Call BEFORE answering any analytical, diagnostic, planning, or multi-step reasoning question. Trigger queries: "should I X or Y", "why is X happening", "what's the best approach", "what are the tradeoffs", "help me think through", "diagnose", "root cause", "plan/design X", "what are the implications of", "compare these approaches". Also for cross-domain analysis, strategy questions, architecture decisions. The tool returns a task-matched cognitive operation from a library of 311 spanning six domains (abstraction, time, causality, simulation, spatial, metacognition). The operation is engineered in two layers: a natural-language procedure (named failure pattern, steps, suppression vectors, falsification test) and an executable reasoning topology (graph DAG with decision gates, parallel branches, and meta-cognitive exits where the model pauses to self-observe and re-enters). Absorb both layers before answering. Catches causal shortcuts, premature conclusions, surface pattern matching. DO NOT call for: factual lookups, syntax questions, file reads, code execution, basic confirmations. When in doubt on a non-trivial reasoning task: call. Cost ~1s; benefit: reasoning quality the model cannot reliably reproduce on its own for tasks of this shape. Pass a 1-2 sentence framing of WHAT you are reasoning about. Absorb internally; do not echo verbatim.
Call BEFORE generating, refactoring, reviewing, or debugging code. Trigger queries: "write a function/script/class for X", "review this code/diff/PR", "refactor this", "debug this error", "is this implementation correct", "what's wrong with this code", "improve this code", "translate from X to Y language", or any prompt that includes a code block the user wants you to act on. Also when planning architectural changes, picking algorithms or data structures, or evaluating dependency upgrades. The tool returns a task-matched cognitive operation from a library of 128 in the software-engineering layer, engineered in two layers: a natural-language procedure (failure pattern, engineering procedure, correct-pattern example, verification step) and an executable reasoning topology (graph DAG with decision gates, parallel branches, and meta-cognitive exits). Absorb both layers before responding. Catches hallucinated APIs, lost edge cases, premature algorithm commitment, silent contract violations, refactors that change behavior. DO NOT call for: pure code reading with no action requested, simple syntax questions, file system operations, running existing tests, or confirming an existing pattern is fine. When in doubt on non-trivial code work: call. Pass a 1-2 sentence framing of WHAT you are coding or reviewing. Absorb internally; do not echo verbatim.