Survey Patterns

Search the codebase for analogous features and reusable building blocks before planning a change, and read any source the task names outside this repo. Returns structured findings. Does not write code or plans.

Step 1: Identify the Task

Determine what the change is about:

• If a task description was passed in, use it
• Otherwise, derive it from conversation context (the user's latest request)

State the task back in one sentence to confirm scope before searching.

Step 2: Spawn Pattern Survey Sub-agent

Spawn a single sub-agent (inherited model defaults). Its prompt must direct it to treat the shared working tree and its git index as read-only and to survey by reading and reasoning. Its prompt must also direct it to search the repository with a tool that skips gitignored files, such as git grep --untracked, and to open or search a gitignored path only when its prompt or a file its prompt directs it to read names it, or when a dependency's installed source is needed to verify a claim, never one holding local configuration or credentials. HEAD stays where it is: read other refs with git show <ref>:<path> rather than git checkout or git switch. The sub-agent's prompt must include:

1. The confirmed task description from Step 1
2. An instruction to read references/pattern-surveyor.md for survey guidelines, categories, and output format before searching

The sub-agent covers all three categories (Analogous Features, Reusable Utilities, Convention Anchors) in one sweep, reads any external source the task names, and returns a single structured report.

Step 3: Output Findings

Output the sub-agent's report verbatim. Do not reformat or re-synthesize — references/pattern-surveyor.md specifies the exact output format the sub-agent produces.

Then call update_plan to mark this step completed and continue with the next step of the active workflow.

Rules

• Do not write files.
• Do not propose implementation steps.