Reduce to facts

reduce-to-facts

Purpose

Turn dense workplace source material into a fact ledger the user can trust before moving to a reply, decision, or action.

When to use

Use this when the context is too long, ambiguous, stakeholder-sensitive, high-stakes, contradictory, or too important to act on safely from a normal summary.

When not to use

Do not use this for simple short threads where brief-me, clear-ask, or follow-up-draft can act directly.

Output size rule

Default to a compact ledger with only the sections needed for the source.

Use the full ledger only when the source is dense, high-stakes, contradictory, or the user explicitly asks for a full fact ledger.

• Omit empty optional sections for compact outputs.
• For dense or high-stakes sources, include all major sections.
• Use "None surfaced in the reviewed source" only when that absence is itself useful.

For short inputs, include:

• Source scope
• Atomic facts
• Open questions
• Action-relevant implications
• Suggested next skill

Portable Output Contract

• Use only the useful subset of source-backed facts, assumptions, source gaps, stakeholder sensitivities, potential misreads, and the suggested next action.
• Use the smallest useful output.
• Label assumptions and preserve source gaps, source anchors, and confidence labels.
• Do not promote an assumption, inference, open question, proposed action, or stakeholder position into a fact, decision, commitment, owner, or deadline without new source support.
• Keep unresolved approvals, owners, timing, and blockers explicit.
• Do not send, publish, update tickets, create events, or mutate systems unless explicitly asked.

Source Mode

Default to source-only mode.

Switch to source-expanded mode only when the user explicitly asks to verify, fact-check, expand sources, support claims, refute claims, or use outside sources.

Source-Only Mode

• Use only the supplied source material.
• Do not verify externally.
• Do not treat supplied material as true by default.
• Separate directly stated claims from implied, assumed, or unsupported claims.
• Use source anchors from the supplied material.

Source-Expanded Mode

• Use only when explicitly asked.
• Keep the source-only ledger logic.
• Add outside evidence only where authorized.
• Do not pretend to have checked sources that were not actually checked.
• Distinguish exact support from support in substance.
• Do not use related evidence as proof of a specific claim.
• Do not collapse contested claims into facts.
• Include citations, links, or source anchors when supported.
• If tools are unavailable, say so and keep the claim unverified.

Inputs

• Long threads
• Dense memos
• Policy docs
• Vendor writeups
• Strategy notes
• Research notes
• Customer escalations
• Transcripts
• Similar source material

Guardrails

• Read before write.
• Do not summarize loosely.
• Do not smooth over uncertainty.
• Do not invent missing support.
• Do not collapse facts, opinions, and assumptions.
• Do not upgrade "supported in substance" to "supported exactly."
• Do not write a reply by default.
• Do not recommend a decision by default.
• Do not send, publish, update tickets, create events, or mutate systems unless explicitly asked.
• Preserve uncertainty when the source is ambiguous.

Process

• Identify the source scope first.
• Create local anchors when the source does not provide them, such as line numbers, timestamps, speaker labels, file names, or section names.
• Extract only source-supported claims.
• Treat "X said Y" as a fact about the statement, not proof that Y is true.
• Move weakly supported claims into Unsupported or Under-Supported Claims.
• Label reasoning beyond the source as Inference.
• Keep implications as constraints, not final recommendations.

Confidence Rubric

• High: directly stated with a clear anchor, or supported by multiple consistent anchors.
• Medium: directly stated but context is incomplete, wording is ambiguous, or only one source supports it.
• Low: implied, secondhand, weakly supported, or dependent on missing context.

Claim Status Table

Use this table in source-expanded mode, or whenever you need to show which claims got stronger, weaker, contested, or unverified after outside evidence.

Claim	Status	Evidence	Caveat

Status meanings:

• Supported exactly: the source says this directly, with matching wording or a direct equivalent.
• Supported in substance: the source backs the core point, but the exact wording is broader or sharper than the source.
• Partly supported: part of the claim is source-backed, but part of it is not.
• Contested: sources disagree.
• Overstated: the claim reaches beyond what the evidence can support.
• Unsupported: no source support found.
• Refuted: available evidence cuts against the claim.
• Unverified: not checked, or not enough evidence was found.

Do not upgrade "supported in substance" to "supported exactly."

Rhetorical Leaps

• Show the move from exact wording to broader implication.
• Keep evidence, interpretation, and persuasion separate.
• A quote or denial can support a concern without supporting the strongest version of that concern.
• If a source step is rhetorical rather than evidentiary, label it as such.
• Do not dismiss the source; explain the leap.

Fact Ledger

Source Scope

• Source(s) reviewed:
• Source type:
• Time period covered:
• Known limitations:
• Missing context:

Atomic Facts

Use a table:

ID	Fact	Source anchor	Confidence	Notes

Rules:

• Facts must be atomic.
• Do not combine multiple claims into one fact.
• Use direct source anchors when available: section, paragraph, timestamp, speaker, file name, page, or quoted phrase.
• Confidence values: High / Medium / Low.
• If source anchors are unavailable, say so.

Attributed Opinions / Positions

Use a table:

ID	Who/Source	Position	Basis	Confidence

Rules:

• Opinions must be attributed.
• Do not convert opinions into facts.
• Include stakeholder positions, preferences, concerns, and proposed direction.

Unsupported or Under-Supported Claims

Use a table:

ID	Claim	Why unsupported	Evidence needed

Rules:

• Include claims that sound important but lack source support.
• Include obvious-sounding assumptions if they are not actually supported by the provided source.

Inferences

Use a table:

ID	Inference	Based on	Risk if wrong

Rules:

• Inferences are allowed, but must be explicitly labeled.
• Link each inference to facts or source material.
• Do not present inference as fact.

Contradictions / Tensions

Use a table:

ID	Conflict	Sources involved	Needs resolution

Rules:

• Include hard contradictions and softer tensions.
• Include cases where one section implies readiness but another suggests a blocker.

Open Questions

Use a table:

ID	Question	Why it matters	Likely owner

Rules:

• Focus on questions that block action, decision, reply, or confidence.

Action-Relevant Implications

Use bullets.

Rules:

• These are implications, not decisions.
• Do not recommend a final decision unless the user explicitly asks.
• End this section with: "Do not treat these implications as final decisions."

Suggested Next Skill

Recommend one downstream skill:

• clear-ask if the next problem is clarifying what someone wants.
• decision-brief if the next problem is choosing between options.
• status-update if the next problem is communicating what changed.
• follow-up-draft if the next problem is replying safely.
• meeting-to-actions if the next problem is extracting owners/actions.
• brief-me if the user needs a fast catch-up.

If a named downstream skill is unavailable in the host assistant, describe the next step in plain language instead of pretending the skill can be invoked.

Success Standard

The user should be able to trust the fact ledger as a clean substrate for the next step. In source-expanded mode, the user should also be able to see which claims got stronger, weaker, stayed contested, or remained unverified after outside evidence was checked.