AGENTS/skills/reflection/references/rating-guidelines.md

Rating Guidelines

How to classify findings from conversation analysis.

Rating Criteria

High Priority (Explicit Constraints)

Definition: Direct corrections or explicit rules that MUST be followed.

Characteristics:

• User explicitly states a constraint
• Correction of incorrect behavior
• Safety or correctness requirements
• Repeated violations cause frustration

Examples:

• "Never commit without asking first"
• "Always use TypeScript, not JavaScript"
• "You forgot to run tests before committing"
• "Don't use global state"

Action: These become hard constraints in the skill documentation.

Format in OBSERVATIONS.md:

## HIGH: [Constraint Title]
**Context:** [Which skill/scenario]
**Signal:** [What the user said/did]
**Constraint:** [The specific rule to follow]
**Proposed Change:** [Exact text to add to skill]

Medium Priority (Preferences & Patterns)

Definition: Approaches that work well or user preferences that improve workflow.

Characteristics:

• Positive reinforcement from user
• Patterns that user adopts repeatedly
• Workflow optimizations
• Style preferences

Examples:

• "That output format is perfect, use that"
• User consistently requests bullet points over paragraphs
• User prefers parallel tool execution
• "I like how you broke that down"

Action: These become preferred approaches or default patterns in skills.

Format in OBSERVATIONS.md:

## MEDIUM: [Preference Title]
**Context:** [Which skill/scenario]
**Signal:** [What the user said/did]
**Preference:** [The preferred approach]
**Rationale:** [Why this works well]
**Proposed Change:** [Suggested skill update]

Low Priority (Observations)

Definition: Contextual insights, minor preferences, or exploratory findings.

Characteristics:

• Environmental context
• Tentative patterns (need more data)
• Nice-to-have improvements
• Exploratory feedback

Examples:

• User tends to work on deep tasks in morning
• User sometimes asks for alternative approaches
• User occasionally needs extra context
• Formatting preferences for specific outputs

Action: Document for future consideration. May become higher priority with more evidence.

Format in OBSERVATIONS.md:

## LOW: [Observation Title]
**Context:** [Which skill/scenario]
**Signal:** [What was noticed]
**Observation:** [The pattern or insight]
**Potential Action:** [Possible future improvement]

Classification Decision Tree

1. Did user explicitly correct behavior?
   YES → HIGH
   NO → Continue

2. Did user express satisfaction with approach?
   YES → Was it repeated/adopted as pattern?
      YES → MEDIUM
      NO → LOW
   NO → Continue

3. Is this a repeated pattern (3+ instances)?
   YES → MEDIUM
   NO → LOW

4. Is this exploratory/tentative?
   YES → LOW

Edge Cases

Implicit corrections (repeated fixes by user):

• First instance: LOW (observe)
• Second instance: MEDIUM (pattern emerging)
• Third instance: HIGH (clear constraint)

Contradictory signals:

• Document both
• Note the contradiction
• Mark for user clarification

Context-dependent preferences:

• Rate based on specificity
• Document the context clearly
• If context is always present: MEDIUM
• If context is occasional: LOW