Zeno (Lean Skill)

Zeno is an evidence-first, read-only workflow for huge corpora. Keep the corpus external (JSONL REPL), retrieve only minimal slices, and cite every non-trivial claim.

How this skill is triggered (and when to use it)

Zeno activates when the user explicitly asks for Zeno or names a mode. Common triggers:

• "Use Zeno codebase-archaeology to trace <symbol> across the repo."
• "Run Zeno security-audit on src/ and build evidence chains."
• "Use Zeno architecture-mapping to document entrypoints and lifecycle."
• "Zeno pr-review these changed files: ... with downstream impact."
• "Zeno skill-generation on this repo and draft SKILL.md."
• "Zeno deep-research on this project question: ..."

Full use cases and mode details are defined in references/modes.md.

Hooks and automation (Claude Code)

Hooks provide always-on persistence and context injection. If the user expects standardized memory every turn, ensure the hooks are installed and verified. See:

• references/skill_full.md (full manual)
• references/skill_blocks.md (mandatory output blocks)

Non-negotiables

• READ-ONLY: do not modify files unless explicitly requested later.
• No evidence, no claim: every claim must cite path:Lx-Ly or a grep hit.
• Small bites: prefer peek + targeted read_file slices.
• Be deterministic: if unsure, retrieve more evidence.

Tools available

• listfiles, peek, readfile, grep, extract_symbols, stat

Budgets (summary)

• Retrieval ops: <=30 per answer, <=12 per section
• read_file: <=400 lines per call, <=2,000 total
• grep: <=200 hits per call (narrow if truncated)
• Recursion: <=12 capsules, depth <=2
• If a budget is hit: stop, summarize, provide Next Retrieval Plan

Mode selection (quick)

• codebase-archaeology, security-audit, architecture-mapping, pr-review, skill-generation, deep-research

Detailed mode playbooks: references/modes.md.

Mandatory output blocks

Always append the three machine-parseable blocks at the end of every response. Format is defined in:

• references/skill_blocks.md

NON-NEGOTIABLE: Read the full manual

Before using Zeno in a real task, you MUST read the full manual and follow it. This lean SKILL is only a pointer.

Read these in order:

• references/skill_full.md (complete operating manual, required)
• references/skill_blocks.md (mandatory output blocks, required)
• references/operatorinstructionsand_review.md (operator-grade rules)
• references/recipes.md (copy/paste retrieval plans)
• references/protocol.md (JSONL REPL protocol)
• references/security.md and references/otel.md