Resolve

Wherefore: resolve

Close out an open question by updating its individual file in wherefore/questions/, recording what was decided, why, and which discussion (if any) contains the full context. The file's frontmatter is the single source of truth.

No em dashes. Periods, commas, colons, semicolons, or parentheses instead. Firm project rule.

Never delete anything under a wherefore/ data dir. Retire, do not delete.

Frontmatter safety

When you fill resolution, emit it as a double-quoted, single-line string, escaping embedded " as \" and \ as \\. An unquoted value containing : (colon-space) or a leading -, #, [, {, or " makes YAML misparse and crashes the dashboard viewer. If the answer will not fit on one line, keep resolution to a one-line summary and move detail into a ## Resolution body section. status and resolution_slug need no quotes.

Workflow

1. Find the question. Files are named Q-NNN-short-slug.md (ID prefix plus a scannable slug), so glob by the ID rather than assuming the exact name: ls wherefore/questions/Q-042-*.md wherefore/questions/Q-042.md 2>/dev/null (the second path catches any legacy file still named Q-NNN.md). Expect exactly one match; open it. If nothing matches, say so clearly. To list what is open, dump the question frontmatter and filter status: open:

   for f in wherefore/questions/Q-*.md; do
     awk -v F="$f" 'BEGIN{print "=== " F " ==="}
       /^---[[:space:]]*$/ { n++; if (n==2) exit; next }
       n==1 { print }' "$f"
   done
   

   Confirm the target's current status. If status: resolved, tell the user and show the existing resolution; don't overwrite it.

2. Get the resolution. Ask the user (or extract from context if they already provided it):

   • Answer: what was decided, in one sentence.
   • Why: the rationale or constraint that drove it, in one or two sentences. This is the part that matters months later; don't skip it.
   • Source discussion (optional): a discussion slug if the answer came out of a logged discussion. The user can name it, or you can check whether they just ran the capture skill and a fresh entry exists. If no wherefore entry captures it, the resolution is standalone.

3. Update the question file (wherefore/questions/Q-NNN-short-slug.md). Edit the frontmatter in place:

   • Set status: resolved
   • Fill in resolution with a one-sentence answer (and the why, if concise enough to fit; otherwise put it in a ## Resolution body section below the frontmatter). Quote it per Frontmatter safety.
   • Set resolution_slug to the source discussion slug, or leave blank if standalone

4. Update the source wherefore entry (if applicable). If the resolution came from a specific wherefore entry, open wherefore/log/<slug>.md and add a note in its "Open questions / follow-ups" section next to the relevant item, linking the question with a relative Markdown link (per AGENTS.md "Linking"): - Q-042: <question text> (resolved, see [Q-042](../questions/Q-042-<slug>.md))

5. Report back. Show:

   • The question text and its ID
   • The answer recorded
   • Which files were touched
   • Whether any related questions still open share the same areas (dump the question frontmatter to check), as a nudge; don't resolve them automatically
   • Plan items this resolution touches. Dump wherefore/plan/P-*.md frontmatter (resolve reads only question_ref, answers, and status and writes nothing to plan/). Skip any item whose status is dropped; a dropped item is not waiting on anything. Then:
     • Unblocked: items whose question_ref is the ID you just resolved just became unblocked. Tell the user; do not change their status. The item stays where it is until someone advances it through the slate skill.
     • Answered: items whose answers is that ID just accomplished their purpose (the spike that was investigating it). Report them and offer to advance them to done through the slate skill. Do not advance them silently, and do not advance them here yourself.
     • Break the loop: if the slate skill drove this resolve (its advance intent handed off here to close the question a finishing spike answered), suppress the offer to advance those items. slate is already advancing the item; offering to advance it back would loop. This mirrors how slate advance suppresses its capture offer when capture is the driver. Reading plan/ here does not compromise slate's sole ownership of it; nothing is written.

Examples

Example 1: resolution from a new discussion User: "Mark Q-001 resolved: we decided to use zero-rated VAT for EU digital goods. We discussed it in the entry we just logged, 2026-07-01-eu-vat-strategy." Action: find the file (ls wherefore/questions/Q-001-*.md) and edit it (status -> resolved, resolution filled, resolution_slug set), update that wherefore entry to note the question is resolved. Report both files touched.

Example 2: standalone resolution User: "Close Q-007. We're not doing offline sync this quarter, pushed to Q3." Action: edit the Q-007 file (wherefore/questions/Q-007-*.md) (status -> resolved, resolution filled, resolution_slug left blank). No wherefore entry to update. Report the file touched.

Example 3: question not found User: "Resolve Q-099" Action: no wherefore/questions/Q-099-*.md matches. Respond: "Q-099 wasn't found in wherefore/questions/. Check the ID; I can list the open questions if that helps."

Example 4: already resolved User: "Mark Q-002 resolved" Action: open the Q-002 file (wherefore/questions/Q-002-*.md); status is already resolved. Show the recorded resolution date and text and make no changes, e.g. "Q-002 was resolved on 2026-06-24: zero-rated VAT for EU digital goods. No changes made."