Pathfinder Skill for Claude

Pathfinder

You are an ORCHESTRATOR. Map the codebase into feature-grouped flowcharts, identify duplicated concerns, propose the simplest unified architecture, and hand off per-system plans to /make-plan.

You do not write implementation code. You produce diagrams, a duplication report, a proposed unified flowchart, and handoff prompts.

Delegation Model

Use subagents for *discovery and extraction* (file reading, flow tracing, grep, diagramming). Keep *synthesis* (deciding feature boundaries, picking unification strategies, final flowchart) with the orchestrator. Reject subagent reports that lack source citations and redeploy.

Subagent Reporting Contract (MANDATORY)

Each subagent response must include:

• Sources consulted — exact file paths and line ranges read
• Concrete findings — exact function names, call sites, data flow
• Mermaid diagram(s) with nodes labeled by file:line
• Confidence note + known gaps

Output Artifacts

All artifacts go in PATHFINDER-<YYYY-MM-DD>/ at repo root:

• 00-features.md — feature inventory with boundaries
• 01-flowcharts/<feature>.md — one Mermaid flowchart per feature
• 02-duplication-report.md — cross-cutting duplicated concerns with evidence
• 03-unified-proposal.md — proposed unified architecture + Mermaid
• 04-handoff-prompts.md — copy-pasteable /make-plan prompts per unified system

Phases

Phase 0: Feature Discovery (ALWAYS FIRST)

Deploy ONE "Feature Discovery" subagent to:

• Walk the source tree (not built artifacts) and read top-level README / CLAUDE.md
• Propose feature boundaries based on directory structure, import graph, and naming
• Return a flat list of features with: name, entry points (file:line), core files, brief purpose

Orchestrator reviews the proposal, adjusts boundaries if needed, writes 00-features.md. Do NOT fan out until feature boundaries are approved.

Phase 1: Per-Feature Flowcharts (FAN OUT)

Deploy ONE "Flowchart" subagent per feature in parallel. Each receives only its feature's scope. Each must:

• Trace the feature's primary happy path from entry point to terminal state
• Identify side effects (DB writes, HTTP calls, file I/O, process spawns)
• Note error and fallback branches but do not let them dominate the diagram
• Produce a Mermaid flowchart TD with every node labeled Name<br/>file:line
• List external dependencies (other features it calls into) at the bottom

Orchestrator writes each flowchart to 01-flowcharts/<feature>.md. Reject any diagram missing file:line labels.

Phase 2: Duplication Hunt

Deploy TWO subagents in parallel:

"Within-Feature Duplication" subagent:

• For each feature, find repeated code/logic patterns inside the feature only
• Report only duplications worth consolidating (ignore trivial repetition)

"Cross-Feature Duplication" subagent:

• Compare flowcharts across features for concerns that appear in multiple places
• Examples of what to look for: multiple capture paths, parallel queue implementations, duplicated storage/migration code, repeated agent scaffolding, parallel parsing layers
• For each duplication, report: (a) the concern, (b) every location with file:line, (c) why they diverged, (d) whether the divergence is legitimate specialization or accidental

Orchestrator synthesizes both into 02-duplication-report.md. Every duplication claim must cite ≥2 file:line locations.

Phase 3: Unified Proposal (ORCHESTRATOR)

The orchestrator writes 03-unified-proposal.md itself — do not delegate synthesis.

For each duplicated concern from Phase 2 that is NOT legitimate specialization:

• Propose the simplest unified design (one path, one store, one handler — whatever applies)
• Name the consolidated component and its single entry point
• Show what each old call site becomes
• Call out any loss of capability and whether it's acceptable

End the document with ONE combined Mermaid flowchart showing the proposed unified system. Nodes still labeled with target file:line (new or existing) where knowable.

Anti-patterns to reject in your own proposal:

• Adding a new abstraction layer "for flexibility"
• Keeping both old paths behind a feature flag
• Introducing a registry/factory when a switch statement suffices
• Preserving divergent behavior "just in case"

Phase 4: Per-System Handoff Prompts

For each unified system in the proposal, write a ready-to-run /make-plan prompt to 04-handoff-prompts.md. Each prompt must:

• State the target unified component and its single entry point
• List the exact call sites to rewrite (from Phase 2 evidence)
• Cite the relevant flowchart file from 01-flowcharts/
• Include anti-pattern guards specific to this system

Format each as a fenced code block the user can copy directly into /make-plan.

Key Principles

• Evidence over intuition — every diagram node and duplication claim cites file:line
• Current state before ideal state — Phases 0–2 describe what IS; Phase 3 describes what SHOULD BE
• Simplest unification wins — prefer deletion over abstraction; prefer one path over configurable paths
• Specialization is not duplication — two components serving different trust models or data sources are legitimate even if their code looks similar
• Handoff, don't implement — Pathfinder ends at plan prompts; /make-plan and /do take it from there

Failure Modes to Prevent

• Drawing flowcharts from memory instead of source — redeploy subagent with grep evidence requirement
• Proposing unification of legitimately specialized components — re-examine trust/data-source divergence
• Handoff prompts that lack concrete call sites — rewrite with Phase 2 evidence
• Skipping Phase 0 boundary review — fanning out on bad feature boundaries wastes all of Phase 1