findings (if you trust the review)
3. /gabe-roast [perspective] [target] — Stress-test from a specific angle

Deferred Debt (pending deferred items)

1. /gabe-review deferred    — See the backlog with confidence cost per item
2. /gabe-review fix         — Fix all deferred items in one pass
3. /gabe-health             — Check if deferred items cluster in fragile areas

Post-Milestone

1. /gabe-health             — Full analysis: gods, churn, coupling, bugs, scope
2. /gabe-align evolve       — Review value patterns, graduate or tighten
3. /gabe-review deferred    — Clear any accumulated debt before next milestone

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Behavior Rules

1. Read-only. gabe-help never modifies files, creates directories, or writes output files. It only reads and recommends.
2. Fast. The scan should take < 5 seconds. Don't read file contents unless needed (e.g., maturity from BEHAVIOR.md frontmatter, suit from profile).
3. No redundancy. If the user just ran /gabe-review, don't suggest /gabe-review again. Check the conversation context.
4. Honest gaps. If something isn't set up, say so directly. Don't hedge with "you might want to consider." Say: "Not initialized. Run /gabe-align init."
5. Max 5 suggestions. More than 5 is noise. Pick the highest-value actions for the current state.
6. Show the full suite on request. If the user asks "what tools are available?" or similar, show the complete list:

The Gabe Suite — 7 tools:

| Tool | Command | What it does |
|------|---------|-------------|
| gabe-help | /gabe-help | You are here. Context-aware guide. |
| gabe-lens | /gabe-lens [concept] | Cognitive translation — analogies, maps, constraint boxes |
| gabe-align | /gabe-align [mode] | Alignment guardian — values check + auto-checkpoint |
| gabe-assess | /gabe-assess [change] | Change impact — blast radius, maturity scope, prerequisites |
| gabe-roast | /gabe-roast [perspective] [target] | Adversarial gap review from a specific viewpoint |
| gabe-review | /gabe-review [target] | Code review with risk pricing + confidence score + triage |
| gabe-health | /gabe-health [focus] | Codebase structural health — gods, churn, coupling, bugs |

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Integration

From	Trigger	What gabe-help adds
User runs /gabe-help	Direct invocation	Full scan + recommendations
User seems lost	"What should I do?", "Where do I start?"	Suggest /gabe-help
Post-install	After install.sh runs	Suggest /gabe-help as first command