chhoumann · Oct 15, 2026 · Oct 15, 2026 · Oct 15, 2026
diff --git a/.claude-plugin/marketplace.json b/.claude-plugin/marketplace.json
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
       "name": "t3-pstack",
       "source": "./plugins/pstack",
       "description": "pstack for T3 Code: rigorous agent workflows whose panels and fan-outs run across model families through T3. Original pstack by Lauren Tan (poteto).",
-      "version": "2.0.0-rc.4"
+      "version": "2.0.0-rc.5"
     }
   ]
 }
diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
@@ -2,6 +2,18 @@
 
 This file is the release changelog, with one `## <version> - <title>` entry per release, newest first. The Cursor-to-T3 rewrite rules live in [`tools/substitutions.json`](tools/substitutions.json), and the [sync boundary](CONTRIBUTING.md#the-sync-boundary) in `CONTRIBUTING.md` defines how a change to upstream's skill content is declared.
 
+## 2.0.0-rc.5 - Lauren's `e5136d8`: four principles restated as reasoning
+
+t3-pstack moves to Lauren Tan's pstack at cursor/plugins `e5136d8` for all three components. Only pstack changed upstream, and its version stays 0.15.25: four principles that banned or prescribed specific mechanisms now state the idea an agent derives each call from ([pstack #633](https://github.com/cursor/plugins/pull/633)). `poteto-mode`'s principles index and `/correct`'s test step follow. `bun tools/sync.mjs` wrote the four principle leaves and `/correct` cleanly, and merged `poteto-mode` around its declared fork's four rules with no conflict. No rule anchors on the changed text, so the port's diff to these six files is upstream's line for line. At `e5136d8` each component's dry run reports no undeclared fork, no denylist hit, and no substitution that matches nothing. Upstream's README and guide changes fall under paths the port excludes, and neither hooks file changes.
+
+| Change | 2.0.0-rc.4 | 2.0.0-rc.5 | Source |
+| --- | --- | --- | --- |
+| Test Behavior, Not Implementation | A test calls the code as its users do and asserts the exact result they see. Five assertion shapes fail, among them `toBeDefined` and `toHaveBeenCalled`, and a test that would pass if every imported function returned `undefined` is rewritten or deleted. | A test asserts what the code's users can observe. Judge it against two imagined edits: it must fail when the behavior breaks and keep passing when only the internals change. The contract decides, not the assertion's shape, so an absence check or a mock payload can be behavior. | pstack #633 |
+| Fix Root Causes | Reproduce, ask why until the root cause, and never add a guard, since a nil check that silences a crash is a symptom fix. | The root cause is the first place the system went wrong. A guard is the fix when the state it handles is legitimate, and hides the bug when that state should never exist. | pstack #633 |
+| Attack the Premise | After two failed fixes on one premise, take a per-actor census of the imbalance before the next fix, and rotate or move the role the skew reveals. | Write the premise down and test it with an observation that would differ if it were false, then follow the evidence. The census and the actor framing are gone. | pstack #633 |
+| Make Operations Idempotent | Four prescribed patterns: convergent startup, content-based cleanup, PID-based stale locks, idempotent scheduling. | Derive each step from the state that exists and apply only the difference. Anything a run leaves behind must be recognizable as stale by the next run, wherever the previous one stopped. | pstack #633 |
+| `/correct` test step | Fix or delete a test that would pass if every function it calls returned nothing. | Fix or delete a test that passes when the behavior it checks breaks, or fails when only the internals change. | pstack #633 |
+
 ## 2.0.0-rc.4 - Lauren's 0.15.25: `/ketchup` explains changes with pictures
 
 t3-pstack moves to Lauren Tan's pstack 0.15.25, cursor/plugins `6ce45c5`, for all three components. Only pstack changed upstream: `/ketchup` now helps the user understand each change, not only where it stands ([pstack #628](https://github.com/cursor/plugins/pull/628)), and the version moves to 0.15.25 ([pstack #614](https://github.com/cursor/plugins/pull/614)). `bun tools/sync.mjs` wrote the `/ketchup` change cleanly. Its three rules, `html_render` for upstream's `/visualize` and the T3 state checks, each still match once. At `6ce45c5` each component's dry run reports no undeclared fork, no denylist hit, and no substitution that matches nothing. The version bump touches only upstream's `plugin.json` files, which the port excludes, and neither hooks file changes.

diff --git a/NOTICE-skills.md b/NOTICE-skills.md
@@ -4,9 +4,9 @@ This plugin contains MIT-licensed work from five sources. The copyright notices
 
 | Included work | Upstream | Copyright | License |
 | --- | --- | --- | --- |
-| The pstack skills, principles, scripts, and the `poteto-agent` and `comment-sicko` definitions | [cursor/plugins/pstack](https://github.com/cursor/plugins/tree/6ce45c59b9301a638c1fe1a7b8dc2a82b650898f/pstack) | (c) 2026 Lauren Tan | [MIT](LICENSE) |
-| `deslop`, `make-pr-easy-to-review`, `fix-ci`, `fix-merge-conflicts`, `get-pr-comments`, and `what-did-i-get-done` | [cursor/plugins/cursor-team-kit](https://github.com/cursor/plugins/tree/6ce45c59b9301a638c1fe1a7b8dc2a82b650898f/cursor-team-kit) | (c) 2026 Cursor | [MIT](LICENSE-cursor-team-kit) |
-| `thermos`, `thermo-nuclear-review`, `thermo-nuclear-code-quality-review`, and the `thermo-nuclear-review-subagent` and `thermo-nuclear-code-quality-review-subagent` definitions | [cursor/plugins/thermos](https://github.com/cursor/plugins/tree/6ce45c59b9301a638c1fe1a7b8dc2a82b650898f/thermos) | (c) 2026 Cursor | [MIT](LICENSE-thermos) |
+| The pstack skills, principles, scripts, and the `poteto-agent` and `comment-sicko` definitions | [cursor/plugins/pstack](https://github.com/cursor/plugins/tree/e5136d82418d2db3165ea1050d17577cd618cc05/pstack) | (c) 2026 Lauren Tan | [MIT](LICENSE) |
+| `deslop`, `make-pr-easy-to-review`, `fix-ci`, `fix-merge-conflicts`, `get-pr-comments`, and `what-did-i-get-done` | [cursor/plugins/cursor-team-kit](https://github.com/cursor/plugins/tree/e5136d82418d2db3165ea1050d17577cd618cc05/cursor-team-kit) | (c) 2026 Cursor | [MIT](LICENSE-cursor-team-kit) |
+| `thermos`, `thermo-nuclear-review`, `thermo-nuclear-code-quality-review`, and the `thermo-nuclear-review-subagent` and `thermo-nuclear-code-quality-review-subagent` definitions | [cursor/plugins/thermos](https://github.com/cursor/plugins/tree/e5136d82418d2db3165ea1050d17577cd618cc05/thermos) | (c) 2026 Cursor | [MIT](LICENSE-thermos) |
 | The session-start hook scripts, `read-sheet.sh`, and `reflect/scripts/find-transcript.mjs`, which t3-pstack modified, and four `poteto-mode` rules, the worktree and head-guard rules in the Feature, Opening a PR, and Shipping playbooks, and three `watch-pr` fixes, which t3-pstack reworded or adapted for T3 | [michael-denyer/pstack-claude](https://github.com/michael-denyer/pstack-claude) | (c) 2026 Michael Denyer | [MIT](LICENSE) |
 | `poteto-mode/scripts/resolve-codex-transcript` and `resolve-codex-transcript.ts`, which t3-pstack modified | [ericlitman/open-pstack](https://github.com/ericlitman/open-pstack/tree/c5c8e237c324359a3d1929037da78fe66da3d1ed/plugins/pstack/skills/poteto-mode/scripts), [PR #151](https://github.com/ericlitman/open-pstack/pull/151) | (c) 2026 Eric A. Litman and Donncha O'Toole | [MIT](LICENSE) |
 

diff --git a/NOTICE.md b/NOTICE.md
@@ -6,9 +6,9 @@ t3-pstack is a port of [pstack](https://github.com/cursor/plugins/tree/main/psta
 
 | Component | Upstream | Copyright | License | License file |
 | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
-| Every skill under `plugins/pstack/skills/` except those named in the next two rows, `plugins/pstack/agents/poteto-agent.md`, `plugins/pstack/agents/comment-sicko.md`, and the vendored scripts under `plugins/pstack/skills/poteto-mode/scripts/` | [cursor/plugins/pstack @ 6ce45c5](https://github.com/cursor/plugins/tree/6ce45c59b9301a638c1fe1a7b8dc2a82b650898f/pstack) | (c) 2026 Lauren Tan | MIT | [LICENSE](LICENSE) |
-| `plugins/pstack/skills/{deslop,fix-ci,fix-merge-conflicts,get-pr-comments,make-pr-easy-to-review,what-did-i-get-done}/` | [cursor/plugins/cursor-team-kit @ 6ce45c5](https://github.com/cursor/plugins/tree/6ce45c59b9301a638c1fe1a7b8dc2a82b650898f/cursor-team-kit) | (c) 2026 Cursor | MIT | [LICENSE-cursor-team-kit](LICENSE-cursor-team-kit) |
-| `plugins/pstack/skills/{thermos,thermo-nuclear-review,thermo-nuclear-code-quality-review}/`, `plugins/pstack/agents/thermo-nuclear-review-subagent.md`, `plugins/pstack/agents/thermo-nuclear-code-quality-review-subagent.md` | [cursor/plugins/thermos @ 6ce45c5](https://github.com/cursor/plugins/tree/6ce45c59b9301a638c1fe1a7b8dc2a82b650898f/thermos) | (c) 2026 Cursor | MIT | [LICENSE-thermos](LICENSE-thermos) |
+| Every skill under `plugins/pstack/skills/` except those named in the next two rows, `plugins/pstack/agents/poteto-agent.md`, `plugins/pstack/agents/comment-sicko.md`, and the vendored scripts under `plugins/pstack/skills/poteto-mode/scripts/` | [cursor/plugins/pstack @ e5136d8](https://github.com/cursor/plugins/tree/e5136d82418d2db3165ea1050d17577cd618cc05/pstack) | (c) 2026 Lauren Tan | MIT | [LICENSE](LICENSE) |
+| `plugins/pstack/skills/{deslop,fix-ci,fix-merge-conflicts,get-pr-comments,make-pr-easy-to-review,what-did-i-get-done}/` | [cursor/plugins/cursor-team-kit @ e5136d8](https://github.com/cursor/plugins/tree/e5136d82418d2db3165ea1050d17577cd618cc05/cursor-team-kit) | (c) 2026 Cursor | MIT | [LICENSE-cursor-team-kit](LICENSE-cursor-team-kit) |
+| `plugins/pstack/skills/{thermos,thermo-nuclear-review,thermo-nuclear-code-quality-review}/`, `plugins/pstack/agents/thermo-nuclear-review-subagent.md`, `plugins/pstack/agents/thermo-nuclear-code-quality-review-subagent.md` | [cursor/plugins/thermos @ e5136d8](https://github.com/cursor/plugins/tree/e5136d82418d2db3165ea1050d17577cd618cc05/thermos) | (c) 2026 Cursor | MIT | [LICENSE-thermos](LICENSE-thermos) |
 | `tools/sync.mjs`, `tools/generate.mjs`, `tools/validate-skills.mjs`, `tools/plugin.mjs`, `plugins/pstack/skills/reflect/scripts/find-transcript.mjs`, `plugins/pstack/hooks/session-start.sh`, `plugins/pstack/hooks/session-start.ps1`, `plugins/pstack/skills/setup-pstack/scripts/read-sheet.sh`, and the tests that cover them, each modified by t3-pstack | [michael-denyer/pstack-claude](https://github.com/michael-denyer/pstack-claude), as merged into t3-pstack through 1.0.14 | (c) 2026 Michael Denyer | MIT | [LICENSE](LICENSE) |
 | Four rules in `plugins/pstack/skills/poteto-mode/SKILL.md` (load a platform's skill before deploying, stop an abandoned agent and confirm it stopped, keep a review gate closed with no independent reviewer, the `todo.md` fallback), the per-delegate worktree rule in `playbooks/feature.md`, the stop-live-agents rule in `playbooks/opening-a-pr.md`, the `--match-head-commit` guard in `playbooks/shipping.md`, and the review-gate, stale-check, and no-checks fixes in `plugins/pstack/skills/poteto-mode/scripts/watch-pr/` with their tests in `verdicts.test.ts`, each reworded or adapted for T3 by t3-pstack | [michael-denyer/pstack-claude](https://github.com/michael-denyer/pstack-claude), pull requests [#95](https://github.com/michael-denyer/pstack-claude/pull/95), [#97](https://github.com/michael-denyer/pstack-claude/pull/97), and [#153](https://github.com/michael-denyer/pstack-claude/pull/153) for watch-pr | (c) 2026 Michael Denyer | MIT | [LICENSE](LICENSE) |
 | `plugins/pstack/skills/poteto-mode/scripts/resolve-codex-transcript` (verbatim) and `resolve-codex-transcript.ts` (modified, see below), `tests/resolve-codex-transcript.test.mjs` (ported from its `resolve-codex-transcript.test.ts`) | [ericlitman/open-pstack @ c5c8e23](https://github.com/ericlitman/open-pstack/tree/c5c8e237c324359a3d1929037da78fe66da3d1ed/plugins/pstack/skills/poteto-mode/scripts), [PR #151](https://github.com/ericlitman/open-pstack/pull/151) | (c) 2026 Eric A. Litman and Donncha O'Toole | MIT | [LICENSE](LICENSE) |

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ npx -y github:chhoumann/t3-pstack update
 npx -y github:chhoumann/t3-pstack doctor
 ```
 
-`npx -y github:chhoumann/t3-pstack` runs the installer from the latest commit on `main`. That is the rolling channel, the same one each home's marketplace auto-updates from. To run one release's installer, name its tag, as in `npx -y github:chhoumann/t3-pstack#v2.0.0-rc.4 doctor`.
+`npx -y github:chhoumann/t3-pstack` runs the installer from the latest commit on `main`. That is the rolling channel, the same one each home's marketplace auto-updates from. To run one release's installer, name its tag, as in `npx -y github:chhoumann/t3-pstack#v2.0.0-rc.5 doctor`.
 
 `install` and `update` are the same command, and a second run changes nothing. With Node 20 or later, it installs or updates the `t3-pstack@t3-pstack` plugin in every Claude Code and Codex config home T3 can run: `~/.claude` and `~/.codex`, `$CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR` and `$CODEX_HOME`, and the home of each `claudeAgent` and `codex` instance in T3's settings, disabled ones included. Name any other home with `--claude-home <dir>` or `--codex-home <dir>`. Each home's `t3-pstack` marketplace must come from `chhoumann/t3-pstack`, or from `--source <owner/repo|git URL|dir>` on the same run, and a home whose marketplace has another source is left as it is. A local directory needs a path such as `./t3-pstack`, since `owner/repo` always means GitHub. On Codex it also trusts t3-pstack's session-start hook, once its hooks file is the one this release pins. Codex runs a plugin's hook only once it is trusted, and T3's Codex sessions never ask, so without this step the hook never runs. Run `update` after each release.
 
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ The plugin carries 62 skill directories, 24 of them `principle-*` leaves, and 4
 
 ## Staying current
 
-This repository syncs from Lauren's tree directly, synced against upstream `6ce45c5`. `tools/upstream.json` pins each component, `tools/substitutions.json` holds the rewrite rules and a denylist of Cursor terms, and `tools/forks.json` declares every file the port keeps in its own form and why. `bun tools/sync.mjs <component> <sha>` derives each upstream file through the rules, merges it three ways with the port's copy, and fails on an undeclared fork, a denylist hit, or a rule that no longer matches upstream. [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md#the-sync-boundary) has the details.
+This repository syncs from Lauren's tree directly, synced against upstream `e5136d8`. `tools/upstream.json` pins each component, `tools/substitutions.json` holds the rewrite rules and a denylist of Cursor terms, and `tools/forks.json` declares every file the port keeps in its own form and why. `bun tools/sync.mjs <component> <sha>` derives each upstream file through the rules, merges it three ways with the port's copy, and fails on an undeclared fork, a denylist hit, or a rule that no longer matches upstream. [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md#the-sync-boundary) has the details.
 
 ## Data handling
 

diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-2.0.0-rc.4
+2.0.0-rc.5
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "name": "t3-pstack",
   "private": true,
-  "version": "2.0.0-rc.4",
+  "version": "2.0.0-rc.5",
   "description": "The installer and development tooling for t3-pstack, Lauren Tan's pstack rewritten in place for T3 Code. The plugin itself lives in plugins/pstack.",
   "author": {
     "name": "Christian Bager Bach Houmann",

diff --git a/plugins/pstack/.claude-plugin/plugin.json b/plugins/pstack/.claude-plugin/plugin.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "name": "t3-pstack",
   "displayName": "t3-pstack (pstack for T3 Code)",
-  "version": "2.0.0-rc.4",
+  "version": "2.0.0-rc.5",
   "description": "pstack for T3 Code: Lauren Tan's pstack with its Cursor mechanics rewritten in place for T3, so subagents, panels, schedules, and PR watches dispatch through T3's orchestration and panels mix Claude, GPT, and Grok.",
   "author": {
     "name": "Christian Bager Bach Houmann",

diff --git a/plugins/pstack/.codex-plugin/plugin.json b/plugins/pstack/.codex-plugin/plugin.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "t3-pstack",
-  "version": "2.0.0-rc.4",
+  "version": "2.0.0-rc.5",
   "description": "pstack for T3 Code on a Codex host: Lauren Tan's pstack with its Cursor mechanics rewritten in place for T3, so subagents, panels, schedules, and PR watches dispatch through T3's orchestration.",
   "author": {
     "name": "Christian Bager Bach Houmann",

diff --git a/plugins/pstack/skills/correct/SKILL.md b/plugins/pstack/skills/correct/SKILL.md
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 ---
 name: correct
 description: "Find the mistakes agents keep repeating in this repo and make each one impossible. Try architecture first, then types, then a lint whose error names the fix, then a test, and write docs last. Prove each check fails on a real past mistake. Repeat this each time the operator corrects you. Use for /correct."
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 
 1. **Eliminate it with architecture.** Give each piece of state one owner and each task one supported way. Hide internals so the wrong import fails. Replace hand-synced lists with one source of truth. Delete old ways and dead code an agent would copy.
 2. **Enforce it with types so the bad state can't be written.** If bad code still compiles, add a lint or CI check whose error names the file, type, or function to use instead. If the pattern is already common, fail only when a change adds more.
-3. **Test the behavior.** Fix or delete any test that would still pass if every function it calls returned nothing.
+3. **Test the behavior.** Fix or delete any test that still passes when the behavior it checks breaks, or that fails when only the internals change.
 4. **Write docs or agent rules last, only for judgment calls.** Nothing fails when an agent skips them.
 
 ## Fix and prove

diff --git a/plugins/pstack/skills/poteto-mode/SKILL.md b/plugins/pstack/skills/poteto-mode/SKILL.md
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 ---
 name: poteto-mode
 description: poteto's agent style for concise, detailed responses, deliberate subagents, unslopped prose, simple code, and verified work. Use for poteto, /poteto-mode, or requests to work in this style.
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@
 - **Laziness Protocol.** Refactoring, sizing a diff, or tempted to add abstractions, layers, or signal threading. Bias to deletion and the smallest change that solves the problem.
 - **Foundational Thinking.** Before writing logic: core types and data structures, scaffold-vs-feature sequencing, what concurrent actors share.
 - **Redesign from First Principles.** Integrating a new requirement into an existing design. Redesign as if it had been foundational from day one.
-- **Attack the Premise.** Two or more fixes that share one premise have failed the same gate. Take a census of which actors hold the imbalance before the next fix, then question the premise instead of writing another fix that assumes it.
+- **Attack the Premise.** Two or more fixes that share one premise have failed the same gate. Write the premise down and test it directly before you write another fix that assumes it.
 - **Subtract Before You Add.** Sequencing an addition, refactor, or rewrite. Remove dead weight first, then build on the simpler base.
 - **Minimize Reader Load.** Reviewing or shaping code that's hard to trace. Count layers and hidden state, collapse one-caller wrappers, shrink mutable scope.
 - **Outcome-Oriented Execution.** Planned rewrites and migrations with explicit phase boundaries. Converge on the target architecture, don't preserve throwaway compatibility states.
@@ -65,9 +65,9 @@
 **Verification**
 
 - **Prove It Works.** After a task, before declaring done. Verify against the real artifact, not a proxy or "it compiles".
-- **Fix Root Causes.** Debugging. Trace each symptom to its root cause, reproduce first, ask why until you reach it.
+- **Fix Root Causes.** Debugging. Trace each symptom back to the first place the system went wrong and fix it there. A guard is a fix only when the state it handles is legitimate.
 - **Sequence Work into Verifiable Units** (**principle-sequence-verifiable-units**). Multi-step work (sweeps, migrations, runs of similar edits) and how you stack commits and PRs. Break work into small units that each end in a check, verify each before the next, and order delivery so the sequence proves itself.
-- **Test Behavior, Not Implementation.** Writing, changing, or keeping a test. Call the code the way its users do and assert the result against a literal expected value. If the test would still pass when every imported function returns `undefined`, rewrite the assertion or delete the test.
+- **Test Behavior, Not Implementation.** Writing, changing, or keeping a test. Assert what the code's users can observe, so the test fails when that behavior breaks and keeps passing when only the internals change.
 - **Explain the Number.** Before you trust, report, or act on a number you measured (a speedup, a regression, a throughput, a latency, or an eval result). Find what limits it, and rule out that it measured something other than the work you think.
 
 **Delegation**