Route

MasterMind — Wayfinder

The front door of substantive work: decide what to load before you start, so you pull the 1–2 things a task needs instead of reading the whole brain. It's the skill that operationalizes MasterMind's token economy (~/.mastermind/engineering/active-field.md) — and it knows when not to run.

Method

1. Name the destination. One line: what is this task actually producing? Scope before routing.
2. Refuse to over-plan. If it's a one-line diff, a typo, or obviously covered by what's already in context — say "no map needed, just do it" and exit. Ceremony on a trivial task is waste (this is the same instinct as ~/.mastermind/engineering/core/rigor.md's refuse-list and "keep the always-on layer tiny").
3. Detect the field — package.json/configs/file types (usually free and decisive).
4. Build the load manifest — links, never summaries. Consult ~/.mastermind/engineering/ROUTER.md and pick, by matching the task to each node's route_when:
   • which field-pack file(s) to load (and their token cost — budget it),
   • which skill(s) fit — pick from the index at ~/.mastermind/skills/README.md (which also names the isolated-context agents in ~/.mastermind/agents/); never route off a remembered list,
   • which core docs the task genuinely needs (mindset/principles/rigor/agent-loop/product-sense in ~/.mastermind/engineering/core/),
   • which codebase areas to read first. The manifest points to files to open; it never paraphrases them (so it can't drift out of sync).
5. Load progressively. For a big/foggy task, load the entrance set only; name the next files after the first decisions resolve. Don't front-load context you won't use.

Rules

• The manifest is a list of things to load, not a plan of work. Wayfinder chooses what knowledge to bring; the actual building is build (which can call this first).
• Never load a file "just in case." Every entry earns its tokens or it's cut.
• If ROUTER.md is missing/stale, fall back to the active field's engineering/fields/<field>/field.md load-on-demand map — routing is a speed-up, never a dependency.

Gotchas

• Don't build a ticket/issue system. Wayfinder routes knowledge for one session; it is not a project tracker. Keep it to a load manifest.
• Over-routing is as bad as under-routing. A three-file task doesn't need a map — the refuse step is a feature, not a formality.
• Points, never restates. The moment the manifest starts summarizing a doc's contents, it will drift and lie. Link to the file; let the reader load the source of truth.